Det franske spørsmål. Traktatforhandlinger og politisk økonomi 1845-1865

Abstract

This master thesis examines Norwegian trade, the civil service and the united kingdoms of Norway and Sweden's treaty negotiations with France between 1845 and 1865. These efforts resulted in treaty in 1865 between France and Sweden-Norway. The story of the various negotiation rounds 1847-48, 1852-54, 1863-65 and the treaty has their own history and deserves attention in their own rights. However, the treaty of 1865 also introduced entirely new principles into Swedish and Norwegian trade policy. The treaty implied that the united kingdoms joined the multilateral trade network first introduced with the Cobden treaty, and hence made the countries an integral part of the emerging web of global trade network. Previous research has tended to focus on only the last - and hence the successful of the three above mentioned negotiation rounds. Moreover, these studies have predominantly approached the topic through the framework of today's nation states, and thereby tended to ignore the fact that the foreign services was the only bureaucratic body shared by the united kingdoms of Norway and Sweden. The thesis offers a new approach compared to previous research both through the choice of time-span as well as the ambition to study these processes from a dual-perspective as both Norwegian and Swedish interests are taken into account - in addition to those of France of course. The thesis pays particular attention to the political economy in the united kingdoms of Norway and Sweden, with a particular emphasis on the former. Through employing a rich source material from both Norwegian and Swedish archives, the issues of trade and treaties are studied through the lenses of business individuals, civil servants and governmental bodies. The thesis argues that Sweden, not surprisingly, was the predominant party of the united kingdoms throughout the period. However, the political economy within Norway was changing throughout these decades, giving commercial interests a substantial increase in their political capital and hence a stronger influence on decision-making processes. Still, the thesis underlines that the breakthrough of the 1865-treaty cannot be ascribed to increasing power to commercial interests alone, but also has to be understood through changing contexts domestically and internationally - as well as a professionalization of the foreign services.