Abstract
This paper examines why Denmark has participated actively in international military operations since the end of the Cold War and how this relates to the current conflict in Mali and the Sahel region. Denmark’s military engagement has not exclusively been peacekeeping, but also peace-building, and the operations have lately not been under the auspices of the UN, as they were prior to the Cold War. NATO and other coalitions led by the US, now often make up the frame for Denmark’s military engagements. Based on the existing literature, several conditions are found to have an impact on Denmark’s decision to provide military contributions to international operations. Such decisions are influenced by external and internal factors including structural dynamics, ideology and identity. The conditions are used in a neoclassical realist model to analyse how they impact the decision to contribute to the conflict in Mali and the Sahel region. This paper finds that Denmark accommodates the anarchic structure by prioritising NATO and US-led missions. The UN’s MINUSMA and the French Operation Barkhane do not provide a setting for Denmark to consolidate its identity as a super atlanticist nor a way to strengthen the US’ commitment to NATO which is pivotal for Denmark’s security. This means that Denmark is not prone to deploy combat troops to Mali or the Sahel region despite the fact that combat troops are requested by the UN. By providing critical enablers instead of combat troops to UN and French-led missions, Denmark can attain foreign policy goals without committing troops that are prioritised in a NATO or US context.