ABSTRACT
While some economic and political entities tend to grow larger (European Union) or aspire to grow larger (African Union, Union of South American Nations), the reverse tendency, of seeking independence from a larger entity is also present, like the Scottish National Party’s attempts to gain independence from the United Kingdom, or Catalonia from Spain. This chapter analyses the Faroe Islands’ zigzag course in the matter of independence from Denmark. Had this contribution been written in the 1990s, the conclusion would probably have been that the islands were on a steady course towards independence from Denmark; today, in 2015, it is not so … why not? What blocks independence? That is the underlying question of this chapter.
