Greenland views itself as being on the way to sovereignty. This image – and the tensions involved in it – structure the triangular relation between the EU, Greenland and Denmark. The central Other of Greenland has for a couple of centuries been Denmark, the colonial overlord. The national identity discourses of Greenland and Denmark both idealize national homogeneity. A central condition for a continuation of Rigsfællesskabet, the 'community of the realm' including Greenland and Denmark, is the idea that Greenland still needs external assistance in its development towards independence - and that this idea can be formulated in a way which does not infantilize Greenland metaphorically. As part of the postcolonial diversification of Greenland's dependency, the bilateral relation between Denmark and Greenland has gradually been opened up to involve 'other others'. Meanwhile, a discourse prognosticates that climate change is opening up the Arctic to minerals extraction and commerce. In these circumstances, the triangular relation with the EU is played out as a series of rhetorical and practical 'sovereignty games', in Nuuk, Copenhagen and Brussels. Particularly, a number of strategies are employed to minimize the apparent role of Denmark for the Greenlandic relations to the EU. The book approaches these changes in national identity discourse and practical foreign policy in five analytical steps: The core concepts organizing Danish and Greenlandic identity are identified in discourse analyses. Political debates are read as political identity negotiations. The practical diplomatic management of clashing identity discourses is uncovered via qualitative interviews with key actors (politicians, diplomats, and civil servants from Greenland, Denmark and the EU). Legal texts are approached as the 'frozen' outcome of rhetorical and practical sovereignty games. Finally, the book develops scenarios for the future and concludes by pointing out how the continuation of the community of the realm may have a better chance if conceived as an 'ever looser union'. One way for Denmark of facilitating this image would be to employ its diplomacy in the service of diversifying Greenland's dependence - following the example set in relation to the EU.
This book scrutinizes how contemporary practices of security have come to rely on many different translations of security, risk, and danger. Institutions of national security policies are currently undergoing radical conceptual and organisational changes, and this book presents a novel approach for how to study and politically address the new situation. Complex and uncertain threat environments, such as terrorism, climate change, and the global financial crisis, have paved the way for new forms of security governance that have profoundly transformed the ways in which threats are handled today. Crucially, there is a decentralisation of the management of security, which is increasingly handled by a broad set of societal actors that previously were not considered powerful in the conduct of security affairs. This transformation of security knowledge and management changes the meaning of traditional concepts and practices, and calls for investigation into the many meanings of security implied when contemporary societies manage radical dangers, risks, and threats. It is necessary to study both what these meanings are and how they developed from the security practices of the past. Addressing this knowledge gap, the book asks how different ideas about threats, risk, and dangers meet in the current practices of security, broadly understood, and with what political consequences. This book will be of interest to students of critical security studies, anthropology, risk studies, science and technology studies and International Relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at: https://www.routledge.com/Translations-of-Security-A-Framework-for-the-Study-of-Unwanted-Futures/Berling-Gad-Petersen-Waever/p/book/9781032007090 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license
This book scrutinizes how contemporary practices of security have come to rely on many different translations of security, risk, and danger. Institutions of national security policies are currently undergoing radical conceptual and organisational changes, and this book presents a novel approach for how to study and politically address the new situation. Complex and uncertain threat environments, such as terrorism, climate change, and the global financial crisis, have paved the way for new forms of security governance that have profoundly transformed the ways in which threats are handled today. Crucially, there is a decentralisation of the management of security, which is increasingly handled by a broad set of societal actors that previously were not considered powerful in the conduct of security affairs. This transformation of security knowledge and management changes the meaning of traditional concepts and practices, and calls for investigation into the many meanings of security implied when contemporary societies manage radical dangers, risks, and threats. It is necessary to study both what these meanings are and how they developed from the security practices of the past. Addressing this knowledge gap, the book asks how different ideas about threats, risk, and dangers meet in the current practices of security, broadly understood, and with what political consequences. This book will be of interest to students of critical security studies, anthropology, risk studies, science and technology studies and International Relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at: https://www.routledge.com/Translations-of-Security-A-Framework-for-the-Study-of-Unwanted-Futures/Berling-Gad-Petersen-Waever/p/book/9781032007090 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license
Greenland views itself as being on the way to sovereignty. This image – and the tensions involved in it – structure the triangular relation between the EU, Greenland and Denmark. The central Other of Greenland has for a couple of centuries been Denmark, the colonial overlord. The national identity discourses of Greenland and Denmark both idealize national homogeneity. A central condition for a continuation of Rigsfællesskabet, the 'community of the realm' including Greenland and Denmark, is the idea that Greenland still needs external assistance in its development towards independence - and that this idea can be formulated in a way which does not infantilize Greenland metaphorically. As part of the postcolonial diversification of Greenland's dependency, the bilateral relation between Denmark and Greenland has gradually been opened up to involve 'other others'. Meanwhile, a discourse prognosticates that climate change is opening up the Arctic to minerals extraction and commerce. In these circumstances, the triangular relation with the EU is played out as a series of rhetorical and practical 'sovereignty games', in Nuuk, Copenhagen and Brussels. Particularly, a number of strategies are employed to minimize the apparent role of Denmark for the Greenlandic relations to the EU. The book approaches these changes in national identity discourse and practical foreign policy in five analytical steps: The core concepts organizing Danish and Greenlandic identity are identified in discourse analyses. Political debates are read as political identity negotiations. The practical diplomatic management of clashing identity discourses is uncovered via qualitative interviews with key actors (politicians, diplomats, and civil servants from Greenland, Denmark and the EU). Legal texts are approached as the 'frozen' outcome of rhetorical and practical sovereignty games. Finally, the book develops scenarios for the future and concludes by pointing out how the continuation of the community of the realm may have a better chance if conceived as an 'ever looser union'. One way for Denmark of facilitating this image would be to employ its diplomacy in the service of diversifying Greenland's dependence - following the example set in relation to the EU.
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