Kingdom of Denmark

http://www.all-laptopfan.com/,http://www.all-keyboard.com/ Denmark ˈdɛnmɑːrk/ (Danish: Danmark),^[h] officially the Kingdom of Denmark,^[i] is a sovereign state inNorthern Europe, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom includes two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Faroe Islands andGreenland.  DELL INSPIRON 1464 Keyboard At 43,094 square kilometres (16,638.69 sq mi),^[10] with a population of around 5.6 million inhabitants, Denmark consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and the Danish archipelago of 407 islands,^[11] of which around 70 are inhabited. The islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and atemperate climate. A Scandinavian country, SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Keyboard Denmark shares strong cultural and historic ties with its neighbours Sweden and Norway. The national language, Danish, is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Swedishand Norwegian. The unified kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 8th century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle forcontrol of the Baltic Sea. ACER TravelMate 2800 Series Keyboard Denmark was part of the Kalmar Union, established in 1397, ended with Swedish secession in 1523. The following year, Denmark entered into a union with Norway until its dissolution in 1814. Denmark inherited an expansive colonial empire from this union, of which the Faroe Islands and Greenland are remnants. Beginning in the 17th century, there were several cessions of territory;  DELL INSPIRON 1464 Keyboard these culminated in the 1830s with a surge of nationalist movements, which were defeated in the 1864 Second Schleswig War. Denmark remained neutral during World War I. In April 1940, a German invasion saw brief, military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement was active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945. Denmark joined NATO in 1949, relinquishing its historically neutral stance. Lenovo IBM ThinkPad Edge E420 Keyboard An industrialized exporter of agricultural produce in the second half of the 19th century, Denmark introduced social and labour-market reforms in the early 20th century, making the basis for the present welfare state model with a highly developed mixed economy. The Kingdom of Denmark is a constitutional monarchy, with Margrethe II as queen regnant, organised as aparliamentary democracy. Lenovo IBM ThinkPad Edge S420 Keyboard The Constitution of Denmark was signed on 5 June 1849, ending the absolute monarchywhich had begun in 1660. The Constitution has been revised four times, most recently in 1953. The seat of government is in the capital of Copenhagen. Denmark^[b] exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm,devolving political powers to handle internal affairs. Lenovo IBM ThinkPad Edge E420S Keyboard Denmark became a member of the European Union in 1973, maintaining certain opt-outs. Both the Faroe Islands and Greenland remain outside the Union. It is among the founding members of the Council of Europe, NATO, the Nordic Council, OECD, OSCE, and the United Nations; and is also a part of the Schengen Area. Lenovo IBM ThinkPad T420 Keyboard Danes enjoy a high standard of living and the country ranks highly in numerous comparisons of national performance, including education, health care, protection of civil liberties, prosperity and human development.^[12][13][14] Denmark is frequently ranked as the happiest country in the world in cross-national studies of happiness.^[15][16] The country ranks as having the world's highest social mobility,^[17Lenovo IBM ThinkPad T420i Keyboard ^] a high level ofincome equality,^[18] has one of the world's highest per capita income, and has one of the world's highest personal income tax rates. The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a single kingdom, is a subject which attracts debate.^[20][21] Lenovo IBM ThinkPad T420S Keyboard This is centred primarily on the prefix"Dan" and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -"mark" ending. The issue is further complicated by a number of references to various Dani people in Scandinavia or other places in Europe in Greek and Roman accounts (like Ptolemy, Jordanes, and Gregory of Tours), as well as mediaeval literature (like Adam of Bremen, Beowulf, Widsith, and Poetic Edda). SONY VGN-FE11M Keyboard Most handbooks derive^[22] the first part of the word, and the name of the people, from a word meaning "flat land", related to German Tenne "threshing floor", English den "cave", Sanskrit dhánuṣ- (धनुस्; "desert").