Danimarka (İngilizce)

Denmark is a small country with a homogeneous population The Danish welfare state is based on a set of common values where democracy and citizens participation in debates and decisions is highly appreciated
The Danish economy is characterized of a big number of small and medium size enterprises and only a handful of enterprises in an international size There is no mass production of electronic equipment in Denmark
From these established markets several actors are entering the multimedia field, while the extend their existing products and services with multimedia technology The telecommunication company Tele Denmark is entering Internet, digital television, interactive television Publishers are extending their products into electronic publishing And broadcasters are extending their media products with additional services like text-TV, World Wide Web, pay-per-view etc
Even some of the older Danish actors is relative large in a Danish context (Tele Denmark is one of the biggest among those, who are mentioned), no single actor has the key to multimedia in Denmark
If we define a specific and narrow multimedia sector, the first companies which identified and organised themselves under this label were from the audio-visual sector and professional multimedia companies, who for example developed education products They are typical small specialist companies; and their speciality is to design media products and combine it with technical competence in multimedia and electronic production
There have been two waves of multimedia experiments in Denmark The first wave was in the late 1980s where 16 experiments were set up to test the possibilities for using information technology in remote areas The second wave has been going on for a year and has not yet ended In between these wave of experiments several isolated experiments have been running These experiments have not fulfilled the very broad goals they were supposed to fulfill, but they have resulted in some significant learning processes where different actors have learned how to develop, design and use multimedia
The overall interpretation of multimedia in Denmark is that it is a tool to reach the desired information society It is supposed to bring economic dynamic and increased quality of life But there is also a public debate going on about how it is possible to prohibit some negative results of the use of the technology
The Danish strategy for reaching the information society is different from most other countries because it regards the public sector as a driving force in the development It is also different from many other countries because it stresses that the technology have to be a tool for all citizens - also the weak ones, and that multimedia shall be a way to strengthen democracy at all levels
22 Political Background

The political structure in Denmark consists of three levels: central government, the counties and the municipalities This has been the structure since 1970, when an extensive reform of the municipalities was carried out The former 1,388 small municipalities were amalgamated into 275 larger municipalities and 14 counties were established
The Danish parliament consists of only one chamber, namely the Folketing Currently, nine different political parties are represented in the parliament It is characteristic for the government to be composed of several parties; at the moment it consists of two parties under the leadership of the Social Democrats Even though the Social Democrats are the largest party, they do not have an absolute majority, a situation which no party has ever been in Every decision in the parliament is, therefore, a result of cooperation, negotiation and compromise
In principle the government is elected for a four year period, but it is seldom that such a long period elapses between elections A situation has often arisen where the government has had to call an election before the term has expired, because it has not been possible for the parties to reach an agreement
The municipalities are also politically controlled In each municipality a local council is elected every fourth year, which in contrast to the parliament does not have the possibility of calling a local election prematurely The same parties are represented on the municipal council as in the parliament, but there are, in addition, various small parties and independent and local candidates represented on the municipal council Also at this level there is a tradition for cooperation between the different parties, but it is not always the same parties that are able to work together on the municipal councils as in the parliament; sometimes a local coalition which would be unthinkable in the parliament, can be established between parties
The municipalities have the task of providing local amenities and institutions such as child care institutions, primary schools, care of the elderly, cultural facilities and a local infrastructure In addition to this, the municipality has to provide an advisory service for the general public in connection with all manner of problems like, for example, sickness, unemployment, payment of tax and much more besides The municipalities are, thus, the part of the public sector which people come into contact with most, and if one asks them what they connect with the public sector, nearly all of them will answer that it is their own municipality's administration and the municipal institutions and establishments
The counties are governed by politically elected county councils They are elected at the same time as the municipal councils and, by and large, the same conditions apply here as apply to the municipal councils The counties have the task of running the institutions and establishments that are characteristically too large and costly for the individual municipality to manage alone This refers primarily to the hospitals, but the counties are also responsible for, amongst other things, institutions for the handicapped, the secondary schools and large roads like, for example, motorways In addition to this, the counties have to give the municipalities advice and guidance in matters that demand special expertise, for example, in connection with handicapped children
The task of central government is to run individual specialized establishments and institutions such as the prisons In addition to this central government has to give advice and guidance to both the counties and the municipalities in questions pertaining to principles and legislative interpretation (Jæger, 1993)
Since 1972 Denmark has been a member of the European Community Thus Denmark is subordinated to the European Commission and Parliament During the last two decades more and more power have moved from the Danish parliament to the European Community, and gradually the European Community have become a forth level in the political structure in Denmark Thus the Danish IT policy is constrained of the European policy which is described in Lobet-Maris, Bastelaer & Delhaye (1997)

