Revolution eller reformation? : historisk orientering kring Sveriges vägval 1809

Sammanfattning: This study examines five key actors in the events between the coup and the adoption of a new constitution in Sweden in 1809. In traditional historiography, mainly advocated by Fredrik Lagerroth, these events has been described as a revolution. The purpose of this study relates to the research problem and understanding of Sweden's "revolution" in 1809 and other revolutions such as the American and French. If all three contexts can be described as revolutions, then what is significant about revolutions? A first approach of this thesis is based on a hypothesis of an alternative path in Sweden 1809 that relates to reformism rather than revolution. To test this hypothesis, Hannah Arendt's concept of revolution is applied, which is also supplemented by Alexis de Tocqueville's rendering of the French Revolution. Arendt's concept of revolution is defined by the establishment of a new order in time, in the form of a revolt and the adoption of a new constitution. The intention of this approach is to examine whether the revolutionary interpretation of Sweden in 1809 can be falsified. Central to this study is how the Swedish actors in 1809 - between the coup and the adoption of a new constitution - oriented themselves historically, to form an prognosis about the relationship between the past and the future, and their own role in the process. Historical orientation, based on Reinhart Kosellecks concept “space of experience” (Erfahrungsraum) and “horizon of expectation” (Erwartungs-horizont), as well as how the revolution also functions as a kind of compass between the past and the future, relates to the second approach of this thesis. The intention with this approach is to qualify the historical knowledge, apart from events, focusing on actors' understanding and interpretations between historical time and space, which they form an prognosis about the possibilities of the future. A main result of this study is that Sweden 1809 not should be described or interpreted as a revolution, based on the central actors' prognosis; that a slow and reformist process was more fruitful. The “space of experience” in which the actors shape their prognosis was different, but their conclusion was the same, which supports the hypothesis of reformism.