My Political Essays:

On the principle that all distinct peoples constitute a nation and that all nations have a right to determine their own welfare within their own territories; it is my belief that the Faeroe Islands and Greenland should become sovereign states independent of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Both the Faeroe Islands and Greenland have a history of home-rule, democratic institutions and social peace. They have natural and human resources enabling them to thrive as independent states. There is no reason why the quasi-imperialist system should be maintained. Denmark has surrendered its outposts in the Caribbean, Africa and India. Iceland declared its independence while Denmark was under German occupation during the Second World War. Iceland has since benefited from its new status and succeeded as an independent nation-state. The Faeroe Islands and Greenland will likely succeed as well. Danish 'velvet imperialism' is still imperialism, and as such is immoral.
The time for independence is now. As Danish government and interests are increasingly being absorbed and subjugated to the interests of the European Union, the Faeroe Islands and Greenland will find that less attention will be given to their issues. There is no guarantee that a federal Europe will be well disposed to granting such independence. Given the Imperial aspirations of European integrationists, the likelihood of freedom for these territories becomes more abstract for every day that passes. To fail to seize this opportunity at this time may well be rued in the future.
Assuming that independent states are created, the question then must turn to governance. As is often the case, Sir Winston Churchill said it best when he declared "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." There is little doubt that the leaders of the newly independent states will acknowledge this fundamental truism. But what form of democracy is best suited to their people immediately becomes a question for the state and those who would assume the honor and the responsibility of leading it. Agreement on this needs to be reached before the necessary referendums on independence. Culturally, the two territories are distinct from Denmark as well as from each other. The Faeroese are a Nordic culture with historical roots in the Viking era and the Reformation. Greenlanders are an aboriginal Inuit people whose contact with western culture has both permeated and undermined their own. It is not too much of a strain to the imagination to realize that they will each have to choose governments representative of these differences. While both share the Lutheran faith as well as an apparent admiration for the Danish royal family, the territories are otherwise distinct.
A probable model for the Faeroese will be the Republic of Iceland. Iceland is a stable and prosperous democracy in the North Atlantic and the Faeroese would do well to imitate this example. Unfortunately, there is no model of an Inuit 'nation-state' in the modern sense of that expression. The Greenlandic government will have to invent it. In the interim, the present home-rule assembly could be constituted as the law-giving assembly of Greenland's government. This institution can then be modified to better suit the political and cultural needs of the Greenlandic people. If needed, the Greenlandic government can call on the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations for advice and aid in this transitional period.
Any tendency towards a Danish Commonwealth (as in the British model) should be strongly resisted. A commonwealth would foster a continued relationship of dependency and seriously impede the development of independent institutions in the new states. A commonwealth would also open the floodgates for tampering by the European Parliament, an influence that would become pervasive as the Danish state is reduced to a small region with little or no room to maneuver within the European megalith.
While non-alignment is an option, both would probably find membership within NATO to be a positive stabilizing influence. There is no doubt that their applications would be given favorable treatment. But this is a matter best left to referendums in the Faeroe Islands and Greenland.
Faeroese economic interests probably lie in the European Union, either as an associate or as a full member. Greenland's situation is unique, they may find associate status with both the European Union and NAFTA to be preferable, if such a status is possible. If not, NAFTA is probably the logical choice, geography taken into consideration. Again, one hopes referendums will settle these questions in due course.
In conclusion, I would point out that the benefits of independence far outweigh any association with a former imperial power. The freedom to speak for one's own people within the General Assembly of the United Nations as well as in other international forums combined with the pride in statehood are not gifts, they are the right and natural privilege of free states. The time for independence is upon the peoples of the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, they have but to reach out and grasp it.