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.