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Öryggishlutverk lögreglu

1. Hlutverk lögreglu

Löggæsla og öryggismál, í víðasta skilningi, teljast til mikilvægra innviða samfélagsins og er meðal annars ætlað að tryggja allsherjarreglu og almannaöryggi, öryggi einstaklinga og samfélagshópa, réttaröryggi og samfélagslegan stöðugleika gagnvart ógnum af mannavöldum vegna náttúruhamfara eða hnattrænna áhættuþátta.[1] Lögreglan er ein þeirra stofnana sem teljast til þess stofnanakerfis innviða sem annast löggæslu og öryggismál. Aðrar stofnanir sem lykilhlutverki gegna í þessu sambandi eru Landhelgisgæsla Íslands sem sinnir öryggisgæslu á hafinu og fer með löggæslu á hafinu, sbr. 1. gr. laga um Landhelgisgæslu Íslands nr. 52/2006, og embætti ríkisskattstjóra við framkvæmd tollgæslustarfa í samræmi við ákvæði tollagalaga nr. 88/2005 er einkum fara fram á landamærum. Þá kunna stjórnvöld einnig að gegna mikilvægu hlutverki við að tryggja innviði samfélagsins, t.d. almannavarnir sem bæði ríki og sveitarfélög hafa umsjón með, sbr. 2. gr. laga um almannavarnir nr. 82/2008. Að auki er neyðar- og viðbragðsþjónusta nokkuð samofin löggæslu og öryggismálum, en sú þjónusta miðar að því að koma í veg fyrir að almenningur verði fyrir tjóni, svo sem af völdum náttúruhamfara, mannavöldum, farsótta og hernaðaraðgerða eða öðrum ástæðum.

Lögreglan er stjórnvald sem starfar á grundvelli lögreglulaga nr. 90/1996 (lögrl.), auk þess sem um störf og athafnir lögreglu er fjallað í öðrum lögum, t.d. lögum um meðferð sakamála nr. 88/2008 (sml.). Störf lögreglu og athafnir teljast til stjórnsýslu og eru því hluti af framkvæmdarvaldinu í skilningi þeirrar þrígreiningar ríkisvaldsins sem mælt er fyrir um í stjórnarskrá lýðveldisins Íslands nr. 33/1944 (stjskr.). Starfsemi lögreglu afmarkast við það hlutverk sem lögregla hefur og þau verkefni sem henni er ætlað að sinna á grundvelli laga.

Líkt og annarra stjórnvalda er það veigamikill þáttur í störfum lögreglu að taka stjórnvaldsákvarðanir, sbr. 2. mgr. 1. gr. stjórnsýslulaga nr. 37/1993 (ssl.). Í stuttu máli felst í stjórnvaldsákvörðun þegar stjórnvöld kveða einhliða á um réttindi og skyldur borgaranna.[2] Í störfum lögreglu getur t.d. reynt á þetta við ákvörðun um ráðningu í starf í þjónustu ríkisins og uppsögn, sem og ýmsar leyfisveitingar, t.d. um skotvopnaleyfi samkvæmt vopnalögum nr. 16/1998 og endurveitingu ökuréttinda samkvæmt umferðarlögum nr. 77/2019. Við slíka ákvarðanatöku gilda strangar málsmeðferðarreglur samkvæmt ssl. og eftir atvikum sérlögum, svo sem andmælaréttur, rökstuðningur, málskotsréttur og leiðbeiningarskylda, auk ólögfestra meginreglna. Ekki eru þó allar  ákvarðanir stjórnvalda stjórnvaldsákvarðanir og hafa t.d. athafnir eins og ýmis þjónusta, ráðgjöf, leiðbeiningar, tilmæli, álit og umsagnir ekki talist til þeirra.[3]

