Punching above their weight, but why? Explaining Denmark and Estonia in the transatlantic relationship

What is it about?

This article asks why Denmark and Estonia have eagerly attempted to ‘punch above their weight’ in the transatlantic relationship since the end of the Cold War and shows how they differ in their strategies to do so. Using neoclassical realism as a theoretical point of departure, the article explains how a combination of changing constraints in the strategic environment and elite interpretations of how these changes affected national security resulted in ‘super atlanticist’ alliance policies in the two countries. Following this analysis, we discuss the future of super atlanticism.

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Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Denmark and Estonia came out of the Cold War both triumphant and insecure. The advent of the American world order signaled the end of the super power rivalry that Denmark and the other Nordic countries had at the same time criticized and tried to mediate during the Cold War, but it also fundamentally questioned Denmark’s foreign policy identity and place in the world. The American world order provided both the geopolitical conditions for the rebirth of Estonia as an independent state and direct support from the USA to preserve and develop this state, but reborn Estonia was a weak state with a continuously problematic relationship with Russia. For both countries, super atlanticism offered a way out of insecurity, whether ontological as in the case of Denmark or territorial and institutional as in the case of Estonia.

Perspectives