In need of juristocracy? The silence of Denmark in the development of European legal norms

Abstract

The Nordic countries in general have no strong tradition of judicial review by courts. The emergence of powerful supranational judicial bodies, which, on a daily basis, sets aside national law and sovereign prerogatives therefore shakes the very foundation on which the Nordic tradition of judicial self-restraint has rested. It also challenges a classical Nordic conception of democracy, because democracy-in a Nordic context-has long been equated with majority rule and the idea of Parliament as elevated above the other branches of government. The article analyses and contextualizes the Danish struggle with international and European law and ends up concluding that if Denmark does not fundamentally reinterpret its own legal and democratic culture, she will end up as a passive and powerless consumer-rather than a co-interpreter and co-producer-of international and European norms. © The Author 2011. Oxford University Press and New York University School of Law. All rights reserved.