Folkeuniversitet: Power, Discretion and Legal Security - What is the State of Danish Democracy?

Power and Democracy - Nanna Mik-Meyer: Wednesday 11 November 2026, 19:00–21:00, Gilleleje Bibliotek, Gilleleje. Tickets cost 90 kr.

How well does Danish democracy actually function? This is the question that the research team behind Magtudredningen 2.0 is investigating right now. Denmark often appears as a stable democracy, but society is simultaneously experiencing growing inequality, greater complexity, and a public system under pressure.

Professor Nanna Mik-Meyer, part of the research project, presents key findings from Magtudredningen 2.0 - the major project on power and democracy initiated by the Danish Parliament. She examines how power today unfolds through politics, economics, media, and public institutions.

Part of the lecture focuses on the encounter between citizens and the welfare system. Drawing on the book "Discretion, Power and Legal Security", she discusses how decisions in social affairs are made in the tension between law, economics, and social professional assessments - who receives help and why, how documentation requirements and economic considerations affect professional discretion, and what legal security means from the citizen's perspective.

The lecture provides insight into the dilemmas and forms of power that characterize the modern welfare society, and raises the question of how democracy is changing in practice.