The focus was supposed to be economics, but as the global elite recently gathered in Davos, Switzerland, attention was on an icy, sparsely populated island over 2,300 miles away.
It’s not just Greenland, however, but the entire Arctic region whose future is contested, Northeastern University experts said. Moreover, the experts said the outcome of that contest may change everything from supply chains to international alliances to the impact of climate change.
“There’s a very strong interest in wanting countries to be cooperative and in following the standards set for global commons around the world,” said Mai’a Cross, dean’s professor of political science, international affairs and diplomacy as well as the director of the Center for International Affairs and World Cultures at Northeastern. “But certain countries are really wanting to, or threatening to, make it much more of a competitive geopolitical space.”
There was an important caveat, experts said.
“Operating in a place like that is so hard,” said Gretchen Heefner, chair and professor of history at Northeastern who studies the history of the U.S. military in Greenland.
The future of Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, dominated the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting last week as President Donald Trump faced global leaders for the first time since ramping up his calls for the United States to take over the world’s largest island. European leaders have rejected any threats to Greenland’s sovereignty.
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