Guns and/or butter? The case of Denmark

The paper will analyze how the trade-off between military and social expenditure have played out in Denmark in the 20th Century (with special emphasis on the cold war era). The slogan of "Butter statt Kanone" was not only used by the peace movement but also adressed by tthe more important political agents. First, they had to adress the critique that military expenditure hampered social expenditure (for instance using a broad concept of security), or to deny its existence. Second it was political challenge for Danish governments especially in the Cold War era to balance between ideilogical preferences for a welfare state and NATO pressure for rising military expenditure.