Peter Viggo Jakobsen

The Trump Administration has adopted a more confrontational and transactional approach to burden-sharing in NATO. It has threatened to “moderate” its commitment to the Alliance unless the European members increase their defence spending (US Mission to NATO 2017), and contribute more to out-of-area operations. Since President Trump entered the office, European defence spending has risen at a quicker pace, and the nature of the defence debate in Europe has changed. The Europeans are no longer debating whether they need to increase their spending; the questions discussed are how fast and how much. Is this evidence of a “Trump effect”, and will it last? This is the question addressed in this policy brief. Because it is hard to predict the future, we adopt an historical perspective.

Deltagelsen i internationale operationer har revolutioneret dansk sikkerhedspolitik og det danske forsvar siden murens fald. Formålet med dette research Paper er at beskrive denne transformationsproces, forklare hvorfor den fandt sted, og hvorfor den adskiller sig markant fra lignende processer i de øvrige europæiske lande og især de nordiske, som det danske forsvar på mange måder er direkte sammenligneligt med.