New article re-evaluates how Danish foreign policy activism began
Danish foreign policy activism is usually dated to the end of the Cold War (or alternatively to September 11 2001). There is less agreement, however, on the question of why. Drawing on declassified material from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), this article argues that the shift in Danish foreign policy taking place at the end of the Cold War can actually be observed, as it was happening, through the study of the Baltic case. Thus, the article finds that the Danish support for Baltic independence was Denmark’s way of pursuing a long-term geopolitical gain in its near abroad through foreign policy activism, made possible by the permissible structural conditions opening up as the Cold War was coming to an end: Specifically, Soviet weakness and US willingness to exploit it.
DIIS Experts
