Min forskning behandlar stat och samhälle under både äldre och modern tid. Jag sysslar huvudsakligen med politisk historia i vid bemärkelse, med speciellt intresse för institutionell förändring, statsbildning och politiska konflikter. Jag har bland annat forskat om privatiseringarnas historia ur ett längre tidsperspektiv tillsammans med Mats Hallenberg. I projektet ”Egenintresset kontra det gemensamma bästa” har vi undersökt konflikter om privat respektive offentlig drift från 1600-talets början fram till 1990-talet. Min del av projektet är publicerat i Problemet med vinster. Riksdagsdebatter om privat och offentlig drift under 400 år (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2017).

Pågående forskningsprojekt

Skiftande regimer: Representation, administration och institutionell förändring, ca 1537–1810, finansierat av Vetenskapsrådet, tillsammans med Mats Hallenberg och Joakim Scherp. Projektet studerar regimskiften i det tidigmoderna Sverige och dess betydelse för administrativa reformer och demokratisk utveckling. Mer information i projektbeskrivningen till höger.

Olika vägar till välfärdsstaden: samhällsservice, inkludering och det allmänna bästa i Norden 1870–1920, finansierat av Riksbankens jubileumsfond, tillsammans med Mats Hallenberg. Projektet har som syfte att analysera och jämföra debatter om allmännyttiga uppgifter i nordiska städer 1870–1920. Under perioden tog städerna ett allt större ansvar för verksamheter som uppfattades som nödvändiga för invånarnas välfärd. Mer information i projektbeskrivningen till höger.

Undervisning och administration

Jag är för tillfället studierektor för grundutbildningen vid Historiska institutionen. Jag undervisar och handleder studenter på samtliga nivåer.

I urval från Stockholms universitets publikationsdatabas

• Problemet med vinster

  2017. Magnus Linnarsson.

  Bok

  Privat eller offentlig drift inom välfärden är ett ständigt aktuellt debattämne. I Problemet med vinster visar historikern Magnus Linnarsson att dagens debatt inte är en modern företeelse, utan en fråga med lång historia. I boken belyser författaren hur svenska politiker debatterat frågan under 400 år. Ska välfärdstjänster drivas av privata eller offentliga utförare? Och är det alls lämpligt att tjäna pengar på sådan verksamhet?

  Linnarsson analyserar riksdagsdebatter där motsättningen mellan privat eller offentlig drift har ställts på sin spets och politikerna brottats med den principiella frågan om privata entreprenörer ska få del av skattemedel. Vilka argument har använts för att förespråka privat respektive offentlig drift? Hur har diskussionerna om det allmänna bästa sett ut över tid? I boken fördjupar och problematiserar författaren den pågående debatten genom att lyfta fram de historiska rötterna till dagens diskussion om vinster i välfärden. 

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• Radicalism in the old regime: the challenge of parliamentary sovereignty in Sweden, 1769–70

  2022. Magnus Linnarsson. Parliaments, Estates and Represenation, 1-20

  Artikel

  This article analyses how notions of parliamentary sovereignty, were posited against universal principles of the separation of powers, using the debate in the Swedish Diet (Riksdag) in 1769 on the Act of Security as an example. The act was launched as an attack on the prevailing parliamentary sovereignty. Since the mid- eighteenth century, the Riksdag had established itself as the sovereign power in Swedish politics and its critics argued for the need of personal and material security. The analysis shows how egalitarian ideas and democratic elements became part of the political discourse. This article argues that this debate was decisive for the coming end of the Swedish Age of Liberty (1719–72), and that it exemplifies a political conflict between radicals and conservatives. It also shows how the debate was a battle for alternative paths of state formation. Either a strong state, dominated by elite groups with capacity to control policy, or a more participatory government, with traces of early democratization. The analysis draws on two key analytical concepts: the ‘rule of law’ and ‘political participation’. In the debate, the rule of law became an instrument for limiting political participation when the aristocracy tried to strengthen its powers.

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• Contested customs

  2021. Magnus Linnarsson. Bringing the People Back In, 292-308

  Kapitel

  This article analyses the political contestation between the Swedish towns and the General Customs Lease Company, 1726–1761. It examines the agency of local groups, i.e. the towns, when they reacted and responded to policies introduced to them by the state, but pursued by a private company. The argument is that the introduction of the private Customs Company in 1726 altered the rules of political interaction. Usually, the conflict between the state and the localities can be described on the axis: local–central. In the case of the period of the Customs Company, the relation should rather be described as a triangle: local–private–central. This triangle, has implications for perceptions of how the state was supposed to function, and for questions about the common good. The introduction of the General Customs Lease Company, faced the towns with a fait accompli, and they were supposed to accept the new organisation. However, if the towns are regarded as political subjects, it is rather the start of resistance and contestation against the private company. Consequently, the example of the towns and the customs service illustrates how local and central politics became entangled with each other as a part of the early modern state building process. The contested customs in the eighteenth century is an example of the possibilities for the localities to have a say and gain support for their arguments in a specific question.

