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.

During the early 20th century, two significant changes were done in relation to suffrage. The first introduced universal suffrage for men between 1907 and 1909. For women, the decision was made in the year 1920 which introduced suffrage for them. Both these reforms included a big debate, and many was against it for different reasons. This study’s purpose has been to investigate the debate out of a gender perspective during both these reforms in newspapers. The material has been delimited to only leader pages and letters to the newspaper with the purpose to see people’s opinions in these questions. The material from the two periods has been compared to each other out of a gender perspective to see differences and similarities between the two reforms. The essay has been written with a qualitive text analysis and the result has been analysed with Yvonne Hirdman’s theory about gender system. The result showed that most of the texts was in favour of a universal suffrage for men and not many was against it. Instead, the debate was about the election system if it would be a majority election or proportional elections. In the texts where the author was against a universal suffrage for men, they were arguing for that poorer social groups should not have suffrage because they were not able to take political decisions. In the second period studying women’s suffrage the opinions were more dissimilar with both argument against and for a reform. The biggest difference between the two periods has been what the focus is on in the arguments against a reform. In the first period it has been on social groups, work, and education. In the second period it has been gender and what their qualities alleges to be. Even if this has been a major difference it can also be seen as a similarity because during both periods, some persons were considered to be more inferior to others. In summary it can be said that Hirdman’s gender system has been visible in many of the arguments.

Great Britain’s road to universal suffrage was a long one. Much attention has been paid by historians to the moments of great legislative reform, but less to the idea behind them. History is, however, also about the journey to such moments and how ideas gain or lose traction in society. The mass working-class movement of Chartism, with its call for universal (manhood) suffrage and its three national petitions of 1839, 1842 and 1848, forced parliamentarians to debate this radical and, in the view of many, dangerous idea. This study analyses the political discourse of the parliamentary debates held in these years with the aim of shedding light on how the notion of universal suffrage was constructed and understood by parliamentarians at the time. By analysing the debates online with a keyword search for ‘universal suffrage’ several recurring arguments and discourses are revealed, namely the political and moral legitimacy of the chartists and their sympathisers in parliament; how the concept of time is used in arguments for and against universal suffrage; entitlement to political representation; and the security of property. Taking inspiration from the linguist Tuen van Dijk’s theory of political discourse analysis, these discourses are regarded as more than mere words spoken in parliament, but rather as political actions which had a bearing on the world outside. Moreover, the aim is also to situate and contextualise these discourses in broader society and the events and developments of the 1830s and 1840s. While the abovementioned discourses are prevalent in all three years, the debates of 1848 see a change in focus and tone, due the wider European revolutionary climate. It is hoped that this analysis of parliamentary debates between 1839 and 1848 will contribute to a better understanding of an oft-neglected chapter in Britain’s road to universal suffrage and of Chartism’s role in this hard-won struggle.

Studien består av en idealtypsanalys av fyra historieläroböcker för svenska gymnasieskolan i syfte att undersöka om ett liberalt eller marxistiskt narrativ om införandet om allmän rösträtt dominerar i dessa. Den marxistiska idealtypen, baserad på strukturalist-marxistisk teori, visar sig stämma väl överens med böckernas narrativ. Den liberala idealtypen, baserad på moderniseringsteori, visar sig nästan inte över huvud taget stämma överens med böckernas narrativ.