Four ways to understand what’s going on with the US, Denmark and Greenland
Manners, Ian LU
(2026)
In The Conversation
- Abstract
- Feel overwhelmed but realise the need to understand what's going on? Academic analytical frameworks can help.
European countries, and Denmark in particular, are scrambling to respond to threats from US officials over the future of Greenland.
Having successfully taken out the leadership of Venezuela in a raid on January 3, an emboldened US government is talking about simply taking Greenland for itself.
But the latest developments demonstrate that Trump’s US can no longer be trusted as a long-term ally – to Greenland and Denmark, the EU and Europe.
This is a crisis engulfing many countries and triggered by many drivers.
In order to understand this complex situation, we can use four different analytical approaches from... (More) - Feel overwhelmed but realise the need to understand what's going on? Academic analytical frameworks can help.
European countries, and Denmark in particular, are scrambling to respond to threats from US officials over the future of Greenland.
Having successfully taken out the leadership of Venezuela in a raid on January 3, an emboldened US government is talking about simply taking Greenland for itself.
But the latest developments demonstrate that Trump’s US can no longer be trusted as a long-term ally – to Greenland and Denmark, the EU and Europe.
This is a crisis engulfing many countries and triggered by many drivers.
In order to understand this complex situation, we can use four different analytical approaches from academic thinking.
These can help us contextualise not just the Greenland case, but also the emerging multipolar world of “might makes right”.
4. The planetary approach
The final – and most important – view is found in the planetary politics approach. This approach is based on the simple observation that so many planetary crises, such as global heating, mass extinctions of wildlife, climate refugees, rising autocracy and the return of international conflict are deeply interrelated and so can only be understood when considered together.
From this perspective it is Greenland’s sustainability and Greenlanders’ lives that must shape the understanding of Denmark’s and other European responses to Trump’s claims. It is through acknowledging the deep relationship that indigenous people have to their ecology that solutions can be found.
And Greenlanders have already expressed their vision for the future. Living on the frontline of the climate crisis, they want an economy built on resilience – not on ego-driven political drama.
While it’s quick and easy to to judge the events in Venezuela or Greenland in terms of the daily news cycle, the four perspectives set out here force people to think for themselves how best to understand complex international crises.
There is, however, a final observation to emphasise. Only one of these perspectives is likely to bring any way of thinking ourselves out of our planetary political crisis.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2600591a-9656-4c2f-86f5-46d0e29539ef
- author
- Manners, Ian
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-01-09
- type
- Contribution to specialist publication or newspaper
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Planetary Politics, realism, new elites, liberal order, planetary approach, European Union, Greenland
- categories
- Popular Science
- in
- The Conversation
- pages
- 1 pages
- ISSN
- 2201-5639
- DOI
- 10.64628/AB.3nh3xfnun
- project
- Planetary Politics
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 2600591a-9656-4c2f-86f5-46d0e29539ef
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-12 13:09:16
- date last changed
- 2026-01-21 18:52:33
@article{2600591a-9656-4c2f-86f5-46d0e29539ef,
abstract = {{Feel overwhelmed but realise the need to understand what's going on? Academic analytical frameworks can help.<br/>European countries, and Denmark in particular, are scrambling to respond to threats from US officials over the future of Greenland.<br/>Having successfully taken out the leadership of Venezuela in a raid on January 3, an emboldened US government is talking about simply taking Greenland for itself.<br/>But the latest developments demonstrate that Trump’s US can no longer be trusted as a long-term ally – to Greenland and Denmark, the EU and Europe.<br/>This is a crisis engulfing many countries and triggered by many drivers.<br/>In order to understand this complex situation, we can use four different analytical approaches from academic thinking. <br/>These can help us contextualise not just the Greenland case, but also the emerging multipolar world of “might makes right”.<br/><br/>4. The planetary approach<br/>The final – and most important – view is found in the planetary politics approach. This approach is based on the simple observation that so many planetary crises, such as global heating, mass extinctions of wildlife, climate refugees, rising autocracy and the return of international conflict are deeply interrelated and so can only be understood when considered together.<br/><br/>From this perspective it is Greenland’s sustainability and Greenlanders’ lives that must shape the understanding of Denmark’s and other European responses to Trump’s claims. It is through acknowledging the deep relationship that indigenous people have to their ecology that solutions can be found.<br/><br/>And Greenlanders have already expressed their vision for the future. Living on the frontline of the climate crisis, they want an economy built on resilience – not on ego-driven political drama.<br/><br/>While it’s quick and easy to to judge the events in Venezuela or Greenland in terms of the daily news cycle, the four perspectives set out here force people to think for themselves how best to understand complex international crises.<br/><br/>There is, however, a final observation to emphasise. Only one of these perspectives is likely to bring any way of thinking ourselves out of our planetary political crisis.<br/>}},
author = {{Manners, Ian}},
issn = {{2201-5639}},
keywords = {{Planetary Politics; realism; new elites; liberal order; planetary approach; European Union; Greenland}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
series = {{The Conversation}},
title = {{Four ways to understand what’s going on with the US, Denmark and Greenland}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.64628/AB.3nh3xfnun}},
doi = {{10.64628/AB.3nh3xfnun}},
year = {{2026}},
}