An online seminar organized by the Nordic Labour History Network.

On 10 February 2022, the Danish Social Democratic Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, announced at a press conference that Denmark and the United States were embarking on a new era of defence cooperation, which might entail the presence of American troops on Danish soil.

This is the latest culmination of a process of foreign policy re-orientation in the Social Democratic Party, brought on by domestic as well as foreign policy issues.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s Social Democratic governments led a somewhat cautious security policy vis-à-vis the Soviet Union and Warszaw Pact. 1980’s the Social Democrats in opposition were the architects of the infamous Danish ‘footnote policy’ expressed in a series of reservations within NATO. Post-Cold War, however, the Social Democrats have been eager to show their loyalty to NATO and the US.

The presentation will give an overview over the development of Social Democratic foreign policy in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries, and of possible explanations – domestic and foreign – for these developments.

Presenter: Iben Bjørnson, Institute for Strategy and War Studies, Royal Danish Defence College, København
Chair: Jesper Jørgensen, Arbejdermuseet, København