^[22] The -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland (see marches), with probable references to the border forests in south Schleswig.^[23] ACER TravelMate 3232WXMi Keyboard The first recorded use of the word Danmark within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which arerunestones believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old (c. 955) and Harald Bluetooth (c. 965). The larger stone of the two is popularly cited as Denmark's baptismal certificate (dåbsattest),^[24] though both use the word "Denmark", in the form of accusative  "tanmaurk" ([danmɒrk]) on the large stone, and genitive  HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Keyboard "tanmarkar" (pronounced [danmarkaɽ]) on the small stone.^[25] The inhabitants of Denmark are there called "tani" ([danɪ]), or "Danes", in the accusative. The earliest archaeological findings in Denmark date back to the Eem interglacial period from 130,000–110,000 BC.^[26]  HP 516884-001 Keyboard Denmark has been inhabited since around 12,500 BC and agriculture has been evident since 3900 BC.^[27] The Nordic Bronze Age (1800–600 BC) in Denmark was marked by burial mounds, which left an abundance of findings including lurs and the Sun Chariot.During the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500 BC – AD 1), native groups began migrating south, although^[27] the first Danish people came to the country between the Pre-Roman and the Germanic Iron Age,^[28] SONY VAIO VGN-FS315Z Keyboard in the Roman Iron Age (AD 1–400). The Roman provinces maintainedtrade routes and relations with native tribes in Denmark, and Roman coins have been found in Denmark. Evidence of strong Celtic cultural influence dates from this period in Denmark and much of North-West Europe and is among other things reflected in the finding of the Gundestrup cauldron.  FUJITSU Amilo Mini Ui 3520 Keyboard Historians believe that before the arrival of the precursors to the Danes, who came from the east Danish islands (Zealand) andSkåne and spoke an early form of North Germanic, most of Jutland and the nearest islands were settled by Jutes. They were later invited to Great Britain as mercenaries by Brythonic King Vortigern and were granted the south-eastern territories of Kent, the Isle of Wight among other areas, where they settled.  HP Pavilion DV7-2177cl Keyboard They were later absorbed or ethnically cleansed by the invading Angles and Saxons, who formed the Anglo-Saxons. The remaining population in Jutland assimilated in with the Danes. A short note about the Dani in "Getica" by the historian Jordanes is believed by some^[who?] to be an early mention of the Danes, one of the ethnic groups from whom modern Danes are descended.^[29][30] SONY VAIO VPC-F12 Keyboard The Danevirke defence structures were built in phases from the 3rd century forward and the sheer size of the construction efforts in AD 737 are attributed to the emergence of a Danish king.^[31][31] A new runic alphabet was first used around the same time and Ribe, the oldest town of Denmark, was founded about AD 700. From the 8th to the 10th century, the Danes, Norwegians and Swedes, were known as Vikings. Packard Bell Easynote TK85 Keyboard They colonized, raided, and traded in all parts of Europe. Viking explorers first discovered Iceland by accident in the 9th century, on the way towards the Faroe Islandsand eventually came across "Vinland" (Land of wine), also known today as Newfoundland, a province in Canada. The Danish Vikings were most active in the British Isles and Western Europe. HP Pavilion dv6-3007tu Keyboard They conquered and settled parts of England (known as the Danelaw) under King Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013, Ireland, and France where they founded Normandy. More Anglo-Saxon pence of this period have been found in Denmark than in England.^[32] As attested by the Jelling stones, the Danes were united and Christianised about 965 by Harald Bluetooth. SONY VAIO VGN-NW35E/W Keyboard It is believed that Denmark became Christian for political reasons so as not to get invaded by the rising Christian power in Europe, Germania, which was an important trading area for the Danes. In that case Harald built six fortresses around Denmark called Trelleborg and built a further Danevirke. In the early 11th century, Canute the Great won and united Denmark, England, and Norway for almost 30 years.