Marc Jacobsen, BSc, MSc, MA, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Marc Jacobsen's main research interests are Arctic identity, diplomacy and security politics, which he approaches through readings and observations of discourse and praxis. Currently he is writing about sovereignty and security questions in Greenland with particular focus on the United States' renewed interest, while he is co-editing a book about (de)securitisation dynamics in Greenland (w. Ulrik Pram Gad and Ole Wæver).

For more info, see Marc Jacobsen's personal website.

Biography

Career

• 2022 - present: Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies.
• 2020 – present: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.
• 2019–2020: External Lecturer, University of Greenland, Institute of Social Science, Economics and Journalism.

Qualifications

• 2019: PhD International Politics, University of Copenhagen, Department of Political Science.
• 2014: MSc. Political Communication & Management, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy.
• 2013: MA International Relations, University of Westminster, Department of Politics and International Relations [Distinction].
• 2010: BSc. Social Science and Communication, University of Roskilde, Department of Society and Globalisation.

Awards

• The Carlsberg Foundation's Reintegration Fellowship (2022).
• Postdoctoral Associate, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, UK, 2021-2022
• The Carlsberg Foundation's Internationalisation Fellowship (2019).

Research

Marc Jacobsen's postdoctoral research project examines how Greenland geopolitics are formed by military and diplomatic activities which activate new and recurring understandings of security and sovereignty across different scales and sectors. The project pays particular attention to renewed US engagements in Greenland by scrutinising the underlying reasons and potential consequences of the Thule Air Base and the US Consulate in Nuuk. How these are justified and how configurations of sovereignty are legitimised in the triangular relations - between Greenland, Denmark and the United States - are parsed through ethnographic observations, interviews and discourse analyses. The research project is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation's Internationalisation Fellowship and associated with Richard Powell's Arctic Cultures project.

In his doctoral thesis, Dr. Jacobsen investigated how Greenland's and Denmark's foreign policy representatives (inter)act – together as well as separately – in discursive Arctic contexts in the light of renewed geopolitical attention towards the Circumpolar North. As Denmark's status as an Arctic state is conditioned upon Greenland's geographic location and continuous membership of the Danish Realm, dependency between the former colony and coloniser has been reconfigured, leaving Greenland with an 'Arctic advantage' in the postcolonial negotiations. This advantage is used to enhance Greenland's foreign policy autonomy and to alter the relationship towards one of more equality.

