The unity of the Realm is the political construction comprising of Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland. In 2013 the Danish Parliament decided to establish an annual debate dedicated entirely to the discussion of matters concerning the Danish Realm – a unique opportunity for politicians to gather and discuss the Realm in its entirety, not just Greenlandic or Faroese matters respectively.
The analysed material consists of five parliamentary debates, one from each year from 2014 to 2018 since the establishment of the annual debate. This study looks at what topics were discussed during these debates and how the Danish Realm was understood and contested in different ways. The first part of the study covers the debates and the most occurring topics that arose from the material. Using critical discourse analysis, the second part analyses how the main concepts and terminology was used, how the politicians used language in different ways and how different aspects of the Danish Realm were framed.
The findings show that similar topics occurred throughout the debates, and that there was no significant difference in what the parties deemed as important topics. The Danish Realm was discussed and framed in very different ways and it was evident that the concept of the Realm means very different things to all of its three members. These varying ideas of what the Realm is, and should be, were contested in the discussions. The proportionately large focus on the independence question and the Arctic, as well as the findings from the discourse analysis demonstrate that Denmark wishes to maintain the Realm as it is to be able to continue its role as an arctic actor, to which especially Greenlandic independence could possibly be a hindrance. The Faroese and Greenlandic politicians displayed discontent with the way the Realm is constructed today and pointed out the need for structural changes.
