Greenland's Arctic advantage: Articulations, acts and appearances of sovereignty games

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Marc Jacobsen
Greenland representatives successfully use the renewed international geostrategic interest in the Arctic to enhance Greenland’s foreign policy sovereignty. This is facilitated by Denmark’s dependence on Greenland’s geographic location and continuous membership of the Danish Realm for maintaining the status of an Arctic state, which recently has become one of the five most important security and foreign policy priorities. The dependency gives Greenland an ‘Arctic advantage’ in negotiations with Denmark, while turning circumpolar events into strategic arenas for sovereignty games in the aim to move the boundary of what Greenland may do internationally without Danish involvement. This article analyzes how these games unfold in the Arctic Council, at the high-level Ilulissat meetings and at circumpolar conferences where Greenland representatives articulate, act and appear more foreign policy sovereignty through outspoken discontent, tacit gestures and symbolic alterations. Altogether, this contributes to the expanding of Greenland’s foreign policy room for maneuver within the current legal frameworks, while enhancing Greenland’s international status and attracting external investments, important in their striving towards becoming a state with full formal Westphalian sovereignty.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1
JournalCooperation and Conflict
Pages (from-to)1
Number of pages23
ISSN0010-8367
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 23 Oct 2019

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Social Sciences - Greenland, Denmark, Arctic, International Relations, sovereignty, Sovereignty games, diplomacy, paradiplomacy, Governance, Sub-state actors, Quasi states, discourse analysis, Ethnography

ID: 229063021