More than anything else, political life in Finland during the first half of the nineteenth century was characterized by the fact that there was no formal political representation between the years 1809 and 1863. Metaphorically, this period is sometimes labelled as a “State Night” or “Political Night”. The same time is marked by the breakthrough of written constitutions and political ideologies in Europe, and although Finland lacked representative organizations, the topics were still present in intellectual exchange – albeit through alternative channels. The project Political Night in New Light 1809-1863 is funded by the Society for Swedish Literature in Finland and studies this period from the perspective of conceptual history and alternative representative assemblies. More information can be found here in English, here in Swedish and here in Finnish.