This article examines the interaction between Danish European and Nordic attitudes and policies in the postwar period. Attention is primarily dedicated to an analysis of how Nordic attitudes and policies have influenced Denmark's relations with Europe, and especially with the EEC/EU project. The article highlights how this interaction has moved through several different phases, and how priorities have shifted over time, with the Nordic policies functioning as an alternative to, as a platform for, and as a supplement to, Danish European policies. Despite the fact that most of the political elite early on lost belief in Norden as an alternative to Europe, this idea, stimulated by the intensive official and private cultivation of Nordic co-operation, kept its attraction among broad segments of the population. As a consequence a schism has developed between elite and popular attitutudes twoards European integration, and part of this schism must be explained with reference to how the vision of a Nordic alternative has continued to serve as a de-legitimiser of Danish involvement with the EEC/EU. However, this interdependence may be entering a new phase as a result of Finland and Sweden entering the EU in 1995.
Norsk utenrikspolitikks historie (‘The History of Norwegian Foreign Policy’), 6 vols. (Universitetsforlaget, 1995–7), NOK 298 – per volume ISBN 8–200–22639–5.Volume I: Narve Bjørgo, Øystein Rian and Alf Kaardtvedt: Selvstendighet og union. Fra middelalderen til 1905 (1995), 416 pp., ISBN 8–200–22393–0.Volume II: Roald Berg: Norge på egen hånd 1905–1920 (1995), 401 pp., ISBN 8–200–22394–9.Volume III: Odd-Bjørn Fure: Mellomkrigstid 1920–1940 (1996), 434 pp., ISBN 2–200–22534–8.Volume IV: Jakob Sverdrup: Inn i storpolitiken 1940–1949 (1996), 389 pp., ISBN 8–200–22531–3.Volume V: Knut Einar Eriksen and Helge Ø. Pharo: Kald krig og internasjonalisering 1949–1965 (1997), 505 pp., ISBN 8–200–22894–0.Volume VI: Rolf Tamnes: Oljealder 1965–1995 (1997), 568 pp., ISBN 8–200–22893–2.It is a tempting thought that there is a contrast between, on the one hand, this voluminous, painstakingly thorough and admirably documented publication and, on the other hand, the size of its subject. A foreign policy history is a prestigious project that is traditionally associated with the great and powerful states of Europe. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry has approached the project with no less austere a mind than the authorities of more populous European states. Well financed, well led and with stunningly generous access to even contemporary archive materials – up till 1995 – this particular foreign policy history might even be the one with the best official backing to date. Moreover, of the Scandinavian countries Norway is the one with the strongest tradition of international history, and most of the best minds in the field have been members of the team of authors. But why then, some would cry, throw this impressive weight into a history of one of Europe's smallest states, 4.5 million souls, placed at the outskirts of the European continent, not a member of the European Union and with fewer than 100 years of independent foreign policy at that?
In the political and historical exploration of the European integration, the period from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s has long been considered a lost decade between the bright dynamics of the founding period and the relaunch of the Delors-Mitterrand-Kohl era. With reference to the crisis of the Common Agricultural Policy, the blockade by the British budgetary question, the crippling decision-making process as well as the European economic malaise descriptions such as »Eurosclerosis« 1 , »dark ages« 2 or »deadlock« 3 prevailed. New research, however, breaks up these onesided interpretations and focuses on the progress of integration policy in this period, which would have laid the foundations for the third relance européenne from the mid-1980s 4 .The anthology to be considered here is the result of the 13 th conference of the European Union Liaison Committee of Historians in Århus from 11-12 December 2010 and confirms this research line. Through »a new look based on fresh archival research«, the book seeks to contribute to a multi-dimensional reinterpretation of the years from 1973 to 1983. Furthermore, by drawing on approaches and methods of political and social science research, it meets the demand for an analyticalmethodological enhancement of European integration historiography. The eleven profound contributions by twelve leading international experts are based primarily on the meticulous analysis of specialist literature, their own preliminary studies, and partly the analysis of newly available archival material. The rather heterogeneous contributions are loosely connected by the main topic, there is no categorisation based on specific questions. Nevertheless, they can be arranged according to certain criteria:The contributions of Johnny Laursen, Anne Deighton, Wolfram Kaiser and Piers Ludlow focus primarily on conceptual-methodological Publiziert unter | publiée sous CC BY 4.0 Publiziert unter | publiée sous CC BY 4.0
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