FOUR CONCEPTS OF MONARCHY

Ever since the 1880s, the monarchy had shown newly awakened political ambitions. During the tariff dispute, Oscar II had taken the opportunity to demonstrate his power by using his constitutional prerogative to dissolve the Second Chamber, which had long been regarded as a dead letter. Sweden's system of government, the king reasoned, was “constitutional but not parliamentary in the modern sense of this word.” Consequently, the “verdict of the ballot box” alone should not determine the shape of the government. During the suffrage dispute, the king had once again used his prerogative, this time negatively by citing the right of the monarchy in principle to refuse to dissolve the Second Chamber when there were good reasons for adopting such a position. The new king, Gustaf V, who assumed the throne in 1907, shared his father's constitutional views in all essential respects.

The same period had also witnessed the emergence of a more and more ideologically conscious Left, with its roots in the political forces that members of Parliament had unwillingly helped unleash during the tariff dispute. Leftists advocated parliamentary government, as opposed to the division of powers specified in the Constitution. The controversy concerned the role of the king in the formation of a government.