The US, Denmark and Greenland: a difficult triangle

Senior Researcher Mikkel Runge Olesen takes a closer look at the state of affairs of triangular relations between the US, Denmark and Greenland. He finds that the reputations that each has built up with the other two, play a crucial role for their interactions. Most markedly, Denmark’s poor reputation in Greenland, shaped by its colonial past and by scandals from the Cold War, makes Denmark a lightning rod for Greenlandic blame whenever complications arise concerning the Kingdom’s relations with the US. Conversely, it frees the US from much potential criticism. Blame, it would seem, is a finite quantity.

The book chapter is part of the anthology Greenland and the International Politics of a Changing Arctic: Postcolonial Paradiplomacy between High and Low Politics (edited by Kristian Søby Kristensen & Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen) published by Routledge.

The research for this book chapter is supported by the Independent Research Fund Denmark grant-ID: DFF – 1329-00039.