The new regular issue 12(1)/2017 comprises four new articles that underwent double blind peer review, three additional contributions (two of which of article-length), and a rich collection of reviews of recent scientific and scholarly literature, including three publications dealing specifically with Arctic issues. As regards the four new articles, the first one, written by Eirikur Bergmann, discusses the legal and political intricacies surrounding the notorious Icesave dispute, i.e. one of the many poisoned fruits inherited by the Icelandic polity after several years of deregulated finance in the 2000s and the internationally televised dramatic collapse of the nation’s recently privatised banking sector in 2008. The second article, authored by Kristin Tiili and Annalien Ramakers, addresses the good-governance-related issue of transparency in the making, enforcing and reviewing of laws concerning whaling in contemporary Norway. The third one, penned by Stéphanie Barillé and Markus Meckl, offers an articulate statistical survey of the high levels of happiness and wellbeing recorded among immigrants in today’s northern Iceland; in essence, it is a rare case of sociological investigation presenting a positive account of a current state of affairs rather than a problematic one. The fourth one, written by Vasiliki Saranti, looks at the post-2008 slump from the south, for it focuses on the application of human rights legislation to the case of hard-hit Greece and in particular to the dire fate of economic, social and cultural rights in the face of prolonged austerity policies. Concerning the additional article-length contributions, one focuses upon the notion of the “competition state”, which so much currency seems to have gained in the Danish political language over recent times (Jacob Dahl Rendtorff), another is an interview with the deputy director at the new national library of Alexandria in Egypt (Rosella Perugi), whilst the third one opens a long-awaited English-language window over the much-debated research by one of Italy’s leading experts on the famous Genoese explorer, Christopher Columbus (Ruggero Marino).

To access freely the new issue, click on the links in the menus to the left or above this brief note, or copy-and-paste what follows: http://nome.unak.is/wordpress/volume-12-no-1-2017/