^[32] TOSHIBA Satellite M640-BT2N23 Keyboard Throughout the High and Late Middle Ages, Denmark also included Skåneland (Skåne, Halland, and Blekinge) and Danish kings ruled Danish Estonia, as well as theduchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Most of the latter two now form the state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. In 1397, Denmark entered into a personal union with Norway and Sweden, united under Queen Margaret I. DELL NSK-D8001 Keyboard The three countries were to be treated as equals in the union. However, even from the start Margaret may not have been so idealistic—treating Denmark as the clear "senior" partner of the union.^[33] Thus, much of the next 125 years of Scandinavian history revolves around this union, with Sweden breaking off and rejoining repeatedly. The issue was for practical purposes resolved on 17 June 1523, as Swedish King Gustav Vasa conquered the city of Stockholm. SONY VGN-FE41S Keyboard The Protestant Reformation came to Scandinavia in the 1530s, and following the Count's Feud civil war, Denmark converted to Lutheranism in 1536. Later that year, Denmark entered into a union with Norway. After Sweden permanently broke away from the Kalmar Union in 1523, Denmark tried on two occasions to reassert control over Sweden. The first was in the Northern Seven Years' War which lasted from 1563 until 1570. TOSHIBA 6037B0028502 Keyboard The second occasion was the Kalmar Warwhen King Christian IV attacked Sweden in 1611 but failed to accomplish his main objective of forcing Sweden to return to the union with Denmark. The war led to no territorial changes, but Sweden was forced to pay a war indemnity of 1 million silverriksdaler to Denmark, an amount known as the Älvsborg ransom.^[34]  DELL Inspiron 1564 Keyboard King Christian used this money to found several towns and fortresses, most notably Glückstadt (founded as a rival to Hamburg),Christiania (following a fire destroying the original city of Oslo), Christianshavn, Christianstad, and Christiansand. Christian also constructed a number of buildings, most notably Børsen,  HP Pavilion DV7-2173cl Keyboard Rundetårn, Nyboder, Rosenborg, a silver mine, and a copper mill. Inspired by the Dutch East India Company, he founded a similar Danish company and planned to claim Ceylon as a colony, but the company only managed to acquire Tranquebar on India's Coromandel Coast. Denmark's large colonial aspirations were limited to a few key trading posts in Africa and India.  Lenovo 3000 G430 4152 Keyboard In the Thirty Years' War, Christian tried to become the leader of the Lutheran states in Germany but suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Lutter.^[35] The result was that the Catholic army under Albrecht von Wallenstein was able to invade, occupy, and pillage Jutland, forcing Denmark to withdraw from the war.^[36]Denmark managed to avoid territorial concessions,  ACER Aspire 1690 Keyboard but Gustavus Adolphus' intervention in Germany was seen as a sign that the military power of Sweden was on the rise while Denmark's influence in the region was declining. Swedish armies invaded Jutland in 1643 and claimed Skåne in 1644. According to Geoffrey Parker, "The Swedish occupation caused a drop in agricultural production and a shortage of capital; harvest failure and plague ravaged the land between 1647 and 1651; Denmark's population fell by 20 per cent."  HP 519265-001 Keyboard In the 1645 Treaty of Brømsebro, Denmark surrendered Halland, Gotland, the last parts of Danish Estonia, and several provinces in Norway. In 1657, King Frederick III declared war on Sweden and marched on Bremen-Verden. This led to a massive Danish defeat and the armies of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden conquered both Jutland, FUJITSU Lifebook E8210 Keyboard Funen, and much of Zealand before signing the Peace of Roskilde in February 1658 which gave Sweden control of Skåne, Blekinge, Trøndelag, and the island of Bornholm. Charles X Gustav quickly regretted not having destroyed Denmark completely and in August 1658 he began a two-year long siege of Copenhagen but failed to take the capital. In the following peace settlement, HP Pavilion DV7-3183cl Keyboard Denmark managed to maintain its independence and regain control of Trøndelag and Bornholm. Denmark tried to regain control of Skåne in the Scanian War (1675–79) but this attempt was a failure. Following the Great Northern War (1700–21), Denmark managed to restore control of the parts of Schleswig and Holstein ruled by the house of Holstein-Gottorp in 1721 and 1773, respectively. FUJITSU Siemens M1010 Keyboard In the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark originally tried to pursue a policy of neutrality and trade with bothFrance and the United Kingdom and joined the League of Armed Neutrality with