Agricultural Interest Groups in Danish Politics: an Examination of Group Frustration Amidst Political Stability

• Date: 01 September 1968
• Author: William E. Laux
• Published date: 01 September 1968
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296802100307
• Subject Matter: Articles

436

AGRICULTURAL

INTEREST

GROUPS

IN

DANISH

POLITICS:

AN

EXAMINATION

OF

GROUP

FRUSTRATION

AMIDST

POLITICAL

STABILITY

WILLIAM

E.

LAUX

Colorado

State

University

ANISH

POLITICS

are

customarily

described

as

stable,

ideal,

and

placid.

D

Nevertheless

in

May

1961

the

principal

Danish

farmers’

organizations

M ~

instituted

a

virtually-complete

&dquo;production

stop&dquo;

for

the

purpose

of

pres-

suring

the

government

to

accede

to

their

demands.

This

resort

to

&dquo;direct

action&dquo;

in

Danish

politics

was

little

noticed

by

either

Danish

or

outside

political

scientists

Yet

an

understanding

of

why

Danish

farmers

felt

constrained

to

adopt

exceptional

and

extra-legal

measures

can

be

valuable

for

the

student

of

comparative

politics.

Why

did

the

&dquo;stop&dquo;

occur

in

Denmark

where

political

bargaining

has

been

facilitated

by

the

absence

of

sharp

class

distinctions;

a

native

preference

for

prag-

matic

political

results;

the

relatively

few

contentious

issues

in

modern

Danish

poli-

tics ;

the

homogeneity

of

Danes

as

regards

their

language,

religion,

and

culture;

and

the

comparatively

small

size

of

the

country

and

population?

How

does

one

account

for

&dquo;direct

action&dquo;

tactics

in

a

political

system

which

achieved

a

remark-

ably

peaceful

transition

to

constitutionalism

in

1849,

has

firmly

adhered

to

parlia-

mentarianism

since

its

establishment

in

1901,

and

has

sustained

a

multi-party

system

with

four

dominant

parties

which

have

nearly

always

been

able

to

work

con-

structively

together?

The

highly

atypical

behavior

of

Danish

farmers

in

1961

provides

an

oppor-

tunity

to

shed

some

light

on

those

factors

which

may

motivate

important

interest

groups

to

take

matters

into

their

own

hands

despite

the

existence

of

a

pronounced

traditional

emphasis

upon

the

norms

of

negotiation

and

compromise.

This

study

concludes

that

the

&dquo;stop&dquo;

was

produced

by

the

dysfunctional

convergence

of

several

developments

in

Danish

politics

which

momentarily

rendered

Danish

&dquo;consensual&dquo;

norms

inoperative.2

2

These

dysfunctional

developments

behind

the

imposing

sta-

bility

of

Danish

politics

suggest

the

need

for

a

better

understanding

of

political

NOTE:

Grants

from

the

Faculty

Improvement

Committee,

Colorado

State

University,

and

the

Faculty

Research

Committee,

Western

Kentucky

State

University,

helped

make

this

study

possible.

1

Political

science

as

an

academic

discipline

has

been

sorely

neglected

in

Denmark.

The

first

significant

steps

towards

introducing

political

science

into

Denmark

were

undertaken

at

the

University

of

Aarhus

in

1960.

Very

little

literature

in

English

is

available.

Note-

worthy

are

Ben

A.

Arneson,

The

Democratic

Monarchies

of

Scandinavia

(New

York:

Van

Nostrand,

1949);

Dankwart

A.

Rustow,

"Scandinavia:

Working

Multi-party

Systems"

in

Sigmund

Neumann

(ed.),

Modern

Political

Parties

(Chicago:

U.

of

Chi-

cago

Press,

1956),

pp.

169-93;

John

T.

Bernhard,

"Empirical

Collectivism

in

Den-

mark,"

Journal

of

Politics,

13

(November

1951),

623-46;

Neil

Elder,

"Parliamentary

Government

in

Scandinavia,"

Parliamentary

Affairs,

13

(Summer

1960),

363-73;

and

Kenneth

E.

Miller,

"The

Danish

Electoral

System,"

Parliamentary

Affairs,

18

(Winter

1964-65),

71-81.

