Party System and Foreign Policy in Denmark

In: Cooperation and conflict: journal of the Nordic International Studies Association, Band 14, Heft 3, S. 159-170

Abstract

Faurby, I. Party System and Foreign Policy in Denmark. Cooperation and Conflict, XIV, 1979, 159-170. Using number of parties and their mutual ideological distance as the main variables, this article gives a preliminary description of the Danish party system as it functions within the issue-area of foreign and defence policy. Based upon an analysis of the parties' voting on all foreign and defence policy issues before the Danish parliament from 1953 to 1977 the pattern of party distances in each government period is shown. Among the conclusions are that neither the number of parties nor the parliamentary basis of the governments is the main variable explaining the level of conflict over foreign policy, and that in spite of the dramatic changes in the Danish party system in the 1970s there has been no directly observable consequences on foreign policy. In spite of changes, parties representing an overwhelming majority in parliament support not only NATO and EC membership but all the main elements of Danish foreign policy.