Denmark's Foreign Relations in the 1990s

Abstract

Denmark faces, in the 1990s, a radically transformed security and political-economic environment, which is likely to have a profound impact on the relative importance of the five traditional arenas in Danish security and foreign economic policy, namely, the Nordic, the Atlantic, the West European, the All-European, and the global arenas. After a detailed analysis of Danish postwar security and foreign economic policies, which focuses on the effects of eroding domestic agreement in the 1980s, it is concluded that consensus has been largely reestablished and is likely to prevail in the 1990s, despite fundamental challenges to established policies and attitudes. Finally, Denmark's likely responses to four main challenges of the 1990s are discussed; these are the changing threat environment, the prospects for a European union, German unification, and possibilities for cooperation in the Baltic region.