presented to the Interim Conference of Research Committee 01: Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution of the International Sociological Association

The Danish Armed Forces face the functional imperative to become a smaller, professional expeditionary force and the societal imperative to include women and ethnic minorities. It currently lags behind its NATO partners in gender and ethnic diversity. Lessons to be learned from NATO members with more diverse militaries, such as the United States, Great Britain, and Canada include: recognition of diversity as a societal imperative to sustain the legitimacy of the armed forces, the necessity of systematically collecting and reporting personnel data to guide policy, the necessity of patience and realistic goals, systematically developing recruitment, development, and retention policies, and the superiority of an all volunteer force over conscription in fulfilling this societal imperative.