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Denmark's Foreign Policy Explained · Diplomacy and International Relations

• 0:00
  Welcome to diplomacy and international relations.
• 0:03
  Glad to be here. Yeah, and just real quick,
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  It's some really great extra content, so yeah, check that
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  out. Right.
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  So today our mission is to understand a pretty massive
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  geopolitical pivot. We are looking at a huge stack
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  of recent strategy documents, think tank reports, some
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  international agreements, and they all reveal A radical
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  transformation in Denmark's foreign policy.
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  Yeah, radicals really the right word here.
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  I mean, traditionally when you think of Denmark's global brand,
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  you picture this very quiet idealistic diplomacy, right?
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  Like promoting soft values, Building Schools, relying purely
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  on dialogue. Exactly.
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  Is that classic almost like a luxury cruise liner of a foreign
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  policy? Very polite, working strictly
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  within the UN frameworks, but that old model is basically
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  gone. Gone entirely and these
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  documents show how they've rapidly pivoted to become this
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  really hard nosed pragmatic geopolitical frontrunner and
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  there's. Actually a specific term for
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  this new official strategy, it was introduced by the Foreign
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  minister Lars Lika Rasmussen, and it's called pragmatic
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  idealism. Pragmatic idealism.
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  It sounds a bit like an oxymoron, doesn't it?
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  A. Little bit, yeah, But it's a
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  very calculated shift. They're moving away from relying
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  purely on universal values and diplomatic dialogue.
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  Instead, they're actively defending their core values, but
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  with, you know, highly realistic assessments of military and
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  economic power. So it's like having ideals but
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  actually bringing a big stick to back them up.
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  Exactly, because having high ideals without the hard power to
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  defend them is just, well, it's just not enough anymore in this
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  world. Right.
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  But a country doesn't just wake up one Tuesday and completely
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  rewrite its geopolitical identity.
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  You know, there has to be a catalyst.
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  And looking at the sources, that shock to the system was
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  definitely Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
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  Oh. Absolutely.
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  That was the ultimate catalyst. It completely shattered that old
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  Danish foreign policy model overnight.
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  It's wild to look at the timeline because for 30 years
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  Denmark had this very strict EU defense opt out, right?
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  Yeah, going all the way back to 1992, they specifically stayed
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  out of European military integration.
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  But then June 2022, just months after the invasion, there's this
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  historic referendum and Danes just abolished the opt out, just
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  completely reversed 30 years of policy.
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  Because the reality on the ground had changed so
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  drastically, and that vote fundamentally changed their role
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  in European security. The fear wasn't about Brussels
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  getting too much power anymore, It was about an actual land war
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  in Europe. Which opens the floodgates for
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  what they do next. I mean, by February 2024,
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  Denmark signs a 10 year bilateral security agreement
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  with Ukraine. 10 years, yeah. And it features an 8 1/2 billion
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  euro Ukraine fund. Plus they're spearheading the
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  coalition to provide F16 fighter jets and the training for the
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  pilots. Demining efforts. 14 Leopard
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  tanks. And the artillery, we have to
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  mention the artillery. 19 Caesar Howitzers This detail really
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  stuck out to me. They gave Ukraine 19 of these
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  French made wheeled howitzer which.
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  Was their entire national stock, every single piece they had?
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  OK, let me just push back on this for a second or play
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  devil's advocate here because emptying out your own artillery
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  stock completely, literally leaving 0 for your own army.
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  Yeah, giving it all away. Right overnight.
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  Is this actually a calculated long term strategy or is this
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  just reactive panic to a war on the continent?
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  I mean, you're leaving yourself defenseless, see.
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  From a traditional defense mindset, it looks like panic.
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  But under this new pragmatic idealism, the calculation is
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  totally different. The assessment in Copenhagen is
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  that the front line of Danish defense isn't at the Danish
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  border anymore, it's in Ukraine. So keeping 19 howitzers in a
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  warehouse doesn't actually make them safer.
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  Exactly. If Ukraine falls, Europe
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  destabilizes, so putting that artillery directly into the
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  hands of Ukrainian soldiers is literally the most efficient use
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  of those weapons for Denmark's own security.
