The Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are among the few European countries where parliamentary democracy survived the challenges of the interwar period. The apparent resilience of Nordic democracy has sometimes been partly attributed to the strength of the popular movements, the internal democratic structures, and culture of these organizations and not least their role in educating their members in democratic practices. Drawing primarily on examples from the co-operative movements in several Nordic countries, the article asks how democracy was understood in co-operative societies and how it functioned in practice. Co-operative societies were committed to the principle of ‘one member one vote’, but faced constant dilemmas over how to combine the possibility for grassroots influence with the need for central control, especially as the organizations grew in size. In some cases, this led to irreconcilable conflicts and splits in central organizations. The article argues that although the co-operatives and other popular movements later came to be seen as crucial elements in the survival of Nordic democracy, their role in this survival should not be taken for granted.

中文翻译：

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二十世纪上半叶的民众运动和北欧民主国家的脆弱性

北欧国家丹麦、芬兰、挪威和瑞典是为数不多的议会民主在两次世界大战期间的挑战中幸存下来的欧洲国家。北欧民主的明显弹性有时部分归因于大众运动的力量、这些组织的内部民主结构和文化，尤其是它们在教育其成员进行民主实践方面的作用。文章主要从几个北欧国家的合作社运动中汲取了一些例子，询问了合作社社会如何理解民主以及它在实践中如何运作。合作社致力于“一人一票”的原则，但在如何将基层影响的可能性与中央控制的需要结合起来的问题上一直面临困境，尤其是随着组织规模的扩大。在某些情况下，这会导致中央组织中不可调和的冲突和分裂。文章认为，虽然合作社和其他民众运动后来被视为北欧民主生存的关键因素，但不应将它们在这种生存中的作用视为理所当然。