Greenland: A Non-sovereign Small State, Examining the Shelter Theory and Path Towards Independence

Absztrakt (kivonat)

Scholarship on Greenland, its political system, and position in the international arena is obscured from the focus of political science, failing to provide enough insight into the current events shaping the political reality of Greenland. This thesis aims to examine the underlying causes of the developing aspirations towards independence and Greenland’s robust participation in regional cooperation institutions. This research relies on the utilization of the theory of shelter and suggests that Greenland is a shelter seeking subnational polity utilizing it to alleviate its structural deficiencies by seeking economic, political, and societal shelter provided by other subnational polities, regional and international organizations, and sovereign actors to maximize its utility and overcome its structural deficiencies. This thesis aims to add to the body of literature of the theory of shelter that has never been utilized in research related to Greenland; thus, this research opens up exciting possibilities that add to small state research into the research of subnational polities on their path to independence. To prove whether Greenland finds political and societal shelter under the auspices of regional bodies, primary source and discourse analysis are employed along with analysis of newly published statistical data. To examine Greenland’s economic shelter seeking activities, the method relies on analysing primary statistical data and utilizing the black letter analysis to examine how legal background outlines the economic relations of Greenland and other actors. Discourse analysis is used as a supporting method to analyse the content of Greenlandic and Danish politicians' written and verbal speech acts. To examine societal shelter-seeking activities, primary statistical data is utilized with descriptive analysis and content analysis. This research finds that Greenland is an active shelter seeking subnational polity and uses a vast network of regional and international actors to conduct its distinct foreign policy and craft its path towards independence. This research also shows that the theory of shelter needs further refinement and that its compartmentalizing nature could present some hardships to future researchers. Regardless, the theory of shelter is beneficial for research of subnational polities and small societies seeking independence.