Becoming a warring nation: the Danish ‘military moment’ and its repercussions

Abstract

This introduction sets the frame for the section's four articles, all themed on contemporary developments in Denmark in the wake of the country's involvement in the 'coalition' wars of recent decades. During this period, Danish governments have adopted a so-called 'activist' foreign policy, a key element of which is the increased utilization of its armed forces in operations across the globe. These processes are interesting, not least because they run counter to earlier conceptions in and of Denmark, a country that has been known, for long, as a bastion of politically liberal stances, widespread pacifism and a strong foreign policy tradition of noninvolvement. We outline this Danish road from 'adaptation' to 'activism', arguing for a need for a critical, qualitatively based research focus on the social and cultural repercussions of this peculiar 'military moment' in Denmark. The four articles that make up the themed section are written on the basis of ethnographic case studies that seek to contribute to such a wider discussion.

Facing the Warrior: An Ethnographic Montage on Post-9/11 Warriorisation of Danish Military Professions

“…Armadillo is … an inescapable testimony to Denmark's national loss of innocence. Again, "the warrior" is a morally dubious, dark-hearted figure that one may come to embody through one's subjectifying experiences with brutal and brutalising acts of combat -acts through which the innocence of youth is lost, and the innocence of a nation, which for decades had grown accustomed to regarding itself as peaceful, along with it (Daugbjerg & Sørensen, 2017). Regardless of what we make of Armadillo, the documentary draws a portrait of what has become known as Denmark's new "warrior generation" (krigergeneration).…”

Awkward ethnography: an untapped resource in organizational studies

“…In reality, however, “real combat” is something only few Danish and Swedish soldiers experience, even when deployed. Furthermore, the situation in the vignette revealed an understanding of the organization's orientation towards combat as the backdrop of (ideally) everything that the organization does; something that is specific to time and place as the country in question quite recently has turned into a “warring nation” (Daugbjerg and Sørensen, 2017).…”

Krigens betydning for parforholdet – hvordan veteraners efterreaktioner på udsendelse udfordrer intimitet og kommunikation blandt militære par

“…Krig og vaebnet konflikt er en af de globale kriser, der både direkte og indirekte kan føre til alvorlig belastning af individ og familiesystem. Som led i en mere aktivistisk udenrigspolitisk strategi er danske tropper og specialstyrker i stigende grad over de sidste 30 år blevet udsendt for at tage del i internationale vaebnede konflikter (Daugbjerg & Sørensen, 2017). Siden 1948 har Forsvaret udsendt flere end 60.000 soldater til områder med vaebnet konflikt.…”