Defending Denmark’s borders and its international reputation: Mutually exclusive messages in two languages

Kenn Nakata Steffensen The Danish government’s recent decision to impose border controls in possible violation of its Schengen Treaty obligations has caused concern among the country’s EU partners, its immediate neighbours Sweden and Germany in particular. The apparent intention to permanently reintroduce border controls (unlike France’s temporary closure earlier this year) has cast the EU’s [...]

Cop-enhagen: Memories of the Danish police

Kenn Nakata Steffensen Recent media reports of Danish police brutality brought back memories of my student days in “wonderful Cop-enhagen”. Some days ago, the police there arrested almost a thousand mostly peaceful and law-abiding marchers and were only able to charge a dozen with any offences. All had their hands tied and were held for [...]

A British cheerleader for Chinese nationalism: Martin Jacques on “Japan’s resurgent nationalism”

Kenn Nakata Steffensen Prescript This was originally written and never published on the day after Martin Jacques’ article appeared in The Guardian. Now that his book When China rules the world (London: Allen Lane, 2009) is out, I felt it was time to air my doubts about his analysis of East Asian international relations. I [...]