Peasants and Danes: The Danish National Identity and Political Culture

From a cultural and historical-sociological perspective, the Danish nationstate of today represents a rare situation of virtual identity between state, nation, and society, which is a more recent phenomenon than normally assumed in Denmark and abroad. Though one of the oldest European monarchies, wh...

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Published in:Comparative Studies in Society and History
Main Author: Østergård, Uffe
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1992
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0010417500017412
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0010417500017412
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spelling crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0010417500017412 2024-10-13T14:09:25+00:00 Peasants and Danes: The Danish National Identity and Political Culture Østergård, Uffe 1992 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0010417500017412 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0010417500017412 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Comparative Studies in Society and History volume 34, issue 1, page 3-27 ISSN 0010-4175 1475-2999 journal-article 1992 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0010417500017412 2024-09-18T04:03:30Z From a cultural and historical-sociological perspective, the Danish nationstate of today represents a rare situation of virtual identity between state, nation, and society, which is a more recent phenomenon than normally assumed in Denmark and abroad. Though one of the oldest European monarchies, whose flag came ‘tumbling down from heaven in 1219’—ironically enough an event that happened in present-day Estonia—Denmark's present national identity is of recent vintage. Until 1814 the word, Denmark, denominated a typical European, plurinational or multinational, absolutist state, second only to such powers as France, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and perhaps Prussia. The state had succeeded in reforming itself in a revolution from above in the late eighteenth century and ended as one of the few really “enlightened absolutisms” of the day (Horstbøll and østergård 1990; østergård 1990). It consisted of four main parts and several subsidiaries in the North Atlantic Ocean, plus some colonies in Western Africa, India, and the West Indies. The main parts were the kingdoms of Denmark proper and Norway, plus the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. How this particular state came about need not bother us here. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Cambridge University Press Norway Comparative Studies in Society and History 34 1 3 27
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description From a cultural and historical-sociological perspective, the Danish nationstate of today represents a rare situation of virtual identity between state, nation, and society, which is a more recent phenomenon than normally assumed in Denmark and abroad. Though one of the oldest European monarchies, whose flag came ‘tumbling down from heaven in 1219’—ironically enough an event that happened in present-day Estonia—Denmark's present national identity is of recent vintage. Until 1814 the word, Denmark, denominated a typical European, plurinational or multinational, absolutist state, second only to such powers as France, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and perhaps Prussia. The state had succeeded in reforming itself in a revolution from above in the late eighteenth century and ended as one of the few really “enlightened absolutisms” of the day (Horstbøll and østergård 1990; østergård 1990). It consisted of four main parts and several subsidiaries in the North Atlantic Ocean, plus some colonies in Western Africa, India, and the West Indies. The main parts were the kingdoms of Denmark proper and Norway, plus the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. How this particular state came about need not bother us here.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Østergård, Uffe
spellingShingle Østergård, Uffe
Peasants and Danes: The Danish National Identity and Political Culture
author_facet Østergård, Uffe
author_sort Østergård, Uffe
title Peasants and Danes: The Danish National Identity and Political Culture
title_short Peasants and Danes: The Danish National Identity and Political Culture
title_full Peasants and Danes: The Danish National Identity and Political Culture
title_fullStr Peasants and Danes: The Danish National Identity and Political Culture
title_full_unstemmed Peasants and Danes: The Danish National Identity and Political Culture
title_sort peasants and danes: the danish national identity and political culture
publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
publishDate 1992
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0010417500017412
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0010417500017412
geographic Norway
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genre North Atlantic
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op_source Comparative Studies in Society and History
volume 34, issue 1, page 3-27
ISSN 0010-4175 1475-2999
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op_doi https://doi.org/10.1017/s0010417500017412
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