Nils Edén (25 August 1871 – 16 June 1945) was a Swedish historian and liberal politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1917 to 1920,[3] and along with Hjalmar Branting acknowledged as co-architect of Sweden's transition from a constitutional monarchy to a fully parliamentary democracy with equal male and female suffrage.

He was a specialist in Swedish 16th and 17th century history, but also published on topics concerning the union of Sweden and Norway.

His dissertation, Om centralregeringens organisation under den äldre Vasatiden 1523–1594 ("The organization of the central government during the older Vasa period, 1523–1594", 1899), was awarded the Geijer Prize.

In the meantime he was active as a liberal politician, having written on the burning issue of the union with Norway as early as the 1890s, arguing among Uppsala students for the system of compulsory military service that was introduced with the abolishment of the allotment system in 1901, and for universal suffrage, an issue that were in his mind and in the political rhetoric of the time connected to that of compulsory military service.

With no choice but to appoint a Liberal as prime minister, Gustaf invited Edén to form a government.

The fear of a revolutionary development in Sweden, under the impression of the events in Russia, post-World War I Germany and elsewhere, created a pressure for further democratization and through a first voting in the parliament, universal suffrage was introduced in 1921.