ASTK18246U Greenland at the crossroads: Climate change, Asian interest in the Arctic and developments in Greenland

The course will consider what Greenlandic actors can do with their overall ambitions of economic development and, eventually, political independence facing several challenges that originate in both internal and external pressures in the changing geopolitical context of the Arctic: Which ideas and  instruments of governance, economic resources, nation building and state formation is available for Greenland in the present circumstances? Ongoing climate changes have catapulted Greenland into the proclaimed role of the messenger of the rapid changes going on in the Arctic as a warning of future challenges globally. At the same time, Greenland is a gate to opportunities that the Arctic offers a growing world population with growing demands for resources that the climate change is reported to make more accessible. The course will discuss scenarios for development in Greenland within the context of developments in the Arctic and of the relations between Greenland and Denmark by focusing on dynamics in three areas of drastic change: Continuing climate change, increasing Asian interests in the Arctic together with the resulting governance implications for Greenland