1982 - 2000

The recent years

The first years of  Conservative-Liberal government was marked by several severe conflicts on the labour market. In 1982/83 the dock-workers went on a nationwide strike, which evolved into a direct confrontation with the government. During the strike there were violent confrontations with the police. The strike ended with defeat. The most important conflict in these years though, was the so-called "Easter-strikes" in march-april 1985. In the beginning of this year, several collective agreements between the trade unions and employers organizations was running out, and had to be re-negotiated. The left wing in the trade union movement had success in mobilizing the rank and file members for the popular demand for a 35 hour work-week. But the employers organizations gained support from the conservative-liberal government: the government simply dictated new collective agreements by law, which was very favourable to the employers. This resulted in massive strikes and demonstrations, mobilizing more than 500.000 workers. But also these strikes were defeated in the end.

Though these strikes ended with defeat, they probably had a significant indirect impact on the political course of the government. Programmatically, the conservatives and the liberals had a vision of cutting back on the welfare state and making the public sector smaller through privatization - not unlike the British conservative government under Thatcher. But in the day-to-day politics the government was more pragmatic and moderate - the Conservative prime-minister even declared that "ideology is crap". It seems reasonable to argue, that the strikes of 1982-85 helped moderate the politics of the government.

Another important aspect of the "Easter-strikes" was that they brought workers from the public sector as well as the private sector together in the strike committees. From the mid-1970's trade unions for public employees had grown in membership, and some of these unions also had a leadership that was clearly more radical than the traditional trade unions.

The 1980's also saw an upswing in the peace-movement. Quite a lot of people were mobilized in protests against the NATO-decision to deploy more than 500 tactical nuclear missiles in Europe. The peace-movement grew strong enough to influence the parliament. At several occasions a majority in the Folketinget forced the government to act critical towards NATO, contrary to its own politics. The government decided to consider these issues as  non-cabinet issues and, thus, remain in office. It was also able to survive several elections. In the 1990-election the Social Democrats advanced considerably and won 14 seats. But this was partly at the expense of the SF, which lost 9. Thus the conservative-liberal government was able to continue.

In the spring of 1992 the Social Democratic party went through a fierce internal debate, which resulted in the removal of the party chairman Svend Auken at the party congress in april. The congress elected Poul Nyrup Rasmussen as new chairman. The reason for this was a source of much public debate. Some observers saw Poul Nyrup Rasmussen as politically more moderate and pragmatic than Svend Auken. Others stressed differences in personality between the two: the small social-liberal Radical party, whose support was needed to gain parliamentary majority, seemed to dislike the "impulsive" style of Svend Auken. Some saw the removal of him as chairman as an "offering" to the social-liberals.

But what finally brought the conservative rule to an end was not as much the opposition, as its own arrogance. In the late 1980's Denmark had received a number of Tamil's, who came to the country as political refugees from Sri Lanka. When some of these refugees applied for permission to have their relatives come to Denmark too, it was denied. The press reported that the Minister of justice personally ordered this denial, which was in fact against Danish law. The prime minister denied that anything unlawful had happened. Finally an independent investigation commission was set up. In January 1993 this commission concluded that the ministry of justice had acted against the law, that the minister himself was responsible and that he, the Prime Minister and other conservatives had mislead the Parliament. Immediately after the publication of the so-called "Tamil-report", the Prime Minister resigned, bringing the government down with him.

A new majority government was formed with Poul Nyrup Rasmussen as prime minister, with participation from the Social Democratic party and 3 small center-parties. Two of these later resigned from the government, but the Social Democrats and the social-liberal Radical party has stayed in power since, even though the two parties together does not control a majority. The government has been able to gain support through shifting alliances with both the left and the right part of parliament.

The governments lead by the Social Democrats has had considerable success in the economic politic. They have been able to cut the unemployment rate, which was more than 10% during the conservative government,  down to 5%, and in the same time keeping inflation low.  Newer the less the electoral support for the Social Democratic party has been declining, and in february 2000 opinion polls is reporting a historically low 21% support.

One of the main reasons for this apparent paradox is probably the inability of the Social Democrats to show a clear leadership, in a situation where the welfare state is challenged by the process of globalisation. This challenge is felt in several areas: in the labour-market, where workers are met with demands for more "flexibility", new types of jobs are created - especially in the information technology sector, and Danish companies are sold to foreign investors. In the public sector some functions in health-care etc. has been  "outsourced" to private entrepreneurs, and management-theory and cost-benefit analysis has gradually replaced traditional values, such as solidarity. Last, but not least,  the relationship between Denmark and the European Union is a source of much controversy. 

 In 1992 a small majority voted "No" to ratification of the Mastricht treaty of the EU in a  national referendum.  A so-called "national compromise" was put together, stipulating that Denmark could partially accept the treaty, with reservations in some important areas such as the monetary union and others. With these exceptions the treaty was finally accepted by a small majority at a new national referendum in 1993. The Social-Democratic leadership has now declared its willingness to abandon the reservations towards Denmark becoming a member of the European Monetary Union. But apparently they have failed in convincing the "euro-skeptical" social democratic voters into accepting this pro-EU politic.

Generally speaking, the impact of globalisation is seen as something positive, creating new possibilities, by some parts of the population - especially those who have the educations and qualifications needed to take advantage of new job-types. But for a large part of traditionally social democratic voters, globalisation is primarily felt as a threat to the welfare state and to stability in the workplace or in the everyday life, creating insecurity. In lack of alternatives, some of these voters turn their anger on everything "foreign". Even some Social Democratic leaders on local levels have resorted to campaigning against immigrants and ethnic minorities.

The so-called Danish Peoples Party has exploited the situation very skilfully. This right-wing party combines nationalist and xenophobic rhetoric with claims for more spending on healthcare and especially eldercare. The party has gained 15% support in election-polls - a great deal of which is probably former Social Democrats.

The future of the Danish Labour movement - as well as the whole Danish society - is greatly depending on the ability of the Social Democratic party to overcome its present crisis, and to reclaim political leadership in this era of globalisation.