Med folket, för fosterlandet! : En idéanalys av samhällsdebattören Teodor Holmbergs demokratiuppfattning under den svenska demokratiseringsprocessen

Sammanfattning: Teodor Holmberg was a Swedish author, political opinion-shaper and political debater who were active during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The Swedish political party Sweden Democrats emphasizes Holmberg as an important ideological source of inspi­ration in their policy program. In a few books and articles, Holmberg is presented as one of the few conservative debaters who were a supporter of democracy and who advocated the introduction of universal suffrage for both men and women during the Swedish democratiza­tion process in the early 1900s. In articles and previous research, there are conflicting opin­ions about Holmberg’s ideological approach to democracy, universal suffrage and parliamentarianism. The aim of this thesis is to analyze Holmberg’s ideological approach to the universal suffrage, parliamentarianism and conception of democracy during the Swedish de­mo­crat­ization process 1906-1925. The result show that Holmberg advocated the intro­duction of universal suffrage for both men and women during the democratization process, and also had a positive attitude towards citizens participation in the governance of the nation. Holm­berg’s ideological position is influenced by both a nationalist idea of the rights and free­doms of national citizenship, and a traditionalist conservative view of the popular self-govern­ment as a Swedish governmental tradition. Holmberg’s conception of democracy is also based on both a nationalist and a pragmatic conservative view, and means that all citizen and social classes have the same right to participate in the governance of the nation. Holmberg’s view on governance can be described as a popular self-government in which all the people in the na­tion are striving together to cater for the nation’s welfare and interests. Holmberg’s conception of democracy implies a resistance to the majority principle and parliamentarianism. Holmberg’s advocacy of universal suffrage and positive view of the citizens’ political partici­pation is very radical and different compared to the dominant view within the Swedish right wing. In contrast, Holmberg’s opposition to parliamentarianism and strong defence of the Swedish king’s political power is consistent with the dominant view within the Swedish right wing.