Opposition

This chapter zooms in on the opponents of a Scandinavian union (e.g. a union that included not only Sweden and Norway but also Denmark). To contemporaries and historians alike, this heterogeneous group is known as anti-Scandinavianists. The chapter outlines the different types of anti-Scandinavianism and anti-Scandinavianists and analyses the rhetorical battles between anti-Scandinavianists and political Scandinavianists in the public sphere. Hereby, the central point already raised in Chap. 2 is underlined. The rhetoric and the arguments against political Scandinavianism that dominate Scandinavian historiography all originate from anti-Scandinavianist discourse. The fact that the historiographical master narrative stems from a highly political and polemic discourse does not in itself disqualify it. Therefore, the remainder of the chapter puts the arguments found within traditionalist historiography and anti-Scandinavianism alike to the test. This is done by comparing the problems and challenges of political Scandinavianism to that of German and Italian unification nationalism. The preliminary conclusion is that even if the challenges of political Scandinavianism were greater than those of German unification nationalism, they were not necessarily greater that those faced by Italian unification nationalism. Consequently, the structuralist arguments that have been fielded against the possibility of a unification cannot in themselves be seen as decisive to the failure of political Scandinavianism. It is suggested that agency, politics and chance events also need to be taken into consideration when the eventual failure of the movement is to be explained.