221 Danish IT Policy

The political structure forms the framework for the Danish IT policy In Denmark technology assessment has been an important concept in the discussion about IT policy
Technology assessment is a rather new phenomenon In Denmark this discussion started about 20 years ago in relation to the development in the computer field At that time the discussion was concentrated on the impacts of technology in the area of production In the middle of the 1970s completely new ways of controlling and managing the process of production were introduced This new technology had a lot of impacts on the work situation and the trade unions demanded to gain control of the implementation of technology The trade unions were especially worried about the impacts on the employment situation At the end of the 1970s a so-called technology agreement was made This agreement did not solve all the problems, but it gave the partners on the labour market a tool to solve the problems on location, and this may be one of the reasons why the public debate about this question died out after the agreement was signed
In the mid-80s the public discussion about IT policy flared up again This time it was focused on a governmental decision of making a hybrid network This network was meant both as a new information highway for electronic communications among companies and as a way to broadcast more television to the homes The public debate in this period was concentrated on the impacts of too much television in the families (especially for the kids) and the possible consequences to rural areas, where the network would not be implemented as quickly as in the rest of the country The results of the discussion were that the network was established and most Danish families are able to watch much more television today The anxiety about the rural areas was stopped by making a programme for social experiments with information technology in rural areas, we will return to these experiments in section 4
After this discussion there were a couple of years where the broad, public discussions about information technology seemed to have stopped
However, in 1994 the situation changed dramatically Inspired by the EU and the Bangemann report the Danish government formed a committee with the purpose to point out the way that would lead Denmark into the information society This committee made a report

The intentions behind the report were to:

• line up the possibilities for the Danes in a future information society,
• formulate an overall Danish policy for information technology, and
• identify specific target areas for the next few years, and where necessary identify the needs for law reforms (Dybkjær & Christensen, 1994)
•

The primary recommendation in the report was that the public sector should be a driving force in the development of the information society and promote certain Danish values:

"The public sector shall be actively involved with the private one and be the leading force in the efficient use of information technology () The strategy shall be based on a Danish model where market forces should not be the only forces involved The strategy must secure some special values":

• IT shall secure free access to information and interchange of information
• IT shall support democracy and individual access to influence
• IT shall contribute to personal development, eg by supporting the individual at the workplace and in the spare time
• IT shall open the public sector, make it more transparent and facilitate the delivery of better service
• IT shall be used to support the weak ones of society
• IT shall strengthen the international competitiveness of Danish companies as the basis for the Danish welfare system" (Opcit)
•

These recommendations stressed the importance of the public sector in the development of the information society, which was very unusual compared with the similar strategies from countries Denmark usually compare itself with The most influential strategies in this field, the Bangemann Report initiated by the European Commission and from the United states, the Clinton-Gore initiative on "The National Information Infrastructure" (NHI), recommended that the market forces should be the driving force in the development (Johansson, forthcoming)
During 1995 the Ministry of Technology and Research followed up by making a very concrete plan for action (and this Action Plan was follow up again in 1996) Some of the initiatives in the Action Plan were carried into effect and work with others began
Data to be requested only once: Citizens and companies are not to be asked to supply data to public institutions if such data have already been received by another public institution
Electronic Citizen's Card with PIN code: The Citizen's Card may be used for positive identification of an individual when in contact with public authorities It may further be used as an electronic "key" which will connect the user to the electronic self-service systems of the future The status of this initiative is that the Citizen's Card has been postponed until at least 1999 because of heated public debate and disagreements about international standards for the cards
Furthermore, all public institutions should start using e-mail, EDI (Electronic Document Interchange), electronic self-service systems, public bulletin board systems and a system, which could function as a key to public schemes and institutions should be developed Major news outlets from the central administration should also be made available in an electronic version
A wide range of registers should be made more effective and new ones should be established, eg a National Business Registry similar to the Central Persons Registry, already existing today Experiments with electronic document handling and filing should be carried out during 1996 IT should be on the agenda in all municipalities and a project, called the spearhead initiative, was launched in November 1995 The purpose of the spearhead initiative was to bring together 10 municipalities, which were in front in implementing IT to communicate with businesses and citizens (we will return to these experiments in section 4) They would hopefully create synergy effects in many other municipalities
The action plan also dealt with security and privacy issues; a national health network - connecting doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, municipalities and health authorities with each other, enabling them to pass medical records etc around more efficiently; establishment of a research network, a public school network (and teaching enhanced by IT), a cultural network - based on the public libraries and museums, an open network of society (providing information to the citizens in ways which are as accessible and understandable as the telephone system) etc
The private sector was encouraged to take the same steps as the public sector and integrate e-mail, EDI etc in the companies and develop networks between companies The first steps were taken towards a liberalization of the Telecom Services
The action plan touched upon the role of the mass media in the future and how to secure the existence of a public service function in the area of radio and television, when an increasing number of international channels are invading the country IT applications with regard to traffic planning and physically disabled people were also touched upon in the IT policy statement and action plan from 1995
The action plan created many IT related activities at many levels of society in 1995 and '96 It focused on a broad range of activities When the IT policy statement and action plan 1996 were published, the focus was on the specific Danish values "A social responsibility for ensuring that everyone can be involved, so that the info-society really is open to all" This meant focusing on IT in education, working life, libraries, aid to physically disabled people, health in general, environmental issues, traffic etc
Many of the initiatives in the 1996 plan were continuations of the initiatives in the 1995 plan, and a lot qualified the general statements from the 1995 plan The 49 initiatives in the 1996 plan range from developing text telephones for the deaf to large scale projects, which will reorganize the work of entire sectors (eg the Telecom Sector) There has been a shift from focusing on many different electronic networks to focus on the Internet as the carrier of electronically mediated public service:

