Getting the Hang of Things + Notes on Danish Politics

Hello! I've survived my second week in Denmark! This week was one of getting used to my classes, exploring some more of the city, and trying new foods. I'll mostly be writing about classes in this post; if you'd like to see pictures of Copenhagen and lots of food, head over to the gallery page :)

I am in five classes. That might sound like a lot (it did to me!) but the workload is supposed to be equivalent to the average American university. With the exception of a reeeeeaaaally long reading last week, it seems manageable so far. I arrive in Copenhagen by bus just before 10am and finish at 11:30 (Tuesdays and Fridays), 2:30 (Mondays), or 5:30 (Thursdays); Wednesdays are reserved for field studies, which begin two weeks from now.

My classes include:

- Cultural Diversity & Integration - This is my "core course," meaning it generally has a bit more reading and some more in-depth work than the elective courses. We are studying the impact of immigration and the refugee crisis in Denmark, Sweden, and Italy (yes, this means I also have the chance to visit Sweden and Italy during the semester! Aaaah!).

- Holocaust & Genocide - What it sounds like. It's a sobering class, but it's something I've been interested in since elementary school. We are currently reading about the Armenian genocide and the continuing effects it has on foreign policy and human rights discourse today. We will also be discussing the Holocaust, as well as Stalinist genocide and the genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, and Darfur, among others. One of our field studies is a trip to the Neuengamme concentration camp in Hamburg, Germany next month.

- Masculinities in Scandinavia - A class I knew I wouldn't have another chance to take! The instructor is a scholar of fat, queer, and crip (disability) studies, as well as popular culture and feminist theory. We have been analyzing female masculinities (i.e., butch culture, masculine behavior in women, etc) and will be delving into queer masculinities (including trans and nonbinary identities); masculinity in relation to frat culture, popular culture, food, sports, and the military; and the relationship of various types of hegemonic and normative masculinities to the #MeToo campaign.

- Equality in Scandinavia: Developments and Challenges of the Welfare State - This class is only held on Thursdays, so we've only had two sessions. But to sum up what I have learned so far:

1) Scandinavian countries are not socialist utopias (like any state, they have their troubles, too); but

2) They are NOT FALLING APART due to immigration (while there are very real worries about how an influx of immigrants may impact the stability of the welfare state, cars are not, in fact, being burned daily in the streets and Muslims are not, in fact, scary monsters out to destroy everything!); and

3) More equitable societies (like the Scandinavian countries!) create better health, social, and economic outcomes for their citizens at large (who'd've thunk it?).

Anyway, on a less snarky note: every country has its struggles, but I think the US can learn a lot from places like Denmark, where students are able to graduate from universities debt-free and anybody who needs to ride an ambulance to the hospital isn't worried about medical-bill-induced bankruptcy. I have some articles and statistics about the nuances of the welfare state if anybody is interested, but I won't go any further in this post because, well... it could turn into a book :)

- Gender Perspectives on Human Rights - In here we discuss the philosophical, sociological, and world-politics implications of the current United Nations-driven human rights paradigm, and how our current human rights framework privileges certain nations, disempowers others, and has gendered implications everywhere. Does the fact that mostly Western, white, wealthy men wrote the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights mean something? And does it merit critical discussion? Yes and yes. Women and non-Western entities have not had a seat at the historical table, and only recently have they had a chance to pull up a folding chair.

So those are my classes! They're SUPER interesting and I'm only a few days in. I love that we will be doing field studies to gain a better understanding of the real-world applications of what we're learning.

ALSO:

I find Danish politics very interesting.

The main parties in Denmark, from farthest left to farthest right, are:

- Red-Green Alliance / Enhedslisten (communists and environmentalists)

- Socialist People’s Party

- Alternative (greatest support for immigrants/refugees)

- Social Democrats / Socialdemokraterne (largest left-leaning party)

- “Radical Left” (not really radical; pretty much in the center)

- Venstre (translates to "left", but leans right... competing with DPP for largest right-leaning party)

- Conservatives / Konservative

- Liberal Alliance (similar to libertarians)

- Danish People’s Party (DPP) / Dansk Folkeparti (DF) (xenophobic/anti-immigration; competing with Venstre for largest right-leaning party)

When placed on the same continuum as the Danish political parties, the US Democratic Party would fall in the center-right, and the US Republican Party / GOP would fall near the DPP (I could go on a whole rant about this, but I'll just leave it here...).

General Danish society considers immigration to be one of the most pertinent issues facing the country today - mostly in regards to future stability of the welfare state, but also in terms of whether it is possible to integrate everyone. Denmark has historically been a racially and religiously homogeneous country, so it's a relatively new phenomenon to have to worry about cultural exchange.

Election cycles are short in Denmark; Stine, my core course instructor, said that they only last 21 days, and that campaign posters must be taken down a week after the election or parties will be fined. Parliament is made up of 179 people - 175 from Denmark, 2 from Greenland, and 2 from the Faroe Islands (Greenland and the Faroe Islands are territories of Denmark), and legislation requires a simple majority to pass. Voter turnout is incredibly high; almost 90% of voting-age (18+) Danes participate in the election process! Paper ballots list all parties and all candidates; voters can select a party or choose specific individuals, and governmental representation is proportional.

Here are some things that don't seem to be up for debate in Denmark (and which never cease to be up for debate in the US):

- Abortion - it's allowed up to 12 weeks (and later for maternal physical/mental health, fetal health, socioeconomic, or abuse reasons). Sex ed is much better here (I'll elaborate in another post) so the unintended pregnancy rate is lower than it is in the US. Over 90% of Danes support abortion as a woman's right.

- Universal healthcare, including betterment of access to mental health services - it's considered to be a human right, even by the more right-leaning parties.

-Tuition-free tertiary education - the only debate here seems to be how many years merit funding - 4, 5, or 6?

- LGBTQIA+ rights - protections for LGBTQIA+ people in Denmark are some of the most thorough in the world (i.e., hate crime legislation is taken seriously; marriage equality has been legal since 1989; openly LGBTQIA+ people can serve in the military; adoption by LGBTQIA+ households is legal; artificial insemination is accessible; trans people are allowed to change their legal gender without having to receive a GID (Gender Identity Disorder) diagnosis, hormone therapy, surgery, or sterilization; LGBTQIA+ individuals may donate blood, etc.), with the exception of:

- How to restructure the CPR (Central Person Register) cards for trans individuals (CPR cards are similar to Social Security cards, but they are used on the daily for things like library access, doctor's visits, opening a bank account, receiving your salary, etc. Your CPR number is partially determined by your assigned sex; even numbers are for women, and odd numbers are for men. So, similar to trans people in the US who want to change their documents to reflect their gender, trans people in Denmark want their CPR cards and numbers to reflect their transition).

- Climate change - pretty much everyone of consequence agrees that climate change exists and is a serious threat; there just needs to be a stronger consensus on how to address it. Denmark's headed in a pretty good direction though; the country recently produced 150% of the wind power it needed to sustain itself.

So the Danish political system is very different from that of the US! I'm eager to learn more. That's probably more than you wanted or needed to know, but hopefully you find it to be food for thought!

This post has gotten pretty so long so I think I'll leave it at this until next week. Check out the gallery page to see what else I did this week! :) Hej hej!