The storskifte, enskifte and laga skifte in Sweden: General Features

Helmfrid, Staffan

doi:10.2307/520236

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…AD 1827–1922 in Småland) allowed more than one piece of land per landowner so that each farm got its share of the “outfields” (or commons, i.e. forest and pasture land used in common by a village in the old “infield/outfields” system existing before the reforms), one piece of meadowland, and one piece of arable land (both being part of the “infield” area of a village) (Helmfrid ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical land‐use and landscape change in southern Sweden and implications for present and future biodiversity

Cui

Gaillard

Lemdahl

et al. 2014

Ecology and Evolution

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The two major aims of this study are (1) To test the performance of the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) to quantify past landscape changes using historical maps and related written sources, and (2) to use the LRA and map reconstructions for a better understanding of the origin of landscape diversity and the recent loss of species diversity. Southern Sweden, hemiboreal vegetation zone. The LRA was applied on pollen records from three small bogs for four time windows between AD 1700 and 2010. The LRA estimates of % cover for woodland/forest, grassland, wetland, and cultivated land were compared with those extracted from historical maps within 3-km radius around each bog. Map-extracted land-use categories and pollen-based LRA estimates (in % cover) of the same land-use categories show a reasonable agreement in several cases; when they do not agree, the assumptions used in the data (maps)-model (LRA) comparison are a better explanation of the discrepancies between the two than possible biases of the LRA modeling approach. Both the LRA reconstructions and the historical maps reveal between-site differences in landscape characteristics through time, but they demonstrate comparable, profound transformations of the regional and local landscapes over time and space due to the agrarian reforms in southern Sweden during the 18th and 19th centuries. The LRA was found to be the most reasonable approach so far to reconstruct quantitatively past landscape changes from fossil pollen data. The existing landscape diversity in the region at the beginning of the 18th century had its origin in the long-term regional and local vegetation and land-use history over millennia. Agrarian reforms since the 18th century resulted in a dramatic loss of landscape diversity and evenness in both time and space over the last two centuries leading to a similarly dramatic loss of species (e.g., beetles).

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical land‐use and landscape change in southern Sweden and implications for present and future biodiversity

Cui

Gaillard

Lemdahl

et al. 2014

Ecology and Evolution

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“…36. HELMFRID (1961), chronology of enclosures; OLSSON and SVENSSON (2010), effects of enclosures in Scania; GADD (1998: 178-95), introduction of convertible husbandry; HANSSON (1992:31),…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two parallel systems: the political economy of enclosures and open fields on the plains of Västergötland, Western Sweden, 1805-65

Nyström¹,

Hallberg²

2018

HIST AGRAR

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One of the contradictions of enclosures is that they both promoted and threatened property rights. The reforms aimed at establishing modern, uncontested land ownership also undermined existing property rights. In many countries reform legislation required unanimity or a qualified majority of landowners in order for it to be implemented. However, in Sweden, a single landowner was enough to start an enclosure. This study takes developments in a plain region of Western Sweden as emblematic of the economic and institutional mechanisms of enclosures. The first villages in the area were enclosed in 1805, the last in 1865. The fact that the two systems coexisted for six decades in this area provides a “historic laboratory” for the reconstruction of technological, productive and land value changes. One important research question relates to the slow advance of enclosures: how could open fields have survived for so long when every landowner could veto their very existence? Results show that up until the early 1850s, enclosed land offered few advantages for local farmers. This system was not more productive than open fields, nor did the reform stimulate the adoption of innovations such as convertible husbandry or iron ploughs. Still, in the long run, strong legal imperatives made enclosures almost inevitable. Consequently, the long period of parallel existence can be understood as the outcome of a situation in which the open fields still possessed an economic advantage, while enclosures enjoyed an institutional advantage.

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“…The idea of Sweden’s enclosure reforms was introduced in 1746 by Jacob Faggot, an engineer directing the royal land inspection office (Gadd 2000, 275). From 1749, the Land Board Survey, a group established by the state bureaucracy comprising professional civil servants and led by Faggot, began measurements of where and how enclosures would streamline agricultural production (Gadd 2000, 273; Helmfrid 1961, 115). Progressive estates in parliament did play a key role in supporting the work of the board by, for instance, winning over more conservative landlords and peasants (Bäck 1984, 280; Helmfrid 1961, 116).…”

Section: Explaining Peaceful Agrarian Reformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From 1749, the Land Board Survey, a group established by the state bureaucracy comprising professional civil servants and led by Faggot, began measurements of where and how enclosures would streamline agricultural production (Gadd 2000, 273; Helmfrid 1961, 115). Progressive estates in parliament did play a key role in supporting the work of the board by, for instance, winning over more conservative landlords and peasants (Bäck 1984, 280; Helmfrid 1961, 116). However, the first and subsequent enclosure reforms were initiated by civil servants and experts and negotiated in a highly bureaucratized process (Gadd 2000, 275, 283).…”

Section: Explaining Peaceful Agrarian Reformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impartial Administration and Peaceful Agrarian Reform: The Foundations for Democracy in Scandinavia

Andersen

2023

Am Polit Sci Rev

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Why was the route to democracy in Scandinavia extraordinarily stable? This paper answers this question by studying Scandinavia’s eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century peaceful agrarian reforms, which contributed to auspicious state–society relations that made democracy progress relatively smoothly. Based on comparisons with contemporary France and Prussia and process-tracing evidence, the paper shows that Scandinavia achieved relatively extensive and peaceful agrarian reforms because of relatively high levels of meritocratic recruitment to the central administration and state control over local administration, which ensured impartial policymaking and implementation. These findings challenge prevailing theories of democratization, demonstrating that the Scandinavian countries represent an alternative, amicable path to democracy led by civil servants who attempt to transform their country socioeconomically. Thus, strong state-cum-weak society countries likely have better odds of achieving stable democracy than weak state-cum-weak society countries. However, building bureaucratic state administrations alongside autonomous political societies is probably a safer road to democracy.

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The storskifte, enskifte and laga skifte in Sweden: General Features

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Historical land‐use and landscape change in southern Sweden and implications for present and future biodiversity

Historical land‐use and landscape change in southern Sweden and implications for present and future biodiversity

Two parallel systems: the political economy of enclosures and open fields on the plains of Västergötland, Western Sweden, 1805-65

Impartial Administration and Peaceful Agrarian Reform: The Foundations for Democracy in Scandinavia

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