Spotlighting the Kingdom: Greenland, Denmark and the Arctic turns of the EU and NATO

This chapter explores the Kingdom of Denmark, also known as the ‘Rigsfællesskab’, as a non-unitary state in a changing geopolitical landscape. It analyses how Denmark-Greenland-Faroe Islands react to a more geopolitical and security-oriented EU and to a more united and ‘reactivated’ NATO. In connection with this, the chapter explores how the Kingdom is itself changing ‘internally’. What challenges does the newfound interest from the EU and NATO towards the Arctic present for the Kingdom, and how does the Kingdom balance a need to be firmly positioned in line with ‘the West’ and its response to Russia, while being a state-in-three in terms of geopolitical vantage points and interests? The chapter argues that the nexus of the current geopolitical situation and the Kingdom's non-unitary construction produces intricate dilemmas, not only in relation to particular prioritizations and strategic directions, but also in relation to how to be Denmark-Greenland-Faroe Islands as a ‘Kingdom’ at a point in time where signalling unity and commitment are essential to the two key institutions of the West.