
ÓLAFUR STEINAR RYE GESTSSON/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2017
After the social-engineering drive of the Danish state in the 50s, 60s and 70s, and the accelerated takeover and establishment of Greenlandic institutions during the first period of home rule, Greenland politics and societal development has switched gears since the millennium. On the one hand, big ambitions for an autonomous welfare state, a self-sustaining economy and a people capable of shouldering both continue to be the driving force. On the other hand, the next steps on the road are monumental and heavy, and the politics is characterised by disagreements on priorities and the balancing of different interests.
The introduction of Self-Government in 2009 sparked pride and a can-do attitude, but after just a little over a decade, the mood is more subdued. With the solid revenues from fishing, the national economy and the national treasury are healthy, and Greenlanders are taking up more positions in management and positions requiring specialised qualifications. However, transfer of responsibilities has come to a standstill and neither mineral resources nor tourism have become key economic industries.

CHRISTIAN KLINDT SØLBECK/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2022

EMIL HELMS/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2021
Technocratic attempts to formulate the basis for overall societal priorities, such as the 2000 Structural Policy Action Plan and various attempts to formulate a comprehensive regional policy have, as a result of political disagreement, been nipped in the bud or have only haphazardly been translated into concrete reforms. A recurring theme of both technocratic plans and the political debate has been the size of the public sector. The public administration is criticised for being too large for such a small society – and it clashes with the diseconomies of scale that result from the ambition that Greenland should manage all areas on an equal footing with larger nation states. The desire to let the private sector take over more areas clashes with the diseconomies of scale coming with the insular community consisting of 71 separate communities that are so small that many tasks would not constitute a market for more than one player – and often not even one.
Instead, political attention has been on a number of sectoral reforms designed to finetune economic efficiency, to develop human resources or lift infrastructure to a new level. Part of the reform plans (e.g. in the fisheries sector) end up as minor adjustments after a tug-of-war between well-known interests (the contribution made by large efficient companies to exports and the national treasury; maintenance of the culture and settlements of coastal fisheries; employment in land-based production plants). Others remain ambitious objectives without the necessary resources being available (e.g. English as a first language, reforms to the education sector). It is in this light that one needs to look at the very unique character that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has acquired in Greenland. In other countries, CSR is carried by private companies that try to gain legitimacy by not just selling certain products and services demanded by the market, but also by taking into account societal values demanded by their stakeholders. In Greenland, CSR is largely carried by publicly owned companies. In addition to solving the tasks given to them by their owners, the companies try to compensate for their owners’ lack of priorities or possibilities of implementing policy in other areas via various actions under the heading CSR.
Great visions for development lose momentum when the driving projects fail to materialise (e.g. Alcoa’s aluminium melter furnace and numerous mining projects based on foreign investment). In some reform areas, regional ambitions have been driven into a corner, either directly because regional growth centres are afraid that Nuuk will take it all, or indirectly because an investment package, in order to make everyone happy, ends up being prohibitively expensive and operationally questionable. Along the way, a number of pipe dreams have cost dearly. Despite stacks of consultancy reports, countless citizens’ hearings and endless casework in departments and government-owned limited companies, it is ultimately a political decision to what extent one dares to believe that an airport or mine will bring growth or destruction.
Similarly, it will be a political decision whether the benefits in the form of self-determination and selfrespect would outweigh the disadvantages in the form of uncertainty and more direct pressure from the great powers when the Constitutional Commission makes a proposal for a constitution. Initially, the Commission was tasked with writing two constitutions: one to be used in conjunction with the Danish Constitution, and another to form the framework for an independent Greenland. After a messy process that was difficult to get going, the much-delayed Commission has only opted to work with the latter. The expectation is that the Constitution will recommend that an independent Greenland can enter into ‘free association’ with, for example, Denmark. The next step would then be a new round of negotiations with Denmark. Opinion polls point to it being crucial whether a new scheme will affect the welfare in Greenland.
The ambitions of self-sustainability and autonomy have been driving real structural changes, especially during the Home Rule years, when it took place under slogans about solutions based on Greenlandic conditions. Under these slogans, subsequent generations have looked for international inspiration for the next step: The demands for home rule, rights, self-government and autonomy can only be understood in the light of global decolonisation, of the international movement of indigenous peoples and of the experiences gained by the other peoples of the North Atlantic who have loosened ties with Copenhagen. Many of the major plans for economic self-sustainability can only be understood as part of international trends – and several of the concrete steps have been inspired by other peoples and countries whose challenges are more similar to those of Greenland than Denmark. In this light, the home rule and self-government years can only be seen as a successful effort to reduce dependence on Denmark and to find Greenlandic solutions to Greenlandic problems. Not just by looking inward, but by looking outward.
Further reading
- Education
- Health and care
- Home Rule (1979‑2008)
- Housing
- Industry and labour market
- Infrastructure
- Language
- Plans in Greenland
- Population and demographics
- Premiers of Naalakkersuisut 1979-2022
- Self-Government
- The five regional municipalities
- The Greenlandic insular community
- The Unity of the Realm and the Danish State
- Towns and settlements
Read more about Society and business in Greenland