Phasing out the colonial status of Greenland. A historical study

Abstract

In 2005 the Danish government obliged the wish of the Greenlandic Home Rule to commission a historical report on the circumstances  surrounding the changed status of Greenland within the realm following the modification of the Constitution in 1953. The report  presented here provides the most comprehensive account to date of the decolonisation of Greenland's status in the years 1945-54.

With the Constitution of 1953, the colonial status of Greenland came to an end, and Greenlanders were granted equal rights as citizens  within the Danish realm. In 1954 this new arrangement was supported by the UN General Assembly. The decision to change  Greenland's status was conditioned both by internal and external circumstances. In the UN context, Danes increasingly felt the strain  of being a colonial power, and they feared the possibility of future UN interference in Greenlandic affairs.

The volume is a significant contribution to the ongoing debates concerning important developments in Danish-Greenlandic relations in the post-war period. It constitutes an important attempt to untangle the many circumstances impinging on the phasing out of  Greenland's colonial status.