denmark – the impeccable ally? associate professor, jens ringsmose centre for war studies...
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Denmark – the impeccable ally?
Associate Professor, Jens RingsmoseCentre for War Studies
University of Southern Denmark
Denmark’s foreign policy after 1990
• Foreign policy activism• The militarization of
Danish foreign policy• From 2001:– From atlanticism to
super-atlanticism– From activism to super-
activism
• Ideational and pragmatic considerations
Denmark and the Atlantic Alliance
• From NATO-Prügel- to NATO-Musterknabe– New burden-sharing
dynamics and –metrics– Substantial mission
contributions– Political willingness to
take risks– Public support – but,
why?
Public opinion and the war in Afghanistan (Oct. 2011)
Number of deployed troops
Deployed troop per capita (100,000)
ISAF / deployable land forces
(percentage)
Denmark 750 13.64 12.30
United Kingdom 9,500 15.54 12.08
United States 90,000 29.30 9.28
Norway 429 9.20 4.56
Sweden 500 5.50 16.02
Finland 156 2.97 8.67
Public opinion and the war in Afghanistan (Jan. 2010)
Allies with no caveats Allies with few / insignificant caveats
Allies with many / significant caveats
Canada Albania Belgium
Denmark Croatia Bulgaria
Estonia Czech Republic Greece
France Germany Italy
Hungary Norway Netherlands
Latvia Romania Portugal
Lithuania Slovakia Slovenia
Luxembourg Spain
Poland Turkey
U.K.
U.S.
Public opinion and the war in Afghanistan (Oct. 2011)
Casualties Casualties per mill. inhabitants
Casualties per deployed troops
(100)
Denmark 42 7.64 5.60
United Kingdom 383 6.27 4.03
United States 1,821 5.93 2.02
Norway 10 2.15 2.33
Sweden 5 0.55 1.00
Finland 2 0.38 1.91
Public opinion and the war in Afghanistan (Oct. 2011)
The Danish anomaly
May06 Oct06 Mar07 Aug07 Jan08 Jun08 Oct08 Mar09 Aug09 Jan10 Jun100
10
20
30
40
50
60
Support NL
Linear (Support NL)
Support DK
Linear (Support DK)
Support UK
Linear (Support UK)
Support CA
Linear (Support CA)
Time
supp
ort %
The Danish anomaly
Source: Peter Viggo Jakobsen, (2011) , “Hvorfor er danskerne så krigsglade og tolerante overfor tab?”
29-30. aug. 200631. okt. 200622-25. okt. 20077-10. jan. 2008jan. 20083-4. april 20083-4. april 20083-10. april 7-10. april 2008april 20083-4. juni 2008juni 200828-30. okt. 200810. nov. 200816. feb. 200916-20. april 20097-11. m
aj 200925-26. juni 200929-30. juli 2009aug. 200929-30. okt. 20097-9. nov. 20099-11. decem
ber 200911-14. jan. 2010m
arts 20105-9 juli. 201025. aug. 201010-13. jan. 2011
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Support (%) Linear (Support (%)) Linear (Support (%))
Casu
altie
s
TendencySu
ppor
t in
%
Why such a popular war?
• Possible explanations:– Elite consensus– Effective communication– Popular Minister of Defence
(Søren Gade)– Positive stories from
Afghanistan told by soldiers
Denmark’s future role in transatlantic relations
• A return to the 1990’s?• Normalization• Activism• Atlanticism
• Challenges to Denmark’s position• Defence cuts• Opt-out
Questions or comments?