Research-Policy Dialogues in Denmark

Danish integration and immigration policies are among the most restrictive of their kind in Western Europe. More than in many other countries, integration is a highly contested policy domain and a salient policy issue. It is also one of the policy domains most subject to change over the last two decades. This raises the question of what has driven this development. This chapter argues that in Denmark the utilisation of external expert knowledge at the national level has been minimal. The research-policy relationship can perhaps best be considered as a ‘pick-and-choose’ model where politicians and policymakers have employed the research that supports the hegemonic policy-frame of integration and the dominant definition of problems. Research thereby serves a legitimising function rather than an instrumental one. This characterisation stands in contrast to the importance and emphasis that are usually given to evidence-based policymaking in the country. Subsequently, disenchantment about research-policy dialogues has occurred. While the use of external research arguably has been limited, there has, in contrast, been a proliferation of in-house research institutions within the political system itself, although often with limited budgets.