How to get to Denmark: The legal profession's construction of the Nordic welfare states and beyond

The problem of how to get to Denmark, as Fukuyama defines it, covers the problem of creating modern state institutions. The problem encompasses the history of the state, the history of the rule of law and accountable government. Such institutions secure, according to Fukuyama, democracy, peace, prosperity and a non-corrupt state organisation. Therefore the international community and developing countries would like to know, how to transform countries around the world into Denmark by importing the ideal type of legal systems of Denmark in the developing world. However, due to its developed institutions, Denmark is a mythical place and could be any Scandinavian country. The question is, as Fukuyama asks, how Denmark itself got to be Denmark. How could the Danish state, the rule of law and accountable governments develop so they created such trust and predictability which was needed in order to establish Denmark? The purpose of this paper is to examine, how Denmark came to be Denmark. The paper argues that the legal profession played a key role in the development of the modern Danish state.