A review of Danish arms control policy: Matching competencies with present demands and future opportunities

The current rules-based international order is being challenged by events in Ukraine and elsewhere, as well as by the general deterioration in relations between major states that has been unfolding for more than a decade. One consequence is that the international arms control regime has been put under pressure. This report is a response to the current situation and conducts a review of Danish arms control policy with a focus on competencies. Based on desk research and in-depth interviews, it maps competencies of the Danish state bureaucracy with the aim of identifying how those competencies are created, as well as areas of relative strength and weakness. The general finding is that the bureaucracy relies on a dominant learning-by-doing approach, which poses certain advantages and disadvantages. Beyond that, the report identifies strengths in relation to the OSCE, nuclear weapons and chemical weapons. With respect to weaknesses, the report discusses cyber, AI, autonomous weapons, drones and outer space. In the final section, the report introduces and discusses concrete policy ideas in relation to two major arms control challenges: nuclear weapons and the war in Ukraine.