Störf lögreglu hafa nokkra sérstöðu innan stjórnsýslu sem endurspeglast meðal annars í því að ýmis ákvarðanataka á sér ekki langan aðdraganda og ekki gefst langur tími til undirbúnings til töku ákvarðana. Með öðrum orðum geta ákvarðanir lögreglu verið með þeim hætti að bregðast þurfi við án tafar þar sem ákvarðanataka er „hér og nú“.[4] Dæmi um þetta eru ákvarðanir sem teknar eru á vettvangi afbrots, slyss eða þar sem aðrar ófarir hafa átt sér stað eða þar sem afstýra þarf hættu. Slíkar ákvarðanir eru, eðli máls samkvæmt, ekki stjórnvaldsákvarðanir. Þrátt fyrir að ákvarðanir lögreglu séu oft og tíðum einhvers konar viðbragðsákvarðanir og teljist ekki til stjórnvaldsákvarðana er lögreglan í störfum sínum bundin af lögmætisreglunni, auk annarra meginreglna, svo sem meðalhófsreglunni, jafnræðisreglunni og hlutlægnisreglunni. Í lögmætisreglunni felst, í víðasta skilningi, að allar athafnir stjórnvalda verða að vera byggðar á lögum. Í því felst að ákvarðanir stjórnvalda mega ekki vera í andstöðu við lög og þær þurfa að eiga sér stoð í lögum, en um ræðir svonefnda formreglu lögmætisreglunnar annars vegar og heimildarreglu hins vegar. Aukinheldur eru gerðar ákveðnar skýrleikakröfur til lögmætisreglunnar, að þeim mun íþyngjandi sem ákvörðun eða athöfn stjórnvalds er, því meiri áskilnaður er um að lagaheimild sé skýr.[5]

Hlutverk lögreglu er lögbundið en verkefni hennar afmarkast að nokkru við það. Í stafaliðum a-g 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. er mælt fyrir um hlutverk lögreglu. Ákvæðið hefur ekki tekið efnislegum breytingum frá gildistöku laganna 1. júlí 1997, en það er nokkuð ítarlegra en það ákvæði sem gilti í tíð eldri laga um lögregluna, sbr. 1. gr. laga um lögreglumenn nr. 56/1972. Fram að gildistöku lögrl. hafði rannsóknarlögregla ríkisins enn fremur sérstöku hlutverki að gegna um rannsóknir brotamála á grundvelli laga nr. 108/1976. Ákvæði 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. svipar mjög til laga annars staðar á Norðurlöndum en við samningu frumvarps þess sem varð að lögrl. var löggjöf annars staðar á Norðurlöndum höfð til hliðsjónar, einkum norsk og finnsk lögreglulög.[6] Það sem helst skilur á milli er að hlutverk lögreglu hér á landi er byggt upp með annars konar hætti en lögreglu annars staðar á Norðurlöndum. Stafar það meðal annars af því að hér á landi eru færri löggæslustofnanir en annars staðar á Norðurlöndum, auk þess sem öryggismálum er skipað með öðrum hætti hér á landi en í öðrum norrænum ríkjum. Að öðru leyti er samanburður annars vegar á lagaákvæðum milli hinna íslensku lögrl. og gildandi laga annarra norrænna þjóða um sama efni og hins vegar á skipulagi og uppbyggingu íslenskra löggæslustofnana og hinna norrænu látinn liggja milli hluta.

Hlutverk lögreglu er einnig, að nokkru, útfært í Löggæsluáætlun fyrir árin 2019 til 2023 þar sem meðal annars er vísað í hlutverk lögreglu við afmörkun á þjónustu- og öryggisstigi lögreglu.[7] Að því leyti hafa því ákvæðin tvímælalaust þýðingu við forgangsröðun verkefna og stefnumótun hjá lögreglu.

Starfsemi lögreglu er þýðingarmikil í því skyni að halda uppi lögum og reglu, tryggja allsherjarreglu, almannafrið og öryggi fólks, vernda mikilvæga hagsmuni, stemma stigu við afbrotum, vinna að uppljóstran afbrota, aðstoða og hjálpa fólki og tryggja velferð þess. Af þeim sökum verður að telja að það hafi verulega þýðingu að hlutverk lögreglu sé vel skilgreint og byggi á skýrum lagagrundvelli.

Verður hér fjallað nánar um hið svonefnda öryggishlutverk lögreglu samkvæmt a-lið 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. Reynt verður að varpa ljósi á hið fjölbreytta öryggishlutverk lögreglu eftir einstökum hlutverkaþáttum, hvernig á það getur reynt og hvernig íslenskir dómstólar hafa túlkað ákvæði lögrl. um hlutverk lögreglu. Nálgun tekur mið af lögreglurétti og af þeim sökum tekur umfjöllun ekki mið af hinum svonefndu „löggæslumódelum“[8] enda er umfjöllun þeirra fremur bundin við löggæslu- og lögreglufræði en lögreglurétt. Greinin er þáttur í rannsókn höfundar á hlutverki lögreglu og öðrum þáttum lögregluréttar.

