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Sørensen, C. L. Danish Party Policies on European and Nordic Cooperation. Cooperation and Conflict, XIV, 1979, 171-191. This article studies in detail the EC policies of eleven Danish parties with special emphasis on their implication for future Nordic cooperation. It is empirically based on election programmes and manifestoes used in the first direct elections to the European Parliament, where Danish parties were forced to state and explain their perceptions in a clear and explicit way on a number of issues related to European and Nordic cooperation. The EC election was an opportunity to discuss the future position of Denmark in international politics, but it largely developed into a repetition of the 1972 referendum on the costs and benefits of EC membership. The conclusion is that Danish political parties have been extremely status quo minded and immobile in their foreign policy perceptions throughout the seventies. If, therefore, Nordic cooperation is to be stimulated in the foreseeable future, initiatives in that direction will most certainly not come from Danish political parties, who seem to be locked in stereotyped perceptions of the foreign policy position of Denmark.

During the months preceding the Danish EC referendum in 1972, 90 persons constituting the very top of the political elite were interviewed. Categorized in four sub-elites – the parliamentary, administrative, organization and communications elites – this highest layer of the Danish political system is portrayed with respect to social background and other potentially important characteristics. Elite attitudes towards EC membership and European integration in general showed a pro-European consensus motivated by economic considerations. Social and political integration were also viewed with sympathy, provided the extent of social integration remained limited, and provided political integration excluded security policy. Only elite attitudes towards the supranational EC institutions revealed cleavages and ambiguity. More than anything else, Danish elite attitudes seemed to be determined by a small state's overall dependence on the surrounding European system both in an economic and political sense.

During the months preceding the Danish EC referendum in 1972, 90 persons consti tuting the very top of the political elite were interviewed. Categorized in four sub- elites - the parliamentary, administrative, organization and communications elites- this highest layer of the Danish political system is portrayed with respect to social background and other potentially important characteristics. Elite attitudes towards EC membership and European integration in general showed a pro-European con sensus motivated by economic considerations. Social and political integration were also viewed with sympathy, provided the extent of social integration remained limited, and provided political integration excluded security policy. Only elite attitudes towards the supranational EC institutions revealed cleavages and ambiguity. More than anything else, Danish elite attitudes seemed to be determined by a small state's overall depen dence on the surrounding European system both in an economic and political sense.

It has been argued that the credibility of the American nuclear deterrent is declining in Western Europe. Whether this is true or not, it seems clear that support for the NATO alliance had reached a remarkably low level among Western European political elites as the 1970s drew to a close. One possible alternative to continued reliance on the Atlantic Alliance would be for Western Europe to develop its own independent defence capabilities. Certainly, in terms of economic and technological resources, this option should be within reach of an integrated European Community. And indeed there seems to be widespread support among European political leaders for the principle of having Western Europe play a more independent role vis‐à‐vis both superpowers. But there is no clear consensus in favour of the increased defence expenditures that such a policy would entail. Nor is there a consensus in favour of developing a unified West European security system inside or outside the institutional framework of the European Community. Our evidence in support of these conclusions is based on interviews carried out with candidates for the European Parliament in all nine member countries during the months immediately preceding the first direct elections in June, 1979.