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• The Shifting Politics of Public Services

  2020. Magnus Linnarsson, Mats Hallenberg. Journal of Policy History 32 (4), 463-486

  Artikel

  This article analyses the inherent conflict between public and private interest from a long time-perspective, using the example of Sweden from 1620 to 2000. The main argument is that there have been two equally decisive historical shifts in the political discourse on how to organize public services in the past: First, a shift from an early modern patriarchal discourse to a more expansive articulation of publicness during the nineteenth century. Second, a shift toward privatization and deregulation in the late twentieth century. Both these shifts must be considered to fully explain the changing forms of public organization up to the present day. Theoretically, the concept of “publicness” is used to explain the political discourses on the organization of public services. Drawing on three discursive chains, the argument is that the political development was affected by the politicians’ conception of the political community, the form of organization, and by perceptions of values such as equal access and modernity. Our results demonstrate how and why political arguments for or against private service providers have motivated profound changes in the way public services are perceived of and organized.

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• År

  2020. Anna Götlind, Magnus Linnarsson.

  Bok (red)

  Vad fick en svensk diplomat uppleva i det sena 1700-talets Grekland? Hur tänkte den tidiga medeltidens människor kring sin plats i världen? Vad lekte barn på 1600-talet? Hur såg bostadsmarknaden ut i 1400-talets Stockholm? Och varför köpte hotellkungen i Gävle fem AGA-spisar?

  Historia handlar om det som har hänt – det förflutna. Om år och tider som har passerat. Många förknippar därför historia med årtalsexercis och kalenderbiteri. Men det som hänt i det förflutna är sällan så enkelt att det kan kopplas till ett enskilt år eller en enskild person. En historieskrivning som enbart handlar om välbekanta händelser och kända aktörer lämnar dessutom stora delar av mänskligheten osedda.

  Men årtalen finns där, både de kända och de mer okända. Här presenterar tjugoen historiker berättelser om människor och händelser med förankring i specifika år mellan 1250 och 1983. De leder läsaren bakåt och framåt i tiden, visar vägen till större historiska sammanhang och låter oss ta del av diskussioner i sockenstugan, av maktkamp på samhällets högsta politiska nivå, av baler i 1800-talets Stockholm och av modern träningskultur.

  Skribenter: Anna Götlind, Magnus Linnarsson, Kurt Villads Jensen, Margaretha Nordquist, Gabriela Bjarne Larsen, Mats Hallenberg, Heiko Droste, Annika Sandén, Joakim Scherp,Pär Frohnert, Leos Mûller, Isak Hammar, Bo Eriksson, Nils Edling, Karin Carlsson, Mattias Tydén, Johnny Wijk, Maija Runcis, Jens Ljunggren, Ragni Svensson och Helena Tolvhed.

  Samtliga författare har anknytning till Historiska institutionen vid Stockholms universitet.

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• Från bondestafett till järnväg

  2019. Magnus Linnarsson. TEMP-tidsskrift for historie (18), 62-78

  Artikel

  När det svenska postväsendet inrättades 1636 skapades en stafett av särskilt avdelade postbönder som transporterade posten. Stafettsystemet utgjorde postens grundläggande infrastruktur tills postbönderna i slutet av 1800-talet ersattes av transporter med postdiligens och järnväg. I artikeln analyseras den svenska postbondeinstitutionens tillkomst och avskaffande. Den svenska statens val att använda sig av postbönder var unikt i Europa och förklaras som en del av en etablerad lösning för resursmobilisering inom den svenska statsförvaltningen, så kallad indelning. Trots flera försök att ersätta postbönderna med ett annat system, fortlevde postbondeinstitutionen under 230 år. Författaren argumenterar för att systemets uthållighet berodde på den svenska statens svaga förvaltningsstrukturer under perioden. Förvaltningens begränsade resurser motverkade större institutionella förändringar av postsystemet innan industrialiseringen på 1800-talet.

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• Farming out state revenue

  2018. Magnus Linnarsson. Parliaments, Estates and Represenation 38 (2), 175-191

  Artikel

  A typical trait of the fiscal system of the ancien régime was the farming out of state revenue, most often represented by England and France. This article contributes to the ongoing discussion on the articulation of political economy and discourses on private and public organization in the early modern period, using the Swedish Riksdag as the focal point. Furthermore, it adds to historical research on private organizations for the operation of public services, and to a theoretical discussion on institutional development in the early modern period. In this article the Swedish General Customs Lease Company (Generaltullarrendesocieteten) 1723–65 is used as an example, arguing that Sweden represents an alternative model for the organization of revenue collection in early modern Europe; demonstrating that the General Customs Lease Company includes characteristics found both in England and in France. The analysis focuses on the political level, using parliamentary debates about the organization of the customs service. Thus, the explanation pays close attention to arguments wielded in favour, or against, farming out state revenue to private individuals. The political debates show an increasing critique against the large profits made by the shareholders in the Customs Company, as well as condemnations against the Customs Company for promoting self-interest at the expense of the common good. 

