A Nordic Alternative to Europe? The Interdependence of Denmark's Nordic and European policies, 1945–1998

Abstract

This article examines the interaction between Danish European and Nordic attitudes and policies in the postwar period. Attention is primarily dedicated to an analysis of how Nordic attitudes and policies have influenced Denmark's relations with Europe, and especially with the EEC/EU project. The article highlights how this interaction has moved through several different phases, and how priorities have shifted over time, with the Nordic policies functioning as an alternative to, as a platform for, and as a supplement to, Danish European policies. Despite the fact that most of the political elite early on lost belief in Norden as an alternative to Europe, this idea, stimulated by the intensive official and private cultivation of Nordic co-operation, kept its attraction among broad segments of the population. As a consequence a schism has developed between elite and popular attitutudes twoards European integration, and part of this schism must be explained with reference to how the vision of a Nordic alternative has continued to serve as a de-legitimiser of Danish involvement with the EEC/EU. However, this interdependence may be entering a new phase as a result of Finland and Sweden entering the EU in 1995.