Russia, Sweden, and Prussia. The British considered this a hostile act and attacked Copenhagen in both 1801 and 1807, in one case carrying off the Danish fleet, in the other, burning large parts of Copenhagen. Compaq Presario CQ62-358TU Keyboard This led to the so-called Danish-British Gunboat War. The British control of the waterways between Denmark and Norway proved disastrous to the union's economy and in 1813, Denmark-Norway went bankrupt. The Danish-Norwegian union was dissolved by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814. In the treaty the Danish monarchy "irrevocably and forever" renounced claims to the Kingdom of Norway in favour of the Swedish king. TOSHIBA 9Z.N4WSC.001 Keyboard After the dissolution of the union with Norway, Denmark kept the possessions of Iceland (which retained the Danish monarchy until 1944), the Faroe Islands, andGreenland.^[38] As well as these Nordic possessions, Denmark built up an extensive colonial empire during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. At its apex the empire spanned four continents (Europe, North America, Africa and Asia), consisting of the aforementioned Nordic countries; TOSHIBA Satellite M645-S4070 Keyboard Danish India from 1620 to 1869; the Danish Gold Coast (Ghana) from 1658 to 1850; and the Danish West Indies (the U.S. Virgin Islands) from 1671 to 1917. The empire was sustained by trading posts and plantations , but ultimately a lack of resources had led to its downfall by the early 20th century. A nascent Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum in the 1830s;  HP Pavilion DV6-1350us Keyboard after the European Revolutions of 1848, Denmark peacefully became a constitutional monarchy on 5 June 1849. A two-chamber parliament was established. After the Second War of Schleswig in 1864, Denmark was forced to cede Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia, in a defeat that left deep marks on the Danish national identity.^{[citation needed]} After these events, Denmark pursued a policy of neutrality in Europe.  HP Pavilion DV7-3188cl Keyboard Denmark remained neutral during World War I. After the defeat of Germany, the Versailles powers offered to return the region of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark. Fearing German irredentism, Denmark refused to consider the return of the area without a plebiscite. The two Schleswig Plebiscites took place on 10 February and 14 March 1920, respectively. ASUS F6VE Keyboard On 10 July 1920, Northern Schleswig (Sønderjylland) was recovered by Denmark, thereby adding some 163,600 inhabitants and 3,984 square kilometres (1,538 sq mi). The reunion day (Genforeningsdag) is celebrated every 15 June on Valdemarsdag. Denmark signed a 10-year non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany in 1939. DELL NSK-DB301 Keyboard Germany's invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940 – code-namedOperation Weserübung – met only two hours of military resistance before the Danish government surrendered. Economic co-operation between Germany and Denmark continued until 1943, when the Danish government refused further co-operation and its navy scuttled most of its ships and sent as many of their officers as they could to Sweden. HP Pavilion dv6-3057tx Keyboard During the war, the government was helpful towards the Danish Jewish minority and the Danish resistance performed a daring rescue operation that managed to get most of them to Sweden and safety shortly before the Germans planned to round up the Danish Jews. Danish doctors refused to treat German citizens fleeing from Germany, which resulted in the deaths of 13,000 people.^[40][41] DELL Vostro PP38L Keyboard Danish citizens volunteered to fight Russia in co-operation with Germany as part of Frikorps Danmark.^[42]Iceland severed ties to Denmark and became an independent republic in 1944; in 1948, the Faroe Islands gained home rule. After World War II, Denmark became one of the founding members of the European Free Trade Association, NATO, and the United Nations. HP Pavilion DV7-3057nr Keyboard During the 1960s, the EFTA countries were often referred to as the Outer Seven, as opposed to the Inner Six of what was then the European Economic Community (EEC).