Oscar Josef Alin was a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 historian and politician.

Alin was born in Falun

Falun

Falun is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 36,447 inhabitants in 2005. It is also the capital of Dalarna County...

. In 1872 he completed his doctorate and became docent

Docent

Docent is a title at some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks below professor . Docent is also used at some universities generically for a person who has the right to teach...

 of political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

, and in 1882 professor skytteanus of Government and Eloquence at Uppsala University

Uppsala University

Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...

. As professor skytteanus he succeeded Vilhelm Erik Svedelius, whom he also followed in the inspectorship of the university's Västmanland-Dalarna Nation. In September 1888 he was elected a member of the first chamber of the Riksdag

Parliament of Sweden

The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...

, where he attached himself to the conservative protectionist party, over which, from the first, he exercised great authority. He retired from the Riksdag in 1899 to become rector magnificus of the university, but died already at the end of the next year. It is as a historian that Alin is most remarkable.

Among his numerous works the following are especially worthy of note: Bidrag till svenska rådets historia under medeltiden (Upsala 1872); Sveriges historia, 1511-1611 (Stockholm, 1878); Bidrag till svenska statskickets historia (Stockholm, 1884–1887); Den svensk-norsk unionen (Stockholm, 1889–1891), the best book on the Norwego-Swedish Union question from the Swedish point of view; Fjerde artiklen af fredstraktaten i Kiel (Stockholm, 1899); Carl Johan och Sveriges yttre politik, 1810-1815 (Stockholm, 1899); Carl XIV Johan och rikets ständer, 1840-1841 (Stockholm, 1893). He also edited Svenska riksdagsakter, 1521-1554 (Stockholm, 1887), in conjunction with Emil Hildebrand, and Sveriges grundlagar (Stockholm, 1892).

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