Edén, Nils

Born Aug. 25, 1871, in Piteå; died June 16, 1945, in Stockholm. Swedish political figure and historian. Doctor of sciences (1899).

Edén studied at the University of Uppsala and was a professor at the university from 1903 to 1920. In 1905, at the behest of the government, he developed a program to resolve the crisis in the Swedish-Norwegian Union, which had been formed in 1814.

Edén was a member of the Riksdag from 1909 to 1924. He led the Liberal Coalition Party of Sweden from 1918 to 1923, and from 1917 to 1920 he served as prime minister of a coalition government, which carried out a number of bourgeois democratic reforms. After his party split in 1923, he ceased to play an active role in politics.

Edén’s principal works deal with the Swedish-Norwegian Union, the organization of the Swedish central administration in the 16th and 17th centuries, and 17th-century foreign policy. Edén was responsible for the publication of much valuable source material.