Denmark at War:Great Power Politics and Domestic Action Space in the cases of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq

In: Mariager , R M & Wivel , A 2019 , Denmark at War : Great Power Politics and Domestic Action Space in the cases of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq . in K Fischer & H Mouritzen (eds) , Danish Foreign Policy Review 2019 . Danish Institute for International Studies, DIIS , Copenhagen , Danish Foreign Policy Review , vol. 2019 , pp. 48-73 .

Abstract

From 1990 to 2018, Danish policy-makers committed Danish troops to 76 military operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia spanning from small observer missions to the wars following from the break-up of Yugoslavia and the war in Afghanistan. This article zooms in on the decision-making processes leading up to the Danish policy-makers' decisions to engage Denmark military in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, each an important step in the development of Denmark's military engagement. Focusing on the interplay between international developments and domestic constraints, we identify the decision-making patterns and discuss the implications for Denmark's military engagement now and in the future. We conclude that Denmark's military engagement was driven primarily by the willingness of Danish policy-makers to accommodate US requests for military contributions, typically even before they were communicated as concrete US preferences or demands.