High Stakes in the High North: Alternative Models for Greenland’s Ongoing Constitutional and Political Transformation

Abstract

Given the widespread attention and curiosity that accompanied the critical response to former President Trump’s 2019 Greenland purchase initiative, even in the absence of forward movement on the plan, the White House’s renewed (and continuing under the new Biden administration) interest in the Arctic and its increasing commitment to engagement and forward presence in the High North Atlantic region, has nonetheless been positively reinforced in the many months since – and this surely has not escaped the attention of America’s principal rivals in Beijing and Moscow, nor of its friends in Greenland, Iceland and across the lightly-settled and strategically salient North Atlantic. As Greenland continues its transformation from colony to autonomy and beyond toward a more formally independent sovereign status, several models are examined in this thought essay that Greenland could potentially pursue as it evolves from its current constitutional and political form. Because of the dynamic uncertainties of the polar thaw, and the return of Westphalian state competition to the Arctic region in recent years, the potential independence of Greenland becomes instead a strategic wildcard needing to be closely studied and pro-actively engaged to ensure a future sovereign Greenland maintains the close, collaborative and friendly relationship with the United States and the West, optimally as part of NATO, that it currently pursues as a constituent component of Denmark.

Keywords

• greenland
• inuit
• westphalian state
• autonomy
• colony
• sovereignty