How Denmark got involved in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya

”Alike or Different?” is the title of a new book about how the Nordic countries intervene militarily abroad. It focuses on the decision-making leading up to interventions in two ways. First, it takes a look at the formal and quite technical decision-making procedure from when a country first receives a request to the moment when a decision is made. Second, it focusses on when and why each of the Nordic countries (with the exception of Iceland due to their lack of an army) reaches a specific decision on an intervention abroad.

The Danish chapter, co-authored by Mikkel Runge Olesen (DIIS) and Johannes Riber Nordby (Royal Danish Defence College), focusses on issues relating to the Danish participation in the interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya as cases. The chapter argues that the key explanation for Danish consensus and disagreements in these cases can be found in differences in strategic culture within the centre-right and the centre-left.

The book is the result of a collaboration between Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish researchers and has been edited by Håkan Edström and Dennis Gyllensporre from the Swedish National Defence College.

You can acquire the book here directly from Santérus Academic Press.