2. Öryggishlutverk lögreglu

Í a-lið 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. er mælt fyrir um öryggishlutverk lögreglu. Öryggishlutverkið er víðfeðmt og lýtur að því að gæta almannaöryggis, halda uppi lögum og reglu, tryggja öryggi ríkisins, tryggja réttaröryggi borgaranna og vernda eignarrétt, opinbera hagsmuni og hvers konar lögmæta starfsemi. Ákvæðið er efnislega í samræmi við ákvæði 1. gr. eldri lögreglulaga.[9] Tekið skal fram að öryggishlutverk lögreglu í þessu sambandi afmarkast við öryggismál sem eru borgaralegs eðlis en það helgast af því hér á landi er ekki her og engar stofnanir hérlendis eru hernaðarlegs eðlis. Um öryggis- og varnarmál Íslands er mælt fyrir í varnarmálalögum nr. 34/2008.

Telja verður þá skýringu tækasta að hið borgaralega öryggishlutverk taki fremur til hagsmuna allra, heildar og/eða ótilgreinds fjölda fólks í stað einstaklingsbundinna og sérgreindra afmarkaðra hagsmuna. Slíkt er þó alls ekki útilokað að öryggishlutverkinu sé ætlað að vernda ákveðna og einstaklingsbundna hagsmuni, t.d. við að tryggja réttaröryggi borgaranna og vernda eignarrétt. Þá kunna ákvæði a-liðar að vera öðrum stafaliðum 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. til fyllingar þegar kemur að vernd einstaklingsbundinna hagsmuna eins og velferð fólks, t.d. í þágu þjónustu- og hjálparhlutverks lögreglu sem mælt er fyrir um í d-lið ákvæðisins.

Hér á landi er ekki sérstök öryggisstofnun innan löggæslunnar eins og t.d. hjá öðrum Norðurlöndum og þarf að skýra öryggishlutverk lögreglu með hliðsjón af því, einkum þegar kemur að hlutverki lögreglu við að tryggja öryggi æðstu stjórnar, koma í veg fyrir hryðjuverk og eiga alþjóðleg samskipti við sérstakar öryggisstofnanir.

Ríkislögreglustjóri hefur sérstakt hlutverk þegar kemur að borgaralegum öryggismálum. Þá hefur embættið einnig aðkomu að afmörkuðum öryggismálum vegna öryggisvottana á grundvelli varnarmálalaga, en utan efnis greinar þessarar er að fjalla frekar um það.

Samkvæmt 6. gr. reglugerðar um um starfsemi, hlutverk og ábyrgð embættis ríkislögreglustjóra nr. 325/2021 er ríkislögreglustjóri ráðherra til ráðgjafar um afbrotavarnir, löggæslu- og öryggismálefni. Samkvæmt 1. mgr. 20. gr. reglugerðarinnar annast embættið alþjóðasamvinnu og samstarf á sviði löggæslu- og öryggismála, svo sem innan Norðurlandanna, evrópsku lögreglunnar Europol og samtaka alþjóðalögreglunnar Interpol. Ríkislögreglustjóri er tengiliður lögreglu í lögreglu- og öryggisþjónustusamstarfi við önnur ríki. Þá kemur fram í 24. gr. sömu reglugerðar að sérsveit ríkislögreglustjóra hafi meðal annars sérstöku hlutverki að gegna þegar um ræðir vopnuð atvik vegna lögreglustarfa og öryggismála í samræmi við g-lið 1. mgr. 5. gr. lögrl. og reglugerðar um sérsveit ríkislögreglustjóra.

