Suffrage in England in the 19th and the early 20th centuries Abstract The diploma thesis adress the issue of suffrage in England in the 19th and the early 20th centuries. Attention is paid primarily to the reform acts governing elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which were passed in years 1832, 1867, 1884-85, 1918 and 1928. The implementation of these reform acts led to the transition from the archaic form of suffrage, which persisted without major changes from the period of the late Middle Ages, to a universal and equal suffrage with direct and secret voting in the form which in the United Kingdom prevails, with minor amendments, to the present. This transformation was completed in 1928. In addition, the development of the municipal elections legislation, changes in a qualification of the Members of the Parliament and other changes in electoral legislation, especially in the legislation dealing with electoral corruption, are mentioned. There is also outlined a political and public debate on electoral reform, with an emphasis on parliamentary relevant debate. The text of the thesis is divided into six sections, corresponding to the chronological development. The first section focuses on the description and evaluation of the unreformed suffrage prior to 1832. The...

The overall purpose of this paper is to investigate how the concept of democracy was used in Swedish parliamentary debates before the great franchise reform 1919-1921. To use conceptual history to study parliamentary debates is a relatively recent phenomenon and when it comes to Sweden it has mostly been about the period around and after the mentioned great reform. This paper therefore takes a step back and concentrates on the years 1902, 1907 and 1912 when bills and motions were presented that advocated more inclusive voting rights. It is not only a period that has been less researched but an inquiry into these years also complete and enhance the understanding of the later great reform. Since the concept of democracy rarely appears in the parliamentary debates during the first years studied the paper also investigates the context in which the concept was used with a special focus on who were to be allowed to take part in an enlarged franchise. The final analysis shows that the concept of democracy went through substantial change during the period in question. Not only did it become used more frequently in the debates, but most politicians also accepted the future-oriented quality of the concept. The context of the debates shifted during the period but most importantly the view of who among the people were supposed to be included in a democratic society changed. Some of the uses of the concept of democracy that was to reverberate during the debates leading up to the great franchise reform 1919-1921 can also be found during the period here studied.