Damien Degeorges is Head of International Business Diplomacy Chair, Paris School of Business, France.
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Commentary
Greenland‟s State-Building Process:
Still a Long Way to Go
Damien Degeorges
In 2009, Greenland got Self Rule within the Kingdom of Denmark. This upgraded status from Home
Rule is seen as the last stage before a possible independence from Denmark. Time shows however that
there is still a long way to go before thinking about independence: amongst other challenges,
Greenland‘s economic situation is not going well, unemployment is high and expected large scale
projects take time to be concretised.
In the most optimistic forecast, it would require several decades before Greenland can seriously think
about becoming a state. That said, the longer Greenland will wait to develop and make necessary reforms
such as an important reduction of public expenses, which in a report from 2010 accounted for about
75% of Greenland‘s GDP
(NIRAS, 2010), the more difficult it will be for Greenland to ‗safely‘ take the
Arctic ‗motorway‘ (where things go fast) alone [without the Danish ‗driving instructor‘ or ‗co-driver‘ as
the Self Rule Act talks about ‗equal partners‘ (Lov om Grønlands Selvstyre, 2009)], as an independent
state. Simply because the Arctic will have become too important to take the risk of being a weak, or at
least a too vulnerable state, by going faster in the state-building process.
As self-ruled territory, Greenland has a unique chance to experience sovereignty in some key areas and
feel some realities experienced by states, without being a state. Being a state requires not only incomes,
something Greenland would have to think about on a long term perspective and not just to become
independent, but also a significant number of highly educated persons.
Putting defence aside, as it is clear that an independent Greenland would not be able to have its own
defence forces if a country such as Iceland doesn‘t, capabilities regarding foreign affairs is and will be
one of Greenland‘s key challenges. The Greenlandic Department of Foreign Affairs, made of a main
office in Nuuk and two representations (Copenhagen and Brussels), counted in 2013 about 15 persons,
including the minister and interns. In comparison, a micro-state such as Monaco, less inhabited than