Ríkislögreglustjóri hefur jafnframt það verkefni með höndum samkvæmt b-lið 2. mgr. 5. gr. lögrl. að starfrækja lögreglurannsóknardeild og greiningardeild sem rannsakar landráð og brot gegn stjórnskipan ríkisins og æðstu stjórnvöldum þess og leggur mat á hættu á hryðjuverkum og skipulagðri glæpastarfsemi. Hlutverk greiningardeildar er svo nánar útfært í reglugerð um greiningardeild ríkislögreglustjóra nr. 404/2007. Samkvæmt 1. mgr. 3. gr. þeirrar reglugerðar fer ríkislögreglustjóri með stjórn og samræmir störf lögreglu á sviði öryggismála, með það að markmiði að fyrirbyggja háttsemi sem kann að varða við ákvæði X. og XI. kafla almennra hegningarlaga nr. 19/1940 (hgl.) og fyrirbyggja hryðjuverk og skipulagða glæpastarfsemi. Í 1. mgr. 4. gr. sömu reglugerðar segir að hlutverk greiningardeildar ríkislögreglustjóra sé að annast verkefni á sviði öryggismála, sem meðal annars felast í rannsóknum mála, aðgerðarmiðuðu greiningar- og áhættumati og stefnumiðuðum greiningum.

Í störfum greiningardeildar ríkislögreglustjóra fer meðal annars fram vinnsla upplýsinga til þess að draga úr líkum á afbrotum, að bregðst við ógnum eða greina áhættu. Nefna má slíkar upplýsingar greiningarupplýsingar (e. intelligence). Að þessu leyti er starfsemi greiningardeildar ríkislögreglustjóra keimlík starfsemi öryggisstofnana annarra ríkja. Er það jafnframt í samræmi við 6. gr. reglugerðar nr. 404/2007 þar sem segir að greiningardeild ríkislögreglustjóra fari með alþjóðlegt samstarf við öryggisstofnanir annarra landa. Í sama ákvæði segir að upplýsingum sem eru veittar af erlendum öryggisstofnunum skuli ekki miðla til annarra nema með leyfi viðkomandi öryggisstofnunar. Greiningarupplýsingar eru að jafnaði bundnar trúnaði þrátt fyrir að hér á landi sé ekki byggt á sérstakri trúnaðarmerkingu skjala innan stjórnsýslu. Þá eru takmarkanir á afhendingarskyldu slíkra upplýsinga samvæmt lögum um vinnslu persónuupplýsinga í löggæslutilgangi nr. 75/2019 og upplýsingalögum nr. 140/2012. Það athugast enn fremur að við vinnslu greiningarupplýsinga gilda ekki ákvæði sml. heldur einkum ákvæði lögrl. og laga nr. 75/2019. Greiningarupplýsingar geta aftur á móti orðið grundvöllur rannsóknar sakamáls án þess að á þeim sé byggt. Á gildi greiningarupplýsinga hefur ekki reynt sérstaklega fyrir dómstólum, svo vitað sé. Aftur á móti hefur reynt á trúnaðarsamband lögreglu við upplýsingagjafa þar sem talið var að það samband nyti verndar og það myndi torvelda mjög störf lögreglu ef slíkt trúnaðarsamband yrði rofið, sbr. Hrd. 19. febrúar 2015 í máli nr. 131/2015 (upplýsingagjafi). Má ætla að sömu sjónarmið eigi við um trúnað greiningarupplýsinga.

Reynt hefur tvisvar sinnum, svo vitað sé, á hlutverk greiningardeildar ríkislögreglustjóra fyrir íslenskum dómstólum vegna öryggishlutverks lögreglu en í báðum tilvikum tengdist það hættu af skipulagði brotastarfsemi.

Í Hrd. 17. október 2013 í máli nr. 191/2012 (vélhjólasamtök), sem var skaðabótamál gegn íslenska ríkinu, var meðal annars byggt á hættumati greiningardeildar ríkislögreglustjóra við ákvörðun um að vísa frá landi norskum ríkisborgara og félaga í vélhjólasamtökunum Vítisenglum. Hættumatið, sem unnið var að beiðni lögreglustjórans á Suðurnesjum, hafði talsvert vægi við mat á því hvað kynni að teljast ógn við almannaöryggi og allsherjarreglu. Dómnum verður gerð ítarlegri skil síðar í greininni.