2

Gabriel

A.

Almond

refers

to

the

"consensual"

nature

of

the

relations

between

groups

and

parties

in

Scandinavia

in

his

"Research

Note:

A

Comparative

Study

of

Interest

Groups

in

the

Political

Process,"

American

Political

Science

Review,

52

(March

1958),

276.

437

adjustment

in

advanced

political

systems,

especially

the

impact

of

changing

political

conditions

upon

dominant

economic

interest

groups.

I

The

agricultural

interest

groups

Much

of

the

character

of

present-day

Denmark

is

traceable

to

the

freed

Danish

peasants

of

1788.

In

the

early

part

of

the

nineteenth

century,

thanks

to

the

Education

Act

of

1814

and

through

the

efforts

of

Bishop

N.

F.

S.

Grundtvig

and

Kristian

Kold

who

established

the

renowned

Danish

folk

high

school

movement,

the

former

serfs

were

provided

with

a

social

awareness

and

cultural

identity.3

Throughout

the

nineteenth

century

the

peasants

gradually

made

the

transition

from

tenancy

to

independent

farm

ownership.

The

transformation

of

the

peasants

into

a

socially

alert,

economically

independent,

and

literate

class

occurred

just

in

time

to

enable

them

to

meet

successfully

the

challenge

of

the

loss

of

two-fifths

of

the

Danish

realm

during

the

1864

Prusso-Danish

War

and

acute

agricultural

crises

encountered

in

the

1870’s

as

a

result

of

the

breaking-out

of

grain-producing

areas

abroad.

The

farmers

were

faced

with

the

choice

of

either

calling

for

protective

tariffs

or

revising

radically

their

system

of

production

away

from

the

growing

of

grain

for

export.

They

chose

the

latter

by

converting

to

the

concentrated

manufac-

ture

of

animal

husbandry

products

of

the

high

and

controlled

quality

for

which

Denmark

has

long

been

renowned

4

The

modern

Danish

agricultural

interest

groups

were

built

upon

the

farm

cooperatives

and

agricultural

associations

(landboforeninger)

which

the

farmers

formed

to

meet

the

technical

and

economic

problems

involved

in

the

above-

mentioned

conversion

of

their

production

system.5

In

1893

the

various

regional

landboforeninger

were

amalgamated

into

the

Federation

of

Danish

Agricultural

Associations

(De

Samvirkende

Danske

Landboforeninger,

hereafter

referred

to

as

DSL).

In

1963

DSL

had

a

membership

of

139,248

farmers

with

units

ranging

in

size

from

about

twenty-five

to

two

hundred

acres.&dquo;

A

closely

related

interest

group

is

the

Agricultural

Council

(Land brugsraadet,

hereafter

referred

to

as

LR)

which

was

formed

in

1919.

LR

is

a

&dquo;peak&dquo;

association

which

represents

DSL,

the

farm

cooperative

movement

of

about

500,000

members,

and

various

agricultural

export

committees.

Politically,

the

awakened

medium-sized

farmers

of

the

1840’s

played

an

impor-

tant

role

in

the

peaceful

establishment

of

constitutionalism

in

1849.

The

Local

Government

Act

of

1841

greatly

stimulated

the

farmers

towards

political

activity.

In

the

decades

after

1849

the

farmers

organized

their

own

political

party,

Venstre,

and

fought

the

battle

against

Hejre

for

parliamentarianism

which

was

finally

won

3

On

the

folk

high

schools

see

Peter

Mannische,

Denmark,

A

Social

Laboratory

(Copenhagen:

G.

E.

C.

Gads,

1939),

pp.

74-135.

4

The

story

has

been

told

many

times.

A

reliable

account

may

be

found

in

Einer

Jensen,

Dan-

ish

Agriculture

(Copenhagen:

J.

H.

Schultz,

1937),

chapters

III,

VI,

and

XII.

5

There

is

no

concise

history

of the

landboforeninger.

For

the

farm

cooperatives

see

Henning

Ravnholt,

The

Danish

Cooperative

Movement

(Copenhagen:

Det

Danske

Selskab,

1947).

6

Beretning

1963-64

De

Samvirkende

Danske

Landboforeninger,

p.

7.