"The people" can mean many things: it can be a political unit (demos), a cultural entity (ethnos), and a social multitude (pléthos). Modern historian Ove Korsgaard focuses on the crucial struggles over who has (or has not) belonged to the people in the past 175 years and looks at its implications for state- and nation-building in Denmark and other Nordic countries.

Ove Korsgaard is an emeritus professor in the department of education at Aarhus University. He is regarded as one of the most important interpreters of Denmark's history, and his many publications include The Struggle for the People.