Í síðara málinu, Hrd. 16. júní 2010 í máli nr. 224/2010 (mansal), sem var sakamál, þar sem fimm einstaklingar voru meðal annars sakfelldir fyrir hlutdeild í mansali, var greiningardeild ríkislögreglustjóra falið að vinna hættumat vegna öryggis þriggja kvenna sem allar tengdust málinu. Greiningardeildin taldi yfir vafa hafið að öryggi kvennanna þriggja væri ógnað hér á landi. Forsendur þess mats væru að litháískir hópar héldu uppi skipulagðri glæpastarfsemi hér á landi. Glæpamenn frá Litháen hefðu ítrekað gerst sekir um gróf ofbeldisverk hér á landi, bæði gagnvart löndum sínum, öðrum hópum afbrotamanna, öðrum erlendum hópum og samfélaginu almennt, þ.m.t. lögreglu. Austur-evrópskir glæpahópar hefðu flutt menn hingað til að stunda glæpi og ekki væri óhugsandi að þeir gerðu það til að ná fram hefndum. Samkvæmt gagnagrunni lögreglu tengdust Litháarnir í málinu allir grófum ofbeldisverkum og líkamsmeiðingum. Oft og tíðum væri ofbeldisverkum þeirra ekki fylgt eftir eða kæra dregin til baka sem gæfi vísbendingu um að þolendur væru beittir þrýstingi eða að ótti þeirra væri slíkur að þeir þorðu ekki að fylgja málinu eftir. Ekki verður ráðið af dómnum að umrætt hættumat hafi haft sérstakt vægi við sönnunarmat í málinu.

Verða nú einstökum hlutverkþáttum öryggishlutverks lögreglu samkvæmt a-lið 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. gerð nánari skil.

2.1 Almannaöryggi

Í fyrsta lagi fellur undir lýsingu ákvæðisins að gæta að almannaöryggi. Í því felst sú almenna skylda lögreglu að halda uppi almannaöryggi og allsherjarreglu.[10] Ákvæðið hefur náin tengsl við ákvæði 1. og 2. mgr. 15. gr. lögrl. sem mælir fyrir um heimildir lögreglu til þess að hafa afskipti og grípa til aðgerða gagnvart borgaranum til að halda uppi almannafriði, allsherjarreglu o.fl., sbr. einnig til hliðsjónar álit umboðsmanns Alþingis í málum nr. 2824/1999 og 2836/1999 (hávaði) sem tekin verða til umfjöllunar síðar. Þá hefur ákvæðið náin tengsl við það hlutverk lögreglu að rannsaka ætlaða refsiverða háttsemi sem m.a. er mælt fyrir c-lið 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl., sem og þeim skyldum sem hvíla á lögreglu á grundvelli sml. og eftir atvikum sérlaga í þágu refsivörslunnar, sbr. t.d. til hliðsjónar Lrd. 29. nóvember 2019 í máli nr. 220/2019 (ökuréttarsvipting til bráðabirgða), þar sem staðfest var sú niðurstaða héraðsdóms, að aðgerðir lögreglu sem byggðu sml. og þágildandi umferðarlögum vegna ætlaðs umferðarlagabrots A voru taldar réttlætanlegar með vísan til a-liðar 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl.

Hugtakið almannaöryggi er víðfeðmt en við skýringu þess er nærtækast að horfa til málefna almannavarna og þess hlutverks sem lögregla gegnir á því sviði á grundvelli laga nr. 82/2008, sbr. einnig 8. mgr. 6. gr. lögrl. hvað leit og björgun varðar. Samkvæmt 1. mgr. 5. gr. laga nr. 82/2008 fer ráðherra með málefni almannaöryggis og er æðsti yfirmaður almannavarna í landinu. Samkvæmt 2. mgr. sama ákvæðis er það ríkislögreglustjóri sem annast málefni almannavarna í umboði ráðherra. Ríkislögreglustjóri gegnir lykilhlutverki í almannavörnum við skipulag þeirra á landinu öllu samkvæmt III. kafla laga nr. 82/2008. Þá gegna lögreglustjórar lykilhlutverki við skipulag almannavarna í héraða samkvæmt IV. kafla sömu laga. Almannavarnaviðbrögð eru samhæfð viðbrögð til þess að takast á við afleiðingar neyðarástands sem kann að ógna lífi og heilsu almennings, umhverfi og/eða eignum. Samkvæmt 2. mgr. 1. gr. nr. 82/2008 eru markmið almannavarna að undirbúa, skipuleggja og framkvæma ráðstafanir sem miða að því að koma í veg fyrir og takmarka, eftir því sem unnt er, að almenningur verði fyrir líkams- eða heilsutjóni, eða umhverfi eða eignir verði fyrir tjóni, af völdum náttúruhamfara eða af mannavöldum, farsótta eða hernaðaraðgerða eða af öðrum ástæðum og veita líkn í nauð og aðstoð vegna tjóns sem hugsanlega kann að verða eða hefur orðið.

