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As Awkward as They Need to Be: Denmark’s Pragmatic Activist Approach to Europe

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Nordic States and European Integration

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics ((PSEUP))

Abstract

This chapter makes three contributions towards understanding Danish awkwardness. First, the chapter unpacks the characteristics of Danish awkwardness and explains how it has developed since the debate over whether or not to seek membership in the early 1970s. Second, the chapter discusses how Danish state identity, rooted in the context of deep societal changes in Danish society in the second half of the nineteenth century and in the first part of the twentieth century, has created a particular action space for Denmark’s engagement with the European integration project. Third, the chapter discusses Denmark’s strategies for managing awkwardness in the European Union.

This chapter benefitted from presentations at the panel ‘Awkward Nordic Partners in the European Integration Process?’, UACES 46th Annual Conference, Queen Mary University, London, 5–7 September, 2016, and at the panel ‘The Foreign Policy of the EU and Its Member States’ at the 40th Anniversary Conference of the Danish Society for European Studies, 6–7 October, 2016. I would like to thank the participants at the events, and, in particular, Philomena Murray, Malin Stegmann McCallion and Chiara De Franco for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Anders Wivel

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  1. Anders Wivel
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Correspondence to Anders Wivel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    Malin Stegmann McCallion

  2. University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom

    Alex Brianson

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Wivel, A. (2018). As Awkward as They Need to Be: Denmark’s Pragmatic Activist Approach to Europe. In: Stegmann McCallion, M., Brianson, A. (eds) Nordic States and European Integration. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57562-9_2

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