ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 looks at the contemporary discussions about the abolition of colonial rule and the inclusion of the Faroe Islands and Greenland into Denmark (1953). Focus is on the decolonisation that never was and the links to a lacking Danish acknowledgement of its role first as colonial administrator and later as self-appointed autocratic leader of Rigsfællesskabet (The Danish Commonwealth). The chapter discusses the nationalist awakening in Iceland and the Faroe Islands and interprets them primarily as domestic affairs, with Denmark as a shadow power universe. Then the contentious issues pertaining to Greenland’s transition from colony to inclusion in Denmark are scrutinised. This transition has been examined in a stream of reports, which have been commissioned after Greenlandic or Faroese pressure. The chapter details the public Danish discourse on the appalling treatment of the Thule people (forced to relocate to make room for the expansion of the American Air Base), and how this scandal culminates at the Danish High Court.
