Canon List

1. The Roots of Democracy (circa 500 BC)
2. The Idea of Equality (circa 50 AD)
3. The Magna Carta (1215) and the Bill of Rights (1689)
4. The Jutland Code (1241) and Erik Klipping’s Charter (1282)
5. The Reformation
6. The Peace of Westphalia (1648)
7. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
8. John Locke (1632-1704)
9. The Age of Enlightenment (18th century)
10. Charles de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
11. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
12. The Constitution of the United States (1775-1789)
13. Nationality and Fellow Citizenship
14. Freedom of the Press and Social Debate (1770-1799)
15. The French Revolution (1789-1799)
16. N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872)
17. Advisory Assemblies of the Estates of the Realm (1834-1848)
18. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)
19. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
20. The Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark (1849)
21. The National Liberal Movement
22. The Peasant and Folk High School Movement
23. The Labour Movement
24. Cultural Radicalism
25. The Women’s Movement
26. The Change of System (1901)
27. The Kanslergade Settlement (1933)
28. Democracy versus Totalitarianism during the Interwar Years
29. Democracy during the Second World War
30. Hal Koch (1904-1963) and Alf Ross (1899-1979)
31. The Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights (1949-1950)
32. The Referendum on the EC (1972)
33. The Salman Rushdie Affair (from 1988)
34. The Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)
35. The European Treaties

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference for the committee established for the purpose of drawing up a democracy canon

The Government deems it important to strengthen knowledge of the principles of freedom and democracy on which Danish society is based.

Therefore, a committee shall be appointed to identify the key events, philosophical trends and political texts that have contributed to the debate about and impacted on the development of the fundamental freedoms and democracy in Denmark. This collection should include both foreign and Danish as well as historical and more present-day contributions.

The result of the committee’s work shall be presented in a democracy canon comprising the events, philosophers and texts that have had a special impact on the view of the individual’s fundamental freedoms, the cohesion of society, and the development of Danish democracy.

A democracy canon can contribute to an ongoing, lively debate on freedom and democracy by providing some benchmarks and by identifying certain important directions and milestones in the development of democracy and fundamental freedoms.

The committee shall present proposals for ways in which the democracy canon can be introduced and communicated in text, film, internet, etc. for use in the teaching at primary and lower secondary school (the Folkeskole), general and vocational upper secondary education, etc.

The committee is composed of nine members appointed by the Government. The secretariat for the committee is anchored in the Ministry of Education and comprises representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Prime Minister’s Office.

The work shall conclude in January 2008 with the publication of the democracy canon.

List of Illustrations

This page is part of the electronic publication "The Danish Democracy Canon"
© The Ministry of Education 2008