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• The quest for publicness

  2016. Mats Hallenberg, Magnus Linnarsson. Scandinavian Economic History Review

  Artikel

  This article explores political conflicts about the organisation of public services in Sweden c. 1900–1920. The authors argue that political decisions play a vital role in shaping the political economy of public services. The case studies analysed are the political debates about the communalisation of the tramway system in Stockholm, and the nationalisation of Sweden’s last private telephone company. In both cases, the transfer of the service to public organisation was a lengthy process, ending in the late 1910s. This is explained using the concept of publicness. Drawing on three discursive chains, the argument is that the political development was affected by the politicians conception of the political community, the form of organisation and by perceptions of values such as equal access and modernity. In the case of the tramways, public organisation was seen as the best option to defend the public against corruption and self-interest. In the case of the telephones, free market competition was seen as a guarantee for an efficient and cost- effective service. The reason for this difference, is argued, was that the debate on the tramways articulated a clearer notion of publicness, where equal access and public opinion carried larger weight. 

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• Vem tar bäst hand om det allmänna?

  2016. Mats Hallenberg, Magnus Linnarsson. Historisk Tidskrift (S) 136 (1), 32-63

  Artikel

  This article explores four political debates in the Swedish diet and among the ruling elite in Stockholm on the organization of public services. The results demonstrate how in different ways notions of the common good permeated the discourse on all occasions.

  When the Swedish government tried to initiate public street lightning in Stockholm in 1749, there was a broad consensus among government and city officials that this should be done by the creation of a municipal organization financed by tax income. The burghers of Stockholm, however, opposed the proposal and argued that they were themselves better suited to care for the streetlights. The common good should be provided by individual action of responsible, male householders. Eventually the burghers got the upper hand and public street lightning continued to be organized by private initiative until the mid-nineteenth century.

  When in the 1720s the Swedish diet discussed the lease of custom duties by a merchant consortium (Sw. generaltullarrendesocieteten), the problem of corruption emerged as the bone of contention. Proponents claimed that this form of private enterprise was an effective means to suppress widespread corruption among state officials. Their opponents argued to the contrary that private leaseholders would skim off the profits for themselves, thereby depriving the state of its income.

  In the mid-eighteenth century the city authorities in Stockholm debated whether the emptying of latrines should remain an individual concern or if it should be recognized as a public matter. The city officials at first decided that this task was indeed a matter of public concern that should be handled by private entrepreneurs. Within a few years they had changed their minds, however, proposing instead that a new communal organization should be created for the removal of city waste. By now, the ruling elite of Stockholm had begun to identify the common good with municipal direction.

  The development of railway infrastructure was a hotly debated subject in the Swedish diet of the 1850s. Some representatives argued that private entrepreneurs would provide more cost-effective solutions than publicly managed railways, while others claimed that the state must administer a national system of railways. In the debate, private self-interest was juxtaposed with equal access to the common good. The proponents of state intervention claimed that national concerns must have priority over financial gain, and this argument would eventually influence the final decision.

  By the middle of the nineteenth century there was a growing consensus among the ruling elites in Sweden that the common good could best be provided for by state or municipal initiative. In the debates, arguments about organizational efficiency and equal access to public services eventually won out over notions of individual responsibility and private enterprise as a better alternative to corrupt government. In the late twentieth century the debate had shifted radically, however. The reasons for this shift will be the subject of our future research.

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• Nordic Welfare Cities: Negotiating Urban Citizenship since 1850

  2024. .

  Bok (red)

  This book examines Nordic cities from 1850 and their transformation from traditional, oligarchic towns to modern, inclusive welfare cities.

  In the contemporary world, the role of cities as hotbeds for progressive change has become increasingly topical. Historical studies on how Nordic cities addressed social and environmental questions a hundred years ago and how they eventually created new and inclusive policies for the future is a useful contribution to the current debate. The concept of the welfare city is addressed and elaborated upon to analyse the attempts by urban authorities to solve the problems following industrialization and urbanization. From the late nineteenth century, municipal public services promoted the integration of new groups in the urban community including workers, immigrants, women and children. The contributions in this book analyse various examples of welfare and public services that include infrastructure and transport systems, health care, housing conditions, outdoor life and entertainment. The chapters highlight the arguments and considerations promoting welfare policies, while also addressing differences between the Nordic countries. The evolution of the Nordic welfare city was a process of several overlapping phases or dimensions.

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