Chapter Nine. Conclusion: Power Through Organisation

Abstract

The Vasa dynasty's creation of naval power had become an integral part of how Swedish political decision-makers, including the peasants, perceived the power and security situation in Northern Europe. In this chapter, the peasants have appeared as timber-cutters and workers on shipyards, as suppliers of transport services, as providers of food, timber, hemp, sailcloth and iron, and as seamen and soldiers serving on the king's warships. The creation of naval power as a result of entrepreneurship is possibly easier to understand intuitively than is the entrepreneurial creation of an army. Navies depend on technical and industrial capabilities. The chapter argues that the essence of early modern state formation was development of organisational capabilities which could integrate various external resources with the core competence of the state and give the leaders at the top decisive advantages over competitors.Keywords: early modern state formation; entrepreneurship; naval power; organisational capabilities; peasants; Swedish political decision-makers; Vasa dynasty