Small State Preoccupations: Science and Technology in the Pursuit of Modernization, Security, and Sovereignty in Greenland

Abstract

Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen explores the modernization of Greenland, which took place at the same time that US government officials wanted to expand America’s postwar military presence on the island and Denmark sought to use science and technology to secure its sovereignty, improve its security posture, and pursue modernization on behalf of the Greenlandic people. Danish politicians focused on North Greenland, site of military installations and American-led scientific studies and technological development, and South Greenland, where Greenlanders lived. By modernizing the country in a Danish way, Denmark hoped to simultaneously strengthen sovereignty claims and limit US activities in the North, and reduce American cultural influence in the South. Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen argues that decolonization efforts were strongly related to Denmark’s desire to exploit natural resources, allow Greenlanders some measure of self-rule, and to push back on its overbearing security partner, the USA.