^[43] In 1973, along with Britain and Ireland, Denmark joined the European Economic Community after a public referendum. The Maastricht Treaty, which involved further European integration, was rejected by the Danish people in 1992; TOSHIBA Satellite l20-135 Keyboard it was only accepted after a second referendum in 1993, which provided for four opt-outs from European Union policies (as outlined in the 1992 Edinburgh Agreement). The Danes rejected the euro as the national currency in a referendum in 2000. Greenland gained home rule in 1979 and was awardedself-determination in 2009. Toshiba Satellite L30-10X CPU Fan Neither Greenland nor the Faroe Islands are members of the European Union, the Faroese having declined membership of the EEC in 1973 and Greenland in 1986, in both cases because of fisheries policies. Constitutional change in 1953 led to a single-chamber parliament elected by proportional representation, female accession to the Danish throne, and Greenland becoming an integral part of Denmark. Toshiba Satellite A300-21H CPU Fan The Social Democrats led a string of coalition governments for most of the second half of the 20th century in a country generally known for its liberal traditions. Poul Schlüter then became the first Danish prime minister from the Conservative People's Partyin 1982, leading a centre-right coalition until 1993, when he was succeeded by the Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. SONY Vaio VGN-FS415M CPU Fan A centre-right coalition, headed by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, came to power in 2001 promising tighter immigration controls. A third successive centre-right leader,Lars Løkke Rasmussen, was prime minister from 2009 to 2011 due to Anders Fogh Rasmussen resigning as Prime Minister of Denmark to become the Secretary General of NATO. HP Pavilion dv6-3109ca CPU Fan The Rasmussen governments were dependent on the right-wing populist Danish People's Party throughout the 2000s to push through legislation, during which time immigration and integration emerged as major issues of public debate. Helle Thorning-Schmidt from the Social Democrats became Denmark's first female prime minister in 2011, ending a decade of centre-right rule. HP Pavilion dv9547cl CPU Fan Despite its modest size, Denmark has participated in generally UN-sanctioned, and often NATO-led, military and humanitarian operations, including: Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Korea, Egypt, Croatia, Kosovo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Libya. Located in Northern Europe, metropolitan Denmark^[b] consists of the peninsula of Jutland and 443 named islands (1,419 islands above 100 square metres (1,100 sq ft) in total).^[4HP G42-380LA CPU Fan ^4] Of these, 72 are inhabited,^[45] with the largest being Zealand and Funen. The island of Bornholm is located east of the rest of the country, in the Baltic Sea. Many of the larger islands are connected by bridges; theØresund Bridge connects Zealand with Sweden; the Great Belt Bridge connects Funen with Zealand; and the Little Belt Bridge connects Jutland with Funen. Ferries or small aircraft connect to the smaller islands. IBM ThinkPad T43P-2668 CPU Fan The largest cities with populations over 100,000 are the capital Copenhagen on Zealand; Aarhus and Aalborg in Jutland; and Odense on Funen.The country occupies an area of 43,094 square kilometres (16,638.69 sq mi). The size of the land area cannot be stated exactly since the ocean constantly erodes and adds material to the coastline, and because of human land reclamation projects (to counter erosion). Toshiba Satellite P300 CPU Fan A circle enclosing the same area as Denmark would be 234 kilometres (more than 145 miles) in diameter with a circumferenceof 742 km (461 miles). It shares a border of 68 kilometres (42 mi) with Germany to the south and is otherwise surrounded by 7,314 km (4,545 mi) of tidal shoreline (including small bays and inlets).^[47] No location in Denmark is further from the coast than 52 km (32 mi). HP Pavilion dv7-4283cl CPU Fan On the south-west coast of Jutland, the tide is between 1 and 2 m (3.28 and 6.56 ft), and the tideline moves outward and inward on a 10 km (6.2 mi) stretch.Denmark's northernmost point is Skagen's point (the north beach of the Skaw) at 57° 45' 7" northern latitude; the southernmost is Gedserpoint (the southern tip of Falster) at 54° 33' 35" northern latitude; the westernmost point is Blåvandshuk at 8° 4' 22" eastern longitude; HP COMPAQ 2510P Series CPU Fan and the easternmost point is Østerskær at 15° 11' 55" eastern longitude. This is in the archipelago Ertholmene 18 kilometres (11 mi) north-east of Bornholm. The distance from east to west is 452 kilometres (281 mi), from north to south 368 kilometres (229 mi). The country is flat with little elevation; having an average height above sea level of 31 metres (102 ft). HP Pavilion dv6-3126ea CPU Fan The highest natural point isMøllehøj, at 170.86 metres (560.56 ft). The area of inland