Trauma, anxiety and guilt: Repetition compulsion in Denmark’s military activism?

Abstract

Military contributions to international operations have been Denmark’s preferred security policy instrument since 9/11. The Danish military activism, thereby, resembles a self-referential identity project originated in the national trauma of 1864 and dominated by defense mechanisms against anxiety and guilt. Anxiety related to the near-annihilation of Denmark and guilt from not having acted politically responsible in the past. Since 9/11, the German occupation and the footnote policy, therefore, emerges as powerful identity markers that drive and enhance Denmark’s military engagement. Consequently, the military activism continues without significantly balancing the advantages and disadvantages of the specific military contributions. The military activism endures because Denmark, through repetition, secures the historical survivals in 1864, 1940 and during the Cold War as its own.

Keywords: Denmark, military activism, collective identity, chosen trauma, psychoanalysis