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Historisk tidskrift 126:4 • 2006

Innehåll (Contents) 2006:4

Uppsatser (Articles)

Formell og uformell makt

Erik Njåstad

Fulltext (pdf)

Summary

Formal and informal power

The article deals with formal and informal resources of power available to regions and local peasant communities in the late middle ages and early modern period. Among the formal resources, the rule of law, the right to petition and representation in assemblies with formal powers are discussed. The informal resources are discussed and exemplified by varying forms of peasant resistance. These range from low-intensive collective actions such as refusal to pay taxes or supporting officials by providing various services, over more active collective law-breaking such as poaching, to riots and rebellions. The concepts of formal and informal resources of power are discussed, with an emphasis on the ”ritual” or formal aspects of resistance in a period when the state was not able to fill the role of maintaining peace, law and order. The possibilities for regions and local communities to advance their interests were also made easier by the relatively weak position of the central authority and by formal regional differences in the composite states of the period.

In the concluding part of the article, the importance of local juridical and social structures and the economic importance of different regions are offered as an explanation of the development of local political identities and patterns for action. These are discussed with two Norwegian regions as examples.

Keywords

social history, peasant resistance, composite state, petitions, regionalism, jurisdiction