water is 700 km² (270 sq mi). Phytogeographically, the Kingdom of Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands) belongs to the Boreal Kingdom and is shared between the Arctic, Atlantic European, and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region. IBM 41W5269 CPU Fan According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of metropolitan Denmark can be subdivided into two ecoregions: the Atlantic mixed forests and Baltic mixed forests. The Faroe Islands are covered by the Faroe Islands boreal grasslands, while Greenland hosts the ecoregions of Kalaallit Nunaat high arctic tundra and Kalaallit Nunaat low arctic tundra. Compaq Presario CQ60-615DX CPU Fan Denmark has a temperate climate, characterised by mild winters, with mean temperatures in January and February of 0.0 °C (32.0 °F), and cool summers, with a mean temperature in August of 15.7 °C (60.3 °F).^[49] Denmark has an average of 121 days per year with precipitation, on average receiving a total of 712 millimetres (28 in) per year; autumn is the wettest season and spring the driest.^[49] HP Pavilion dv6-2057eo CPU Fan Because of Denmark's northern location, there are large seasonal variations in daylight. There are short days during the winter with sunrise coming around 8:45 am and sunset 3:45 pm (standard time), as well as long summer days with sunrise at 4:30 am and sunset at 10 pm (daylight saving time).^[50] The Faroe Islands has a mean temperature in January of 4.5 °C (40.1 °F), in July the mean temperature was 10.1 in 2012 and all that year it was 6.7 °C (44.1 °F). HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr CPU Fan In 2012 the Faroe Islands had 195 days with precipitation and received a total of 1,262 millimetres (50 in) that year. Denmark has historically taken a progressive stance on environmental preservation; in 1971 Denmark established a Ministry of Environment and was the first country in the world to implement an environmental law in 1973.^[52] IBM ThinkPad T43P-2668 CPU Fan To mitigate environmental degradation and global warming the Danish Government has signed the following international agreements: Antarctic Treaty; Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol etc.^[46] Copenhagen is the spearhead of the bright green environmental movement in Denmark.^[53] Copenhagen's most important environment research institutions are theUniversity of Copenhagen, Toshiba Satellite A100-02M CPU Fan Copenhagen Business School,^[54] Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy and the Technical University of Denmark, which Risø is now part of. Leading up to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (Copenhagen Summit), the University of Copenhagen held the Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions conference where the need for comprehensive action to mitigate climate change was stressed by the international scientific community. ACER Aspire 5730Z Series CPU Fan Notable figures such as Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, Professor Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Report, and Professor Daniel Kammen all emphasised the good example set by Copenhagen and Denmark in capitalising on cleantech and achieving economic growth while stabilising carbon emissions. Denmark's green house gas emissions per dollar of value produced has been for the most part unstable since 1990,  Toshiba Satellite P300-1FN CPU Fan seeing sudden growths and falls. Overall though, there has been a reduction in gas emissions per dollar value added to its market.^[55] It lags behind other Scandinavian countries such as Norway^[56] and Sweden. The Kingdom of Denmark is a constitutional monarchy, in which Queen Margrethe II is head of state, but royal power has long been limited to ceremonial functions.^[58] The monarch is not answerable for his or her actions, and the monarch's person is sacrosanct.^[59]  HP G42-415DX CPU Fan The Danish political system operates under a framework laid out in the Constitution of Denmark. Changes to it require an absolute majority in two consecutive parliamentary terms and majority approval through a referendum (and the referendum majority must constitute at least 40 per cent of the electorate).^[60] The Constitution lays out a political system based on the separation of powers into the three branches of government; the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary branches.  HP Pavilion dv7-4177nr CPU Fan The Economist Intelligence Unit, while acknowledging that democracy is difficult to measure, listed Denmark 4th on itsindex of democracy.