Characteristics of the acts on government and politics of the Nordic autonomies

Abstract

The paper aims at characterising the acts determining government and politics of the three Nordic autonomies: functioning within Finland archipelago of the Aland Islands, as well as connected with Denmark Faroe Islands and Greenland. They are an essential part of the achievements in the area of government and politics of the states belonging to the Nordic culture and may become basis of their future constitutions. The Nordic autonomies, which are developing in a peaceful way to achieve complete independence, are known to have been aspiring to receive their autonomous status in history because of different reasons. Presently they also remain at different points of their ways to gain independence. At the beginning the Authors present the concept and terminology used to describe the phenomenon and status of the autonomies in the Nordic world. Later on, they analyse the acts determining the government and politics, as well as the status of the Aland Islands, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The main among them are: Act on the Aland Self-Government of 16 August 1991, the Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands of 23 March 1948, as well the Act on Greenland Self-Government of 12 June 2009. The study also presents the analysis of the system of autonomous authorities, focuses on the division of competences between them and the central ones, as well as the territorial structures of the self-governing regions.