Public Governance in Denmark: Meeting the global mega‐challenges of the 21st century? By Andreas Hagedorn Krogh , Annika Agger , Peter Triantafillou , (Eds.), Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing. 2022. pp. 268. $100.00 (hard cover). ISBN: 9781800437135

• Published date: 01 September 2024
• Author: Nathan Favero
• Date: 01 September 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13861

BOOK REVIEW

Public Governance in

Denmark: Meeting the global

mega-challenges of the 21st

century?

By Andreas Hagedorn Krogh, Annika

Agger, Peter Triantafillou, (Eds.), Bingley,

UK: Emerald Publishing. 2022. pp. 268.

$100.00 (hard cover). ISBN:

9781800437135

Nathan Favero

American University, Washington, DC, USA

Email: favero@american.edu

Despite its small size (just under 6 million people),

Denmark has at times loomed large in the global political

discourse. Take, for example, the 2016 U.S. Democratic

presidential primary race, when Bernie Sanders held up

the Scandinavian countries as models for social policy

while Hillary Clinton firmly declared during a public

debate, “We are not Denmark.”

1

In such popular discussions, Denmark is typically held

up as an idyllic example of an economic and political sys-

tem in which equity, efficiency, and productivity are all

achieved. The country has been ranked—multiple

times—the happiest country in the world. Usual caveats

accompanying such descriptions note the small size and

ethnically homogenous population of Denmark.

So what, if anything, can the rest of the world learn

from Denmark’s experience of governance? The edited

volume Public Governance in Denmark takes us beyond

the headlines, offering a nuanced look at the organizing

principles of Danish governance and how this society is

grappling with several of today’s most difficult global

challenges. In doing so, the book aims to help us formu-

late answers to the question of what the rest of the world

might learn from the governance of this relatively small

country.

The book is organized into five sections, each dealing

with one mega-challenge the globe confronts in the early

21st century. The five mega-challenges relate to

(1) inequality, (2) democracy, (3) public sector operation,

(4) the natural environment, and (5) population changes.

Within each section, individual chapters cover narrower

topics, such as the pension system or democratic partici-

pation in social housing. The end of each chapter includes

a discussion of lessons learned and implications for

practice.

The authors of each chapter adopt a primarily descrip-

tive approach, providing an accessible account of how

Denmark has dealt with the main policy or governance

topic of the chapter. The authors often make note of how

Danish policies compare with those of its Nordic peers

and other OECD countries. The volume adds to a small lit-

erature in mainstream English-language journals of public

administration regarding how issues of governance and

administration have developed in Denmark (Greve, 2006;

Jensen et al., 2004; Poulsen, 2009). The book aims to help

inform discussions of Denmark as a potential model from

which others throughout the world might learn, with

approximately half of the book devoted to discussion of

the country’s social policy.

Readers will find that there is indeed much to admire

about Denmark. It has been a global leader in

e-government, demonstrating innovation while navigat-

ing challenges regarding costs and privacy. The country is

at the global forefront of renewable energy production,

especially when it comes to wind turbines. Denmark’s

high labor force participation rate has generated interna-

tional interest in their unique “flexicurity”labor market

model, which proports to combine relatively generous

unemployment benefits and re-training opportunities

with flexibility for employers to hire and fire employees

with relative ease. The collaborative nature of Danish gov-

ernance (see Christiansen et al., 2010) is apparent in

decision-making processes across policy areas, including

with pensions, labor market policy, and agrifood.

Throughout the book, the discussions of policy are

rich, with a focus on description rather than theory or pre-

scription. More specifically, this book is not an exploration

of policy process and offers no grand theories of why

Danish governance institutions have evolved as they

have. And while the effects of policies are discussed, the

authors are not primarily focused on offering prescriptive

evaluations of whether Danish policies are optimally

designed. Instead, for any reader lacking deep familiarity

with Denmark, the book provides a rather broad introduc-

tion to the landscape of Danish governance and social

policy.

One clear theme emerging from the book is that

despite Denmark’s many successes, there are very real

dilemmas facing Denmark that defy obvious solutions.

Economic inequality is rising, and segregation is increas-

ing across the housing market, with the middle class hav-

ing largely exited from the social housing sector. Health

Accepted: 17 July 2024

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13861

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