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  Wow, OK, that is incredibly pragmatic and they're totally
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  revamping how they fund this too.
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  Yeah, especially now, during Denmark's EU presidency, which
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  kicked off in July 2025, they've been championing what everyone
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  is calling the Danish model. Right, because normally Western
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  support meant taking tax money, paying a Western contractor to
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  build a tank and than trying to ship it across the border,
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  dealing with all these logistics.
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  Which is slow and incredibly complicated.
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  So the Danish model just bypasses all that.
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  They're directing financial funding straight into Ukraine's
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  own domestic defense industry. They're just paying Ukrainian
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  factories to build their own weapons.
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  Exactly, Ukraine has the factories, they just lack the
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  capital. So this gets weapons to the
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  front faster and boosts the Ukrainian economy at the same
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  time. And the public is on board with
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  this. Very much so.
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  There was a recent poll showing 65% of Danes actually support
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  sending their own troops to Ukraine as part of a future
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  peacekeeping force. 65%. Yeah, so that fear in Copenhagen
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  is no longer that the EU might become too powerful, it's a
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  genuine fear that Europe might be too weak.
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  Right. They have to step up.
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  But it's interesting because Denmark security concerns aren't
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  just focused eastward toward Russia.
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  If we look at the documents, they have a massive geopolitical
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  puzzle right in their own backyard.
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  In the Arctic, yeah. Right Greenland.
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  We're shifting from Europe to the Arctic, and the tension
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  between Greenland's local autonomy and Denmark's national
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  security is just fascinating. It really is because Greenland
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  operates under a self role framework, so they control their
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  own domestic development infrastructure, the economy.
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  But Denmark retains authority over defense and foreign
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  affairs. Exactly which creates what
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  political scientists call the principal agent problem.
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  Right where they have completely different priorities, right?
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  Greenland, the agent in this scenario, desperately wants
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  rapid economic development. They need infrastructure.
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  But Denmark? The principal prioritizes NATO
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  alignment and keeping the security environment stable.
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  Which came to a head during the 2017 to 2018 airport episode,
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  right? Greenland wanted to build 3 new
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  airports. Yes, and to do that they invited
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  Chinese state linked firms to bid on the projects.
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  Because to Greenland, it's just about getting the cheapest, best
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  infrastructure built. Right, but for Denmark, having a
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  Chinese state firm building critical infrastructure on NATO
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  territory, especially near US radar bases, is a massive
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  security crisis. They had a very similar tension
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  back in 2016 too, over a naval base in Grenadel.
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  Where foreign buyers were sniffing around an old military
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  facility. Exactly.
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  You know, reading through this, this sounds a bit like a parent
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  giving a teenager a credit card to plan a road trip.
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  Oh, that's a good way to put it. Right, and then the parent
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  checks the statement and realizes they just booked a trip
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  to a war zone, but instead of grounding them and, you know,
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  causing a massive family feud over it, the parent just steps
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  in and quietly pays for a nicer, safer trip somewhere.
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  Else, I love that analogy. It's so accurate because what
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  Denmark uses here is called buyout logic.
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  Buyout logic, so they just pay the problem away.
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  Essentially yes, because Denmark legally could just veto the
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  Chinese bids on national security grounds.
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  But a hard veto looks incredibly colonial.
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  It damages the legitimacy of Greenland's autonomy.
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  It's a bad look, a terrible look.
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  So instead of a veto, Denmark buys alignment.
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  They intervened late in the airport project and stepped in
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  to finance it themselves. So they just crowd out the
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  Chinese influence with their own money.
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  Exactly. They get the infrastructure
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  built, China stays out, and they do it without humiliating
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  Greenland. It's highly pragmatic.
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  And Speaking of China, that airport situation perfectly
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  illustrates a much larger tightrope Denmark is walking
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  globally right now. Because how do you handle the
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  superpower that was actually bidding on those airports?
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  It's the ultimate dilemma. And Denmark's relationship with
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  China has really evolved between, say, 2018 and 2022.
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  They were in very tight coordination with Washington and
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  Brussels. They view China strictly as a
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  systemic rival. Very adversarial, but the
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  sources point out that this new centrist coalition in Denmark
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  has pivoted to something called pragmatic re engagement.
