Riget, magten og militæret. Dansk forsvars- og sikkerhedspolitik under Forsvarskommissionerne af 1988 og af 1997
(The Kingdom, the Power and the Military. Danish Defense- and Security Policy under the Defense Commissions of 1988 and 1997)


By Bertel Heurlin
, Jean Monet Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen was published in February 2004.

288 p., DKK 248.00.
Order at Aarhus University Press: www.unipress.dk or +45 89 42 53 70.
 

Within less than 10 years two Danish defense commissions have given birth to thick, heavy three-volume reports on the state of the defense. Both were finalized over a two year period, 1988-89 and 1997-98. The commissions were formed in two very different eras, the cold war era and the post-cold war era, where security – and defense policy experienced sweeping changes. The content of this book: the kingdom, the power and the military in the light of two defense commissions reflecting two different world orders.   

The book confirms four theses: 1. the contrast thesis, which claims that there is a contrast between the two commissions in terms of defense policy and security policy. Under the 1988 Commission the main conflict was about security, not defense, in contrast to the 1997 Commission with a consensus on security and conflicting outcome on defense. 2. The cosmetic thesis, which claims lacking coherence between the security premises of the commission and the dimensioning of the defense. 3. The codification thesis, according to which the commissions primarily codified already implemented efforts and changes. 4. The continuation thesis, which claims that the defense – despite fundamental transformations in the international system – certainly did not transform fundamentally. 

The defense policy is released from the mothballs of the cold war. It is now placed in the political daylight, but still, however, part of the defense conciliation regime. The defense will, despite new roles for military forces, to a certain degree remain sacrosanct, maintaining a specific identity due to the monopoly of violence.

 


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