Although the history and the future of the Danish Realm are currently questions of great political concern, and the Danish Folketing is an important arena for political life in the Realm, we know little about the North Atlantic mandates in the Danish Folketing. Most notably, we have no knowledge about the difference between the mandates from the Faroe Islands and Greenland: Do they participate in similar ways? Although North Atlantic MPs have acted quite similarly in relation to Danish government formation and have generally been most concerned with parliamentary affairs of specific interest to their homeland, there are important differences. Most notably, Greenlandic members have engaged almost twice as much in most parliamentary activities and they take much less leave.

Keywords: The Folketing, The Faroe Islands, Greenland, legislative affairs

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Emotions are often seen as problematic in a democratic society where rationality should apparently rule. However, emotions are inevitable in politics, because politics is about people, and all human decision making is based on emotions. This article gives an introduction to research in emotions in politics, which is progressing rapidly. The article discusses what emotions are and gives an overview of the functions of specific emotions, e.g., anger, compassion and fear, as well as their consequences for political behavior. Finally, the article highlights six widespread misunderstandings and lists six principles for understanding the link between emotions and politics.

Keywords: emotions, political psychology, opinion formation, political behavior

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In both the Home Rule Act as well as the Self-Government Act, it was made clear that Greenland had and has a certain legal leeway to conduct its own foreign policy. However, the exact extent of this leeway has always been unclear. This legal ambiguity played out in practice in the case of the “Arctic Window” from 1999. Then as now, Copenhagen and Nuuk had divergent interpretations of Greenland’s leeway to conduct its own foreign policy – this divergence was not communicated openly but rather swept under the rug. The fundamental legal ambiguity has been perpetuated in the Self-Government Act in force today. The dynamics explored in this article thus continue to hamper Danish-Greenlandic relations. This becomes increasingly problematic as the geopolitical competition in the Arctic draws in growing numbers of international actors, which the Danish Kingdom must be able to handle. 

Keywords: Danish Kingdom, Greenland, foreign policy, Arctic, European Union

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The article contributes to the Danish literature on public governance by presenting, analyzing and conceptualizing a widespread yet overlooked governance mode that will become even more influential in the future infrastructure policy. The article explores: How has the state guarantee model (SGM) developed into a market-based governance mode in the Danish infrastructure governance in the transport area, which is dominated by a hierarchal governance paradigm? The article is based on a qualitative case study of all infrastructure projects with SGM using the concept of governance paradigms adapted to the area of infrastructure. The article shows that SGM is invented to realize mega-projects outside the bureaucratic governance mode. The development from governance model to governance mode takes place as new public companies emerge and contribute with expertise and funding to the existing infrastructure network based on a bureaucratic governance mode. Over time, the model is further developed for public transport and medium-sized infrastructure projects in hybrid models that lead to changes in the norms for user charges in the hierarchal governance paradigm. Over time, the SGM reduces political control over existing and new SGM projects.

Keywords: market-based governance, transport infrastructure, state guarantee model, Denmark

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Climate taxes are among the most important political tools in the green transition. In Denmark, debates about this often focus on air travel and beef. The study is based on a survey collected after the 2019 national election and shows that there is great support for a climate tax on air travel but not on beef. Moreover, the study shows that support varies across age groups, income, education, and political trust. The effect of these explanations varies between climate taxes on air travel and beef.

Keywords: green transition, global warming, climate taxes, air travel, beef

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