Saqqummersitaq

The long-term economic performance of Greenland has been shaped by factors like climate change and global commodity prices but more importantly by the change and persistence of economic and political institutions. This chapter discusses the combination of these factors ranging from natural-resource transitions, historical legacies, and state developmental policies. It provides a general overview to understand the interplay of endogenous and exogenous factors that have influenced the historical evolution of the Greenlandic economy.

The chapter introduces a method of qualitative analysis which builds on socialpsychological theory about structures and relations in social practice. Conditions-, meanings- and reasoning analysis integrates societal and institutional structures in the conduct of everyday life of the citizens and in professional practice. The purpose of the analysis is to show the connections between institutional practice and the citizens’ everyday conduct of life with e.g. health problems, how the different practices influence each other, and what opportunities and challenges they include. By the use of examples from empirical research in patients’ perspectives on health practice in Greenland, it is shown how the method of analysis can be used on empirical material, what forms of knowledge and practice it analyses, and what kind of knowledge and action possibilities it generates.

According to the narratives transmitted through media and political discourse, climate change reduces the ice coverage in the Arctic and enhances shipping and other forms of maritime activities. Especially, expectations of an increasing level of transit shipping between Asian, especially Chinese, ports and ports in Europe and North America is dominant. Evidence, however, tells that the numbers of transit shipping through the Arctic Ocean are very limited, and dominated by European shipping companies. For Greenland, political expectations have also been high, since Greenland has been seen as "strategically" situated in relation to new shipping routes in the Arctic, But, again, the actual development has been moderate and not related to international transits but conditions in Greenland itself.

This chapter presents results from a project about leadership in Greenland. It discusses how leaders in Greenlandic organizations legitimize decisions in territories of interactions. The research focus on how Greenlandic leaders at times are challenged by the tight relationship in the small society but also how the tightness supports close and fruitful interactions where leaders qualify and legitimize decisions related to quality, business development, and future actions. The findings demonstrate how the leaders legitimize actions and decision in their local networks and how this relates to and develops their everyday practice.