"The Internet is rapidly becoming the most important medium for electronic communications More and more public administrations, companies and private users are using the Internet for electronic mail and for the retrieval and presentation of information" (Opcit)

This initiative from the central government started a new public discussion which is still going on This time focus is on the society in general The concern is formulated in questions like: How do we prevent a social polarization of the society? Is it sufficient to teach children in school how to use information technology? How do we develop a proper education for this purpose? Should we create universal access to information and communication? How can we create such an universal access to the technology? Will the public libraries have to offer Internet access to the citizens? And shall it be free of charge? If the local authorities digitalize their archives will it then be possible to register every movement of the citizens? If the citizens themselves are going to control the use of their information, do we then have to create a special electronic citizens' card? We could go on listing questions for debate, but this is sufficient to show that the debate is very broad and involves all corners of the Danish society
This is where we are today But the question is whether all these ideas and discussions bring us closer to the information society or whether it is just hot air

"The main conclusion of this short introduction to Danish IT Policy is that a lot of effort is put into making the dream of the Info-Society come true A dream about IT as a boost to the economy and a way to significantly raise the level of quality of life in the Danish society But it is still to show if these efforts are yielding any results Awareness about IT issues, among citizens, has been raised, but so far the issues have not been politicized to any great extent If the information society is not just going to be a plan inside the heads of the planners of business and politics, an effort to include citizens (ie users) in the actual planning has to be made" (Johansson, forthcoming)

