Government, Policies, and Priorities in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland): Roads to Independence

Abstract

Kalaallit Nunaat (known in English as ‘Greenland’) is an autonomous region of Denmark as well as the only Indigenous territory in the Arctic with a legally established roadmap toward independence. The relationship between economic, political, and cultural independence is not straightforward, however, and Kalaallit Nunaat is confronted by a range of significant political choices related to both domestic and foreign policy—choices that are subject to close observation and comment by state actors not only in Denmark (Kalaallit Nunaat’s colonizer) but also in the USA and China. Although the population of Kalaallit Nunaat is overwhelmingly in favor of political independence from Denmark, the territory’s national proportional representation system for parliamentary elections supports a large number of political parties representing distinctive constellations of voter interests and ideologies. As Kalaallit Nunaat moves toward further urbanization, greater connectedness to the outside world through airport development, and geopolitical repositioning as a result of evolving USA security policy and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, this Arctic Indigenous territory will continue to undergo political change.