Two Scandinavian dogs barking at the Russian bear

By measuring foreign policy assertion, this article documents that Danish and Swedish Russia policies have fluctuated widely in the 21 Century, also in relation to each other. Specifically, big assertion leaps took place in 2002 (Denmark) and 2008 (Sweden). Having conceptualized and operationalized small state assertion, the article proceeds to the explanation of these leaps. The same factor turns out to be the efficient explanation in both cases: an individual policy-maker’s so-called ‘lesson of the past’ – what he believes ‘history teaches us’. The individuals were the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt. It is shown how existing theory of lessons of the past can contribute to the understanding of small state assertion in asymmetrical dyads, but only if the proper permissive circumstances are identified.

Read more aboutHans Mouritzen

Maria Mellander, cand. scient. pol.Head of Section in the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, working mainly on Arctic affairs. She graduated from the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. Her stays in Russia having included studies at Saint Petersburg State University and an affiliation with Carnegie Moscow Centre, her current research interests focus to a large extent on Russian foreign policy.