ABSTRACT
Societal crisis is customarily discussed in terms of society's existing order coming under strain. Greenland is a postcolonial nation still partially ruled from Denmark. Existing political science and international relations literature dealing with sovereignty is limited by its automatic reference to 'statehood' as understood in a conventional Westphalian, and hence geographically and historically specific European context. The modernization programme was launched in a speech by the Danish Prime Minister in 1948 during his visit to Greenland, meant to show the world the Danish determination to remain in Greenland. Indigenous organizations work towards gaining control over their land and on their own terms against their 'guardian' states. In their view, international environmental organizations represent another Western modernity-driven land management system. As environmental organizations have risen in response to the destruction of nature caused by capitalism, their own response is necessarily entangled with the discourse of modernity.
