Uranium:The Road to “Economic Self-Sustainability for Greenland”? Changing Uranium-Positions in Greenlandic Politics

How did the government of Greenland in just a few weeks take on a clear pro-uranium position in the eyes of the industry? I introduce a case study of the production of tolerance towards the mining of Greenland’s uranium as developed in the recent political debate about resource development, and part...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bjørst, Lill Rastad
Other Authors: Fondahl, Gail, Wilson, Gary N.
Format: Book Part
Language:English
Published: Springer 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/8366a4d1-b96f-442c-9fac-4d4443790c2f
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46150-2_3
http://www.springer.com/gb/book/9783319461489
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Summary:How did the government of Greenland in just a few weeks take on a clear pro-uranium position in the eyes of the industry? I introduce a case study of the production of tolerance towards the mining of Greenland’s uranium as developed in the recent political debate about resource development, and particularly, uranium, and to the knowledge practices which help to legitimize varying arguments in the debate. The concept of sustainability is often mentioned in the debate but is given radically different meanings by different actors. In this study I question how these different meanings inform various political strategies, in the context of increased global attention to the possibility of the industrial development of one of the world’s last underground treasures.