Publications

Peer reviewed articles and book chapters

• Jacobsen, Marc and Olsvig, Sara (2022 forthcoming). From Peary to Pompeo: The history of United States' securitizations of Greenland. In: Jacobsen, Marc, Wæver, Ole and Gad, Ulrik Pram (eds.). Greenland in Arctic security: (de)securitization dynamics under climatic thaw and geopolitical freeze, University of Michigan Press.
• Jacobsen, Marc and Lindbjerg, Signe Lyngholm (2022 forthcoming). Denmark's security perspectives on USA, China and Russia in Greenland: How great power threats made Danish politicians talk about independent Greenlandic agency. In: Jacobsen, Marc, Wæver, Ole and Gad, Ulrik Pram (eds.). Greenland in Arctic security: (de)securitization dynamics under climatic thaw and geopolitical freeze, University of Michigan Press.
• Gad, Ulrik Pram, Bjørst, Lill Rastad and Jacobsen, Marc (2022 forthcoming). Security transfigurations across sectors: Animals, climate and self-determination in Greenland. In: Jacobsen, Marc, Wæver, Ole and Gad, Ulrik Pram (eds.). Greenland in Arctic security: (de)securitization dynamics under climatic thaw and geopolitical freeze, University of Michigan Press.
• Gad, Ulrik Pram, Rud, Sophie, Jacobsen, Marc and Rasmussen, Rasmus K. (2022 forthcoming). Greenland's desecuritization of security and defense. In: Jacobsen, Marc, Wæver, Ole and Gad, Ulrik Pram (eds.). Greenland in Arctic security: (de)securitization dynamics under climatic thaw and geopolitical freeze, University of Michigan Press.
• Jacobsen, Marc, Wæver, Ole and Gad, Ulrik Pram (2022 forthcoming). Introduction: Analyzing the Greenland security configuration. In: Jacobsen, Marc, Wæver, Ole and Gad, Ulrik Pram (eds.). Greenland in Arctic security: (de)securitization dynamics under climatic thaw and geopolitical freeze, University of Michigan Press.
• Gad, Ulrik Pram, Wæver, Ole and Jacobsen, Marc (2022 forthcoming). Conclusion: Learning from Greenland in Arctic security. In: Jacobsen, Marc, Wæver, Ole and Gad, Ulrik Pram (eds.). Greenland in Arctic security: (de)securitization dynamics under climatic thaw and geopolitical freeze, University of Michigan Press.
• Jacobsen, Marc (2023 forthcoming). Selvstyrets styrkede autoritet i Arktis. In: Høiris, Ole, Marquardt, Ole and Claus Andreasen (eds.). Magt og autoritet i Grønland. University Press of Southern Denmark.
• Jacobsen, Marc (2021). Danmarks arktiske udenrigspolitik: regionale ambitioner og rigsfællesskabets komplikationer. Økonomi & Politik, 94(2): 35-53.
• Jacobsen, Marc and Gad, Ulrik Pram (2021). Arktiske relationer. Økonomi & Politik, 94(2): 5-15.
• Jacobsen, Marc (2020). Greenland's Arctic advantage: Articulations, acts and appearances of sovereignty games, Cooperation and Conflict, 55(2):170-192.
• Olesen, Mikkel Runge; Hansen, Flemming Splidsboel; Patey, Luke; Kjærgaard, Steen; Sørensen, Camilla Tenna Nørup; Nielsen, Rasmus Leander; Jacobsen, Marc and Banke, Cecilie Felicia Stokholm (2020). Nye sikkerhedspolitiske dynamikker i Arktis: Muligheder og udfordringer for Kongeriget Danmark. Danish Institute for International Studies.
• Jacobsen, Marc (2019). Arktis: Grønlands strategiske arena for større udenrigspolitisk suverænitet. Politica, 51(4): 485-506.
• Jacobsen, Marc (2019). Digging sustainability: scaling and sectoring of sovereignty in Greenland and Nunavut mining discourses. In: Gad, Ulrik Pram and Strandsbjerg, Jeppe (eds.) (2019). The Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic. Reconfiguring identity, time and space. Routledge, pp. 52-73.
• Gad, Ulrik Pram; Jacobsen, Marc and Strandsbjerg, Jeppe (2019). Introduction: Sustainability as a political concept in the Arctic. In: Gad, Ulrik Pram and Strandsbjerg, Jeppe (eds.) (2019), The Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic. Reconfiguring identity, time and space. Routledge, pp. 1-18.
• Jacobsen, Marc; Knudsen, Rebekka J. and Rosing, Minik T. (2019). Introduktion. Kalaallit pilluaritsi: Perspektiver på 10 års Selvstyre, 40-året for Hjemmestyrets indførelse og vejen til selvstændighed. Politik, 22(1): 1-10.
• Jacobsen, Marc and Gad, Ulrik Pram (2018). Setting the scene in Nuuk: Introducing the cast of characters in Greenlandic foreign policy narratives. In: Kristensen, Kristian Søby and Rahbek-Clemmensen, Jon (eds.), Greenland and the International Politics of a Changing Arctic: Postcolonial Paradiplomacy between High and Low Politics. Routledge, pp. 11-27.
• Gad, Ulrik Pram; Graugaard, Naja Dyrendom; Holgersen, Anders; Jacobsen, Marc; Lave, Nina; Schriver, Nikoline (2018). Imagining China on Greenland's Road to Independence. Arctic Yearbook, 2018: 6-28.
• Jacobsen, Marc and Strandsbjerg, Jeppe (2017). Desecuritization as Displacement of Controversy: geopolitics, law and sovereign rights in the Arctic. Politik, 20(3): 15-30.
• Jacobsen, Marc and Herrmann, Victoria (2017). Introduction: Arctic International Relations in a Widened Security Perspective. Politik, 20(3): 6-14.
• Jacobsen, Marc (2015). The Power of Collective Identity Narration: Greenland's Way to a more Autonomous Foreign Policy. Arctic Yearbook, 2015: 102-118.
• Jacobsen, Marc (2013). Kampen om Arktis skaber nyt diplomatisk samarbejde, Tidsskriftet Grønland, 61(4): 259-263.

Teaching

• 2019-2020: Arctic International Politics and Greenland's Foreign Policy, University of Greenland.
• 2016-2017: Greenland at the Crossroads: Climate Change, Global Arctic Interests and Regional Political Developments, University of Copenhagen.
• 2016-2017: International Political Theory, University of Copenhagen.

External activities

• Affiliated researcher, The Arctic Institute: Center for Circumpolar Security Studies.
• Affiliated researcher, Centre for Advanced Security Theory (CAST).
• Affiliated researcher, Centre for Innovation and Research in Culture and Living in the Arctic (CIRCLA)
• Member, International Studies Association (ISA).
• Member, Danish Foreign Policy Society.
• Member, International Arctic Social Science Association (IASSA).
• Member, the Greenlandic Society.
• Member, Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS).