From the Global & Regional to the Local: Danish responses to UNSCR 1325

Influenced by a UN human rights agenda on gender equality, some national militaries are increasingly encouraged to support and implement regulations related to a human security framework. These regulations affect and perhaps challenge national policies on gender equality. In addition, international institutions require evaluations on the performance by the member states on these issues. This combination adds top-down pressure at the local level, as national militaries are required to embrace and translate global policies into local action plans. This paper is part of a larger study on diversity and equality in the Danish Armed Forces with particular focus on gender. The study combines policy analysis with semi-structured qualitative interviews to examine how policies and conventions on gender equality affect the institution and its soldiers. Informed by feminist IR theory, this paper also examines Denmark’s responses to the women, peace and security framework (ex UNSCR 1325) through national action plans. In so doing, the paper will investigate the global/local nexus and poses the following questions: How is the Danish Military translating global conventions and policies related to UNSCR 1325? In what ways has Denmark been successful in responding to these and (lived up to) the requirements set-up by the global actors? The Nordics are often viewed as front-runners on national gender equality policies; however, while extensive research has been conducted on the Nordics on gender equality, this paper ascents some of the presumed understandings of how Denmark has embraced international policies on gender equality at the local level. Thus, by developing an understanding of how international policies affect Denmark, a more informed debate on policy implementation processes is enabled.