The Middleman—The Driving Forces Behind Denmark’s Arctic Policy

• Main Authors: Rahbek-Clemmensen, Jon, Nielsen, Line Jedig
• Other Authors: Weber, Joachim
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Nuuk
• Online Access: https://pure.fak.dk/da/publications/the-middlemanthe-driving-forces-behind-denmarks-arctic-policy(9680c316-ae00-4cb4-b820-ca73b5fd335e).html; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45005-2_5

The existing literature highlights that Denmark’s Arctic policy is driven by Denmark’s wish to maintain good relationships with the United States and Greenland. This chapter examines if this is the case. It argues that while the relationship to Washington and Nuuk are arguably the most important driving forces behind Denmark’s Arctic policy, other factors, such as the institutional set-up in the Arctic, have also shaped Danish policy. The chapter also shows that the United States has recently become more interested in Greenland, as it has come to see the Arctic as an arena for geopolitical competition with other great powers. This creates new challenges for Denmark’s Arctic policy that differs from the situation during the Cold War, because of Greenland’s enhanced autonomy and the creation of new regional institutions in the past decades.