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  Right, driven by this new EU aligned concept of de risking.
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  OK, let me pause you there because I want to challenge this
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  concept of de risking. Is that just a polite diplomatic
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  rebrand of decoupling? I mean, can you really separate
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  economic supply chains from national security when you're
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  dealing with a global superpower?
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  It's a fair question. De risking is about addressing
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  supply chain vulnerabilities like protecting critical
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  infrastructure and safeguarding your tech without entirely
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  severing economic ties. You aren't fully decoupling,
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  but. Isn't that just trying to have
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  your cake and eat it too? Well, the broader context is
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  that you actually need China for global trade, and more
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  importantly, you absolutely need them for the green energy
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  transition. Which is a massive priority for
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  Denmark. Exactly.
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  Denmark's domestic and foreign policy heavily relies on climate
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  goals, so pragmatic idealism means accepting an uncomfortable
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  truth. You cannot ignore China.
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  You can't decouple. You need their solar panels.
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  They're rare earth metals. Right, So you protect your
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  Danish companies regarding cybersecurity and export
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  controls, but you keep the dialogue open.
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  You manage the risk without burning the bridge entirely.
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  And that ties perfectly into what might be Denmark's most
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  potent offensive strategy. Because dealing with global
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  powers isn't just about playing defense or managing risk.
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  Not at all. They have this incredible weapon
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  now. Green Diplomacy.
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  This is where Denmark really punches above its weight.
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  Their domestic climate targets are incredibly ambitious.
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  They're aiming for a 70% carbon reduction by 20-30 and to be
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  entirely neutral by 2050. Which?
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  Gives them massive credibility abroad when they show up to talk
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  climate they actually have the receipts.
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  Exactly. And they've set up what they
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  call green frontline missions. They have Danish embassies in 18
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  different countries acting as active promoters of a global
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  green transition. Like they're actually partnering
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  with major emitters China, India, Mexico and.
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  They backed it up with money. Denmark allocates .7% of its GNI
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  gross national income to official development assistance.
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  Yeah, heavily focusing on climate fragility and human
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  rights. And you see their leadership at
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  places like Copy 26, where they founded the Beyond Oil and Gas
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  Alliance, or BUGA with Costa Rica.
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  This is brilliant. I mean, this feels like the
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  ultimate diplomatic Trojan horse, because by leading the
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  charge on climate change, Denmark gets to sit at the table
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  with the world's biggest superpowers.
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  They're in the room for these massive policy discussions, but
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  simultaneously they're creating a massive export market for
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  their own Danish green tech. That is exactly what's
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  happening. The data validates that
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  completely. Denmark exports over 100 billion
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  Danish kroner and green energy technology. 100 billion.
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  That's staggering. It is it's soft power at its
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  absolute finest. They are genuinely addressing a
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  global crisis, the climate emergency, but they're
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  simultaneously boosting their own domestic economic resilience
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  and international standing. Doing well by doing good.
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  It's exactly pragmatic idealism in a nutshell.
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  Well, this has been an incredible exploration of the
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  source material. Just to summarize what we've
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  covered today, we've seen a mid sized nation shed its purely
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  idealistic skin to embrace the really hard realities of modern
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  geopolitics. A total paradigm shift.
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  Yeah, from sending F sixteens and literally all their
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  artillery to Ukraine, to quietly buying out airport bids in
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  Greenland, to using green diplomacy to export billions in
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  tech globally, Denmark is writing the playbook for
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  pragmatic idealism. They are, but I think there's a
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  lingering question here that we all need to ponder.
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  We see Denmark and the EU at large really stepping up to take
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  responsibility for their own security.
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  But if traditional security guarantors like the United
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  States were to suddenly pull back from Europe or the Arctic,
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  can a mid size powers pragmatic idealism truly fill a superpower
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  sized vacuum? Wow, yeah.
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  Or are these strategies as smart as they are, relying on an old
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  world order that is already gone?
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  That is the ultimate question right there.
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  Definitely something for you, the listener, to Mull over on
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  your own. Thank you so much for joining us
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  for this conversation today. Please make sure to follow the
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  people. We'll catch you next time.