^[12] Denmark, along with New Zealand, ranks 1st on the Corruption Perceptions Index. The Folketing is the national Parliament, the supreme legislative body of the kingdom. In theory it has the ultimate legislative authority according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, HP 580718-001 CPU Fan it is able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors. However questions over sovereignty have been brought forward because of Denmark's entry into the European Union. Parliament consists of 175 members elected by proportional majority, plus two members each from Greenland and the Faroe Islands.^[62]  ACER Aspire One A110-1834 CPU Fan Parliamentary elections are held at least every four years, but it is within the powers of the Prime Minister to ask the monarch to call for an election before the term has elapsed. On a vote of no confidence, the Parliament may force a single Minister or the entire government to resign.^[63] The Danish political system has traditionally generated coalitions. Most Danish post-war governments have been minority coalitions ruling with the support of non-government parties.^[64]  Dell Vostro 3450 CPU Fan The Prime Minister is formally appointed by the monarch, on the advice of party leaders following an election or collapse of a government. In practice the Prime Minister is chosen through negotiation between the parliament party leaders, customarily with the leader of the largest party in a coalition being appointed. Executive authority is exercised on behalf of the monarch by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. SONY Vaio VPC-EB4X1E/BQ CPU Fan The Cabinet, Prime Minister and other Ministers collectively make up the government of Denmark. Lars Løkke Rasmussen was the Prime minister from April 2009 until September 2011. He headed a right-wing government coalition consisting of Venstre (a conservative liberal party) and the Conservative People's Party, with parliamentary support from the national-conservative Danish People's Party. HP 646578-001 CPU Fan Following the September 2011 election the right wing lost to the opposing left-wing coalition, led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who on 3 October 2011 formed a new government consisting of theSocial Democrats, the Danish Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party. A second Thornig-Schmidt cabinet was formed on 3 February 2014 when the Socialist People's Party left the government. HP Pavilion tx2510us CPU Fan Judicial authority remains separate from the executive and legislature and lies with the courts of justice. The Kingdom of Denmark does not have a single unified judicial system – Denmark has one system, Greenland another, and the Faroe Islands a third.^[65] However, decisions by the highest courts in Greenland and the Faroe Islands may be appealed to the Danish High Courts.  ACER Aspire 7112WSMi CPU Fan The Danish Supreme Court is the highest civil and criminal court responsible for the administration of justice in the kingdom. Articles 62 and 64 of the Danish Constitution ensure judicial independence from Government and Parliament by providing that judges shall only be guided by the law, including acts, statutes and practice. Danish foreign policy is based on its identity as a sovereign nation in Europe. Toshiba GDM610000277 CPU Fan As such its primary foreign policy focus is on its relations with other nations as a sovereign independent nation. Denmark has long had good relations with other nations. It has been involved in coordinating Western assistance to the Baltic states (Estonia,^[67] Latvia, and Lithuania) in the Alliance. The Kingdom of Denmark's armed forces are known as the Danish Defence (Danish: Forsvaret).  HP Pavilion dv7-6107tx CPU Fan During peacetime, the Ministry of Defence in Denmark employs around 33,000 in total. The main military branches employ almost 27,000: 15,460 in the Danish Army, 5,300 in the Royal Danish Navy and 6,050 in the Royal Danish Air Force (all including conscripts). The Danish Emergency Management Agency (Beredskabsstyrelsen) employs 2,000 (including conscripts), and about 4,000 are in non-branch-specific services like the Danish Defence Command, Dell Vostro 3350 CPU Fan the Danish Defence Research Establishment and the Danish Defence Intelligence Service. Furthermore around 55,000 serve as volunteers in the Danish Home Guard (Hjemmeværnet). The country is a strong supporter of international peacekeeping. The Danish Defence has around 1,400^[68] staff in international missions, not including standing contributions to NATO SNMCMG1. Dell Vostro 3450 CPU Fan The three largest contributions are in Afghanistan (ISAF), Kosovo(KFOR) and Lebanon (UNIFIL). Between 2003 and 2007, there were approximately 450 Danish soldiers in Iraq.