9:36 a.m.
Welcome to an online seminar from the Nordic Labour History Network.
From reserved to super-ally: Social Democratic foreign policy in the 20th Century and
beyond
Tuesday, October 11, 15:00-16:00
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 20th and 21st 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
Use this link to participate on Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/s/84487563217?pwd=WE4zYUx0WVB0VVBRd1MvNnJZR04zUT09
Upcoming seminars:
Tuesday, November 15
Johan Svanberg: Migration at the multi-level intersection of industrial relations: the
Schleswig-Holstein Campaign and the Swedish garment industry in the early 1950s
Tuesday, December 13
Olli M. Siitonen: Moral injury and American narratives of killing in the Vietnam War
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Elin Anna Labba: The Lord and Masters put us here: The Deportation of the Sámi
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