The Danish euro: constructing a monetary oxymoron in the Danish euro debate

Abstract

In this article, I analyse the political debate leading up to the Danish euro referendum in 2000. I show how the euro-positive government unintentionally reinforced the arguments of the euro-sceptics by framing the euro as something belonging to the nation-state. I argue that this paradoxical campaign strategy stems from the Danish conceptualisation of nation and state and from the close connection between national currencies and feelings of community and citizenship more general. The analysis confirms the suggestion made by Gilbert that new monetary organisation, such as European Monetary Union, potentially reconfigures the feelings of belonging, popular sovereignty and social welfare rights.

The glory and demise of monetary nationalism in the post‐communist Baltic states

“…This paper contributes to the growing body of research on the role of currencies in nation building as symbols of national identity (Dodd 1994(Dodd , 1995(Dodd , 2001Gilbert 2005;Gilbert and Helleiner 1999;Helleiner 1998Helleiner , 2003aHelleiner , 2003bHelleiner , 2006Helleiner and Pickel 2005;Kaelberer 2005Kaelberer , 2010Lauer 2008;Meier-Pesti and Kirchler 2003;Müller-Peters 1998;Peebles 2008;Penrose 2011;Penrose and Cumming 2011;Popadopoulos 2015;Sørensen 2014Sørensen , 2016Unwin and Hewitt 2001;Wallach 2011). According to my working definition of monetary nationalism, this is the variety of nationalism, which conceives of national currency as an essential element of nation state and national identity ('one nation, one money').…”

“Too Weird for Banknotes”: Legitimacy and Identity in the Production of Danish Banknotes 1947–2007

“…Various scholars have pointed to this interrelation as a potential research agenda (See for example Billig, :41; Helleiner, ; Nakano, ). In the Danish case, scholars have closely linked the national currency, the krone (meaning the Crown), to public perceptions of national community and political sovereignty (Jupille & Leblang, ; Sørensen, ). In particular, much work has been done on how national elites devise and implement an agenda of nationalism, using the imagery of banknotes and coins as instruments to cultivate identity and foster national community.…”