Land and Resources
Most of Denmark consists of Jutland, a peninsula jutting into the North and Baltic Seas Covering 29,766 sq km (11,493 sq mi), Jutland accounts for about 70% of Denmark's area The rest of the land consists of nearby islands, including Bornholm, Zealand, Falster, Fyn, and Lolland, and approximately 500 smaller islands, about 100 of which are inhabited Because of Jutland's deeply indented coastline and the many islands, Denmark has 7,300 km (4,500 mi) of coast
More than 75% of Denmark lies below 100 m (330 ft) and is flat or gently undulating Bedrock reaches the surface in very few places, and most of Denmark's landforms are of glacial origin During the Quaternary Period (the last 2 million years), Denmark was totally or partially covered by ice sheets at least four times The limit of the most recent ice advance is marked in Jutland by an end moraine that forms a range of low hills extending north-south through the peninsula Most of western Jutland was not glaciated during the last ice advance and is marked by occasional undulating areas of older glacial deposits and extensive flat areas underlain by sands and gravels washed westward from the melting glacier Eastern Jutland and the islands, which were covered by the most recent ice advance, have a more rolling landscape dotted with many small lakes The highest point in the country, Yding Skovhoj, rises to 173 m (568 ft) in east-central Jutland
Resources
Denmark has little mineral wealth, although limestone, clay, and gravel are mined in many areas In northern Jutland, salt deposits have been exploited since World War II, and granite and kaolin are mined on the island of Bornholm Since 1972 the Danish sector of the North Sea, called Danfield, has been worked for petroleum and gas deposits
Economic Activity
Denmark's prosperity, like that of many small nations, depends on foreign trade, and Denmark ranks among the world's leading nations in total value of trade per inhabitant Before 1880 the principal exports were grains, then in demand in rapidly industrializing Germany and the United Kingdom However, these markets were lost after the 1870s when cheaper grains from Australia and North America became available Accordingly, after 1880, Denmark switched to a more intensive and profitable type of agriculture based on importing grains and growing fodder crops, and feeding both to livestock for the production of high-value bacon, butter, cheese, eggs, and meat, then also in demand in Germany and the United Kingdom Industrial development, hitherto slowed in Denmark owing to the lack of raw materials for heavy industry, was aided by the growing demand for equipment in the food-processing industries, and by the end of the 19th century, numerous industrial items were being produced Industrial development in Denmark has been greatly aided by a well-educated and highly skilled technical labor force developed since the 1840s through the nation's schools An increasing percentage of the labor force is engaged in service occupations
History
Remains from the Stone, Bronze, and Iron ages have been found in Denmark, and rich grave finds from the Viking period (c800-1050) reveal active Danish participation in Viking explorations By 878 the Danes had conquered northern and eastern England In the 11th century King Canute (r 1014-35) ruled over a vast kingdom that included present-day Denmark, England, Norway, southern Sweden, and parts of Finland Christianity, first introduced in 826, became widespread during Canute's reign After his death, Canute's empire disintegrated
During the 13th century, Waldemar II (r 1202-41) conquered present-day Schleswig-Holstein, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and Estonia and reestablished the nation as a great power in northern Europe Soon, however, a civil war between the nobles and the king vying for control of the country erupted Christopher II (r 1320-32) was forced to make major concessions to the nobles and clergy at the expense of royal power, which was also eroded by the influence of the German merchants of the Hanseatic Leauge Waldemar IV (r 1340-75) succeeded in restoring royal authority, however, and his daughter Margaret I (r 1387-1412) created the Kalmar Union, which included Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and part of Finland In 1520 Sweden and Finland revolted, seceding in 1523, but the union continued until 1814
In 1448 the house of Oldenburg was established on the throne in the person of Christian I During the reign (1534-59) of Christian III, the reformation brought the establishment of a national Lutheran church In the following century Christian IV intervened in the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) as a champion of Protestantism A series of wars with Sweden resulted in territorial losses, but the Great Northern War (1700-21) brought some restoration of Danish power in the Baltic The 18th century was otherwise a period of internal reform, which included the abolition of serfdom and land reforms
In 1814, Denmark, which had sided with Napoleonic France after British attacks on Copenhagen in 1801 and 1807, was forced to cede Norway to Sweden and Helgoland to England In 1848, a Prussian-inspired revolt in Schleswig-Holstein ended without a victor, but in 1864, Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg were lost in a new war with Prussia Despite these major territorial losses, Denmark prospered economically in the 19th century and underwent further reforms In 1849, King Frederick VII (1848-63) authorized a new constitution instituting a representative form of government In addition, wide-ranging social and educational reforms took place
During World War I, Denmark maintained neutrality At the war's end, North Schleswig returned to Denmark following a plebiscite, and the present southern border with Germany was established In 1933 great social reforms were instituted, beginning Denmark's modern welfare state
At the beginning of World War II, despite a declaration of neutrality, Denmark was occupied by Germany (Apr 9, 1940) On May 5, 1945, the Germans capitulated, and the country was liberated Iceland had become fully independent in 1944 The Faeroe Islands received home rule in 1948, and Greenland became an integral part of Denmark under the new constitution of 1953 and received home rule in 1979 Denmark joined the European Community in 1973 Under its Conservative premier, Poul Schluter, who headed a succession of minority governments beginning in 1982, the country became increasingly committed to European integration by the 1990s Danish voters initially rejected by a narrow margin the European Community's treaty on European union (the so-called Maastrict treaty) on June 2, 1992, but in a new round of voting on May 18, 1993, a referendum approved the treaty, with 568% in favor A center-left coalition, led by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, of the Social Democratic party, which had won power on Jan 25, 1993, led the campaign for treaty approval
Political parties and leaders: Social Democratic Party [Poul Nyrup RASMUSSEN]; Conservative Party [Torben RECHENDORFF]; Liberal Party [Uffe ELLEMANN-JENSEN]; Socialist People's Party [Holger K NIELSEN]; Progress Party [Kirsten JAKOBSEN]; Center Democratic Party [Mimi JAKOBSEN]; Social Liberal Party [Marianne JELVED]; Unity Party [no leader]; Danish People's Party [Pia KJAERSGAARD]; Radical Liberal Party [Margrethe VESTAGER]; Conservative People's Party [Torben RECHENDORFF]; Christian People's Party [Jann SJURSEN]
International organization participation: AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CBSS, CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 9, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MTCR, NATO, NC, NEA, NIB, NSG, OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNMOGIP, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UNPREDEP, UNTSO, UPU, WEU (observer), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO, ZC