Week 1: Overview

Welcome to Module One of Scandinavian Politics!  This module will focus on the Scandinavian countries and peoples and on their histories up until the modern times.

October 1:                    The Nordic Societies

Readings:

Arter, chap. 1.

Torbjörn Bergman and Kaare Strøm (eds.), The Madisonian Turn.  Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011, chap. 2.

Booth, Introduction.

Study Questions:

1. Where does the Nordic region begin and end?
2. What makes the Scandinavian countries distinctive?

October 6:                  Vikings, Kings, and Queens

Readings:

Booth, Denmark, chaps. 1-2 and 6.

Nordstrom, pp. 1-37 and 52-78.

Study Questions:

How did the Vikings affect Europe, and why did they suddenly become peaceful?

Margrethe I and the Kalmar Union: Precursors of the European Union?

How did the Black Death and the Thirty-Years War affect Scandinavian political history?

October 8:                  From Poverty and Conflict to Affluence and Peace

Readings:

Booth, Denmark, chap. 10; Iceland, chaps. 1, 3, and 5.

Nordstrom, pp. 98-120, and 138-185

Study Questions:

Why should we remember Christian IV and Gustavus Adolphus?

How did the Protestant Reformation affect Scandinavia?

Why did Sweden displace Denmark as the leading Scandinavian power?

Module 1: Land, People, and History