^[69] Denmark is today pursuing an active foreign policy, where human rights, democracy and other crucial values are to be defended actively. In recent years Greenland and the Faroe Islands have been guaranteed a say in foreign policy issues such as fishing, whaling, and geopolitical concerns. TOSHIBA Mini NB 300 Series Keyboard Denmark,^[b] with a total area (land and water) of 42,972.53 square kilometers (of which Ertholmene 0.39 km²), is divided into five regions (Danish: regioner, singular: region) and a total of 98 municipalities. The regions were created on 1 January 2007 to replace the former counties. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the number of municipalities from 270 to 98. SONY VGN-FE28H Keyboard Most municipalities have a population of at least 20,000 people to give them financial and professional sustainability, although a few exceptions were made to this rule.^[70] The most important area of responsibility for regions is the national health service. Unlike the former counties, the regions are not allowed to levy taxes, DELL Latitude E5500 Keyboard and the health service is primarily financed by a national health care contribution of eight per cent (Danish: sundhedsbidrag) combined with funds from both government and municipalities.^[71] Municipalities and regions are led by directly elected councils, elected every four years. The most recent Danish local elections were held on 19 November 2013. HP Pavilion dv5-1104tu Keyboard The easternmost land in Denmark, the Ertholmene archipelago, with a population of 90 (2014) and area of 39 hectares, is neither part of a municipality nor a region but belongs to the Ministry of Defence. The Kingdom of Denmark is a unitary state, however the Faroe Islands and Greenland were granted home rule (political autonomy)^[73] TOSHIBA Equium A100 Series Keyboard in 1948 and 1979 respectively, having previously had the status of counties.^[74][75] Extensive powers have been devolved to the Faroe Islands and Greenland, which have their own governments and legislatures and are effectively self-governing in regards to domestic affairs.^[75] However, the devolved legislatures are subordinate to the Folketing where the two territories are represented by two seats each. SONY VAIO VGN-AR570 Keyboard High Commissioners (Danish: Rigsombudsmand) act as representatives of the Danish government in the Faroese Løgting and in the Parliament of Greenland, but they can not vote.^[75] The Faroese government is defined to be an equal partner with the Danish government in the act of 2005 (Act on the Faroese authorities acquisition of affairs and fields)^[76][77] and the Greenlandic people are defined as a separate people with the right toself-determination. DELL Vostro 3350 Keyboard Denmark has a modern, prosperous and developed mixed market economy, ranking 21st in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita and 10th in nominal GDP per capita. A liberalisation of import tariffs in 1797 marked the end of mercantilism and further liberalisation in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century established the Danish liberal tradition in international trade that was only to be broken by the 1930s.^[79] ACER Aspire 7736ZG Keyboard  ^[80] Property rights have enjoyed strong protection. Denmark's economy stands out as one of the most free in the Index of Economic Freedom^[81] and the Economic Freedom of the World.^[82] The economy has high levels ofinternational trade and Denmark is known as a free trade advocate in the European Union. Denmark is one of the most competitive economies in the world according to World Economic Forum 2008 report, IMD and The Economist.^[83] TOSHIBA NSK-TBD01 Keyboard As a result of its acclaimed "flexicurity" model, Denmark has the most free labour market in Europe, according to the World Bank. Employers can hire and fire whenever they want (flexibility), and between jobs, unemployment compensation is very high (security). The World Bank ranks Denmark as the easiest place in Europe to do business. Establishing a business can be done in a matter of hours and at very low costs.^[84] HP 9J.N0Y82.H01 Keyboard Denmark has a competitive company tax rate of 25% and a special time-limited tax regime for expatriates.^[85] The Danish taxation system is broad based, with a 25% VAT, in addition to excise taxes, income taxes and other fees. The overall tax burden (sum of all taxes, as a percentage of GDP) is estimated to be 46% in 2011.^[86]