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Unravelling economic dependence and independence in relation to island sovereignty: The case of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)

Economic challenges are often invoked in discussions of island sovereignty and nonsovereignty. This paper explores the perceived link between a subnational island jurisdiction’s ability to achieve economic independence and its ability to achieve political independence. In the popular and political discourse, it is frequently argued that island territories—sovereign island states and subnational island jurisdictions (SNIJs)—ought to reduce their economic dependence on patron states. Such ideas are often entangled in colonial relationships, and the scholarship suggests no correlation between economic independence and political sovereignty. I use the case of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) to illustrate the conceptual complexity and ambiguity of economic dependence and economic independence. Media and political discourses emphasise that because Kalaallit Nunaat is economically dependent on its former coloniser Denmark, this SNIJ is incapable of exercising its autonomy or becoming a sovereign state, yet these discourses simultaneously argue that Kalaallit Nunaat should not create economic dependencies on other states, such as China and the USA. This discursive construction ignores the real power dynamics at play in the relationships between Kalaallit Nunaat, Denmark, and other states. I argue that the concepts of economic independence and economic dependence are unsuitable as indicators of readiness or unreadiness for island political independence.