The Temporal Community: Historical Time and Political Representation, 1809-1866

The purpose of this project is to examine the temporal rationality of largescale governmental reforms in Sweden between 1809 and 1866.

The primary empirical case is the intense campaigns leading up the momentous parliamentary reform of 1866 when the representative estates (nobility, clergy, bourgeoisie and peasantry) were replaced by the bicameral parliament. These events have been thorougly researched by both historians, sociologists and political scientists.

The reform is often regarded as an important breakthrough for modern ideas of democracy, public participation and political subjectivity.

But one important aspect of the events is regularly overlooked: the reform of 1866 was first and foremost a question about time. How often should the parliament convene? How long should meetings, interludes and terms last? How could the timeframes of legislation and rule be made more expedient?

The deliberations emphasized efficiency, coordination and legitimacy as questions of time: the very speed of power was undergoing radical negotiations. Simultaneously, the reform was considered a question of historical progress.

The old representative estates were considered a remnant of the past while the bicameral system was seen as modern and progressive.

My project aims to make sense of this temporal cluster: how can we understand and conceptualize the temporal logic of the reform? What orders of time were negotiated and why? How did the historical actors regulate the speed of power?