This book traces Danish-Greenlandic relations in the period 1900-2000. The main trend is the development from a colonial situation in 1900 with a state owned company runnig nearly all business to an open economy with steadily growing self-government for Greenland short of full independence. The Danish policy can be described as benevolent, but financially the budget was tight until after the second World War, the philosophy being that Denmark should neither lose nor gain. After the war there was heavy investment to bring Greenland nearer to standards of living comparable to Denmark and substantial subsidies were given make that happen. The Greenlanders attitude towards Denmark developed along lines familiar from other examples of decolonisation. The first phase of accepting the coloniser was long over, now seeking equality with the coloniser was the main aim in their endeavours. From 1911 two provincial councils woiced speaking the Greenlanders views and their political influence steadily grew. In 1953 Greenland got representation in the Danish parliament. The third phase of doing without the coloniser began in the early 1970s when Greenlanders sought home rule status, obtained in 1979. In the following twenty years the Home Rule Authority gradually took over nearly all lawmaking and administration and from 2004 a committee has explored ways of giving Greenland a more independent voice in foreign affairs. In 2003 the ultimate goal was declared to be full independence.

This book explores how the Danish authorities governed the colonized population in Greenland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Two competing narratives of colonialism dominate in Greenland as well as Denmark. One narrative portrays the Danish colonial project as ruthless and brutal extraction of a vulnerable indigenousness people; the other narrative emphasizes almost exclusively the benevolent aspects of Danish rule in Greenland. Rather than siding with one of these narratives, this book investigates actual practices of colonial governance in Greenland with an outlook to the extensive international scholarship on colonialism and post-colonialism. The chapters address the intimate connections between the establishment of an ethnographic discourse and the colonial techniques of governance in Greenland. Thereby the book provides important nuances to the understanding of the historical relationship between Denmark and Greenland and links this historical trajectory to the present negotiations of Greenlandic identity.

Though it has been home for centuries to indigenous peoples who have mastered its conditions, the Arctic has historically proven to be a difficult region for governments to administer. Extreme temperatures, vast distances, and widely dispersed patterns of settlement have made it impossible for bureaucracies based in far-off capitals to erect and maintain the kind of infrastructure and institutions that they have built elsewhere. As climate change transforms the polar regions, this book seeks to explore how the challenges of governance are developing and being met in Alaska, the Canadian Far North, and Greenland, while also drawing upon lessons from the region's past. Though the experience of each of these jurisdictions is unique, their place within democratic, federal systems and the prominence within each of them of issues relating to the rights of indigenous peoples situates them as part of an identifiably 'North American Arctic.' Today, as this volume shows, their institutions are evolving to address contemporary issues of security, environmental protection, indigenous rights, and economic development.

The European Union and the Arctic brings together academics from a range of disciplines to discuss the EU's potential roles in shaping Arctic governance. The book is divided into three parts. The first part examines the EU’s current Arctic policy framework. The second part focuses on the EU’s engagement with Arctic governance at the regional level and encompasses the EU’s engagement with the so-called Arctic Five (five coastal States of the Arctic Ocean), providing examples of some of those relationships. The third part takes a sectoral approach, analysing the EU’s potential contribution to regulation of key human activities in the Arctic, including shipping, fisheries, oil and gas operations, and marine mammals.

With the Constitution of 1953, the colonial status of Greenland came to an end, and Greenlanders were granted equal rights as citizens within the Danish realm. In 1954 this new arrangement was supported by the UN General Assembly. The decision to change Greenland's status was conditioned both by internal and external circumstances. In the UN context, Danes increasingly felt the strain of being a colonial power, and they feared the possibility of future UN interference in Greenlandic affairs.

History of exploration before the 20th century, and general description of polar regions.