Who Needs Order?

What happens when it is not a declared enemy but an allied state that violates the basic rules of the international order? This book examines a scenario that was long considered unthinkable-and precisely for that reason reveals the hidden weaknesses of the global system: the violent military control of Greenland by a protective power within existing alliance structures, the US.
Based on Greenland's special status under international law as an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the work provides a precise analysis of the political, legal, and strategic upheavals that such a move would trigger. It shows why classic instruments such as NATO assistance mechanisms, UN procedures, or international legal remedies reach their limits in such a conflict - and what alternative forms of response are realistically available when law and power drift apart.
The focus is less on the military dimension than on the normative explosive power of the scenario. The breach of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the prohibition of violence by a system supporter itself calls into question the credibility of the entire postwar order. The book makes it clear how quickly binding rules can turn into mere political options when power asymmetries are allowed to operate unchecked.
This work is intended as an intellectual stress test for the existing system-and as an invitation to rethink the stability of the international order before it breaks down under real pressure.
Bremen University Press has published over 5,000 specialist books in various languages since 2005.
January 2026