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Adelina Antipova, 3^rd year student of the faculty of Management and economics, Institute of World Civilizations, Moscow

Abstract: This article describes one of the key aspects of Denmark’s foreign policy – supporting relations with other states as an independent sovereign state. The task to go over the influence of international peacekeeping on the state itself and its position in the European Union is considered to be the beginning of the policy the Danish kingdom nowadays. The article presents the main provisions on the topic based on the analysis of literature and Internet sources.

Keywords: Denmark, UN, NATO, foreign policy, international peacekeeping, unitary state, Europe, military personnel, operations, Danish peacekeeping, “blue helmets”.

Introduction

The Danish kingdom is a sovereign unitary state. However, such regions of Denmark as the Faroe Islands and Greenland are the possessions of the Danish monarchy only from the 18th century and have their own cultural and historical identity [4]. Therefore, they have extensive autonomy and local government has broad legislative and administrative full powers.

Denmark’s foreign policy is based on identifying the country as a sovereign nation of Europe. Based on the foregoing, the main criterion for foreign policy is supporting relations with the other countries as the independent sovereign states. This role stipulates equal negotiations with other states which allows to be members of the United Nations (further UN) and enter international economic and political organizations. Denmark has a positive reputation in terms of relations with the other countries. It actively participated in the direction and coordination of Western assistance to the Baltic countries. As part of the UN Protection, Denmark has participated and still participates today in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Denmark also pursues foreign policy regarding human rights, democracy and other human values, and is an active participant in international peacemaking.

International peacemaking

This is the method that allows and directs various regions to agreements and permission of the intentions of the war or its termination, is called peacemaking. The founder of the method is the UN – UN peacekeeping forces as armed forces of countries.

Initially it was assumed that these operations would be conducted with respect to enforce cease-fire and separation of opposing sides after interstate wars [6]. However, hereinafter according to the UN Charter, the function of eliminating threats of peace and secure conflict resolutions is also included into international peacemaking.

Peacekeeping is carried out in a safe way by joint coercive actions regarding an object that threatens the world [6]. The list of methods, tools and tools includes (for VI and VII chapters of the UN Charter):

– Peaceful means such as negotiations, establishing facts, arbitration etc.

– Traditional operations, serving in the role of paramilitary means.

– Coercive means, nonmilitary, such as legal, economic and other sanctions [5].

Powers, including decisions on funding, creation, composition belongs to the UN Council. International peacemaking acts as a function of the third role in social activities, which is aimed at war. In the history of the League of Nations managed to resolve and prevent more than 70 political conflicts.

It is worth pointing out a moment of voluntary provision of service troops by UN states-members. This means that the UN does not have a permanent international contingent – neither military nor police [5].

Denmark and international peacemaking

Denmark puts emphasis on such an aspect as the country’s authority in the international arena and its influence on all processes occurring on the European continent. It should be noted that the state of the national armed forces and their participation in international peacekeeping is one of the determining criteria of this factor. However, in 1949, when Denmark joined the bloc of the founding countries of NATO, it stated that it was not ready to place military bases and weapons on the territory of the state during peacetime [2]. The emphasis was also placed on limiting the military activities of other states on Bornholm. It should be noted that this information does not apply to such regions as Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Denmark has been participating in International Peacekeeping since 1948. Participation in this activity began when 11 soldiers of the kingdom were sent to the Middle East under the UN flag as military observers as part of a multinational military contingent. A year later, 6 military observers were sent from Denmark such as other representatives from 45 countries [1]. The newly formed UN mission envisioned monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan. The events of these years are considered to be the beginning of Denmark’s participation in the UN international peacekeeping forces.

Gradually, the geography of active participation of the Danish troops has been increasing. From the mid-1950’s to the beginning of the 21st century, Denmark took part in peacekeeping operations in 18 UN missions. The number of Danish “blue helmets” started expanding and increasing from those times. A good example is the number of Danish military observers in relation to the year of participation in operations (Annex). For example:

– mission on the Iraq-Kuwait border (UNIKOM) and in Georgia (UNOMIG)

– Danish military observer

– 1 Danish military observer in the Hebron’s group and in the mission Peninsula Prevlaka

– 3,606 Danish troops were sent to the territory of the former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR)

However, the Danish “blue helmets” could not boast of with a large number of soldiers or police officers in every missions. But for the rotation, it showed that even the small number of people who took part in the operations suggests that Denmark is permanently involved in international peacekeeping.

It also should be noted that Denmark took part not only in UN operations, but also in NATO and the OSCE (see Attachment 1). The gained experience has served as a starting point in training, equipping and training since 1994 of the Baltic Peacekeeping Battalion, together with its colleagues-states such as Norway, Finland and Sweden. That battalion consisted of military personnel from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and was promptly ready by the end of 1997. [2]

As for the training of a peacekeeping contingent which carries out peace-enforcement operations, peacekeeping and humanitarian, under the auspices of international organizations and the United Nations – on 1 July 1994, a rapid response brigade was formed that consisted of 4,500 people. Later that team also became part of the NATO rapid response.

Due to the union consisting of Denmark and such states as Canada, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Norway and Sweden a multinational UN High Readiness Brigade SHIRBRIG was formed on September 2 in 1997. The main function of this brigade is constant readiness for the relocation to any part of the world within 15—30 days.

Foreign experts note that the role of Denmark in maintaining international peacekeeping is one of the leading ones [3]. Denmark is also one of the few countries that provides a resource such as warships for various operations.

The authorities of Denmark believe that international peacekeeping have a great influence on the image of Denmark on the international scene and also influences the decisions made on the EU level. Therefore, the resources allocated by Denmark differ in scale. For example:

– The permanent strength of the armed forces is 30,000;

– The military budget of Denmark is equal to the costs of the country’s participation in NATO’s military programs and amounts to 1.4% of the country’s annual GDP;

– About 44,000 people took part in NATO operations; and so on.

Conclusion

International peacekeeping is one of the key points of Denmark’s foreign policy as its main aspect is the maintenance of favorable relations with other countries. Also I should point out that the Danish Kingdom has a fairly good and long history of relations with the other countries.

Danish military personnel worthily represent their country abroad, which favorably affects the country’s foreign policy.

References

1. Grishaeva L.E. Russia and the UN: history and modernity. M., 2007

2. Ravens K. Peacekeeping in the Nordic countries: responses to challenges. World Economy and International Relations, 2011, No. 12, p. 57—68

3. Roberts, Adam; Kingsbury, Benedict, ed. (1994). United Nations, a divided world: UN roles in international relations (2nd ed.). Oxford University.

4. S. Shapkin, Foreign Military Review No. 11/2001, Denmark and international peacekeeping.

5. Zapariy Yu. V. UN peacekeeping operations and the Soviet Union: policy and practice – 2004, №31, pp.153

6. Information and analytical portal: interaction of Denmark and NATO [Internet source]. Retrieved from: http://nat.rf/ru/denmark.html (Accessed date: 2018, Sep 16).

Annex