Almannaöryggi og vernd þess er þó ekki einvörðungu bundið við almannavarnaástand. Í dæmaskyni mætti nefna hættuástand innan þéttbýlis sem skapast getur vegna notkunar skotvopns þar sem lögregla þarf að vopnast. Við þær aðstæður getur lögregla þurft að grípa til rýmingu íbúa í nærliggjandi umhverfi í því skyni að tryggja almannaöryggi og/eða öryggi ótilgreinds hóps fólks. Til nánari skýringar má nefna atvik og aðgerðir lögreglu í og við fjöleignarhúsið að Hraunbæ 20 í Reykjavík sem áttu sér stað 2. desember 2013, þar sem karlmaður, S, lést í kjölfar aðgerða lögreglu vegna skotsára sem lögregla veitti honum. S hafði þá skotið á lögreglumenn sem urðu að hörfa án þess að þeim tækist að afvopna/yfirbuga og handtaka S til að koma í veg fyrir frekari hættu. Skaut S meðal annars skotum í gegnum glugga íbúðar hans út á bifreiðarstæði fjöleignarhússins í áttina að lögreglu. Við þessar aðstæður skapaðist almannahætta á vettvangi, en Hraunbær er ein fjölmennasta íbúðagata landsins.[11]

Þá má nefna aðgerðir til þess að tryggja almannaöryggi vegna starfsemi skipulagðrar brotastarfsemi, án þess að um sé að ræða rannsókn á ætlaðri refsiverðri háttsemi. Nefna má Hrd. 17. október 2013 í máli nr. 191/2012 (vélhjólasamtök) til frekari skýringar, þar sem reyndi á ákvæði eldri laga um útlendinga nr. 96/2002 vegna skaðabótaskyldu íslenska ríkisins vegna aðgerða til þess að tryggja almannaöryggi og allsherjarreglu við brottvísun manns sem talinn var hafa tengsl við skipulögð brotasamtök.

Hrd. 17. október 2013 í máli nr. 191/2012 (vélhjólasamtök)

J, norskur ríkisborgari og meðlimur í vélhjólasamtökunum Vítisenglar, höfðaði mál gegn Í og krafðist miskabóta þar sem honum hafði verið vísað frá Íslandi, er hann hugðist sækja landið heim í þrjá daga. Frávísunin var reist á c. lið 1. mgr. 41. gr. laga nr. 96/2002 um útlendinga, sbr. 1. mgr. 42. gr. sömu laga. Undir rekstri málsins fyrir Hæstarétti var leitað ráðgefandi álits EFTA-dómstólsins á nánar tilgreindum atriðum, einkum er vörðuðu túlkun á 27. gr. tilskipunar 2004/38/EBE sem innleidd hafði verið með áðurgreindum ákvæðum útlendingalaga. Í dómi Hæstaréttar kom fram að hættumat ríkislögreglustjóra, sem stjórnvöld höfðu stuðst við þegar ákvörðun var tekin um að vísa J frá landinu, hefði ekki verið haldið annmörkum og að mál J hefði jafnframt verið nægilega upplýst áður en ákvörðun var tekin um frávísun. Þá var hafnað þeirri málsástæðu J að ákvörðun stjórnvalda hefði ekki stuðst við nægilega skýrar heimildir í lögum. Í málinu byggði J aðallega á því að skilyrðum c. liðar 1. mgr. 41. gr., sbr. 1. mgr. 42. gr. laga nr. 96/2002 fyrir frávísun hefði ekki verið fullnægt þar sem fyrirhuguð heimsókn hans til Íslands hefði ekki getað talist ógn við almannaöryggi og allsherjarreglu, líkt og áskilið er í fyrrnefndum ákvæðum. Í því sambandi vísaði Hæstiréttur í álit EFTA-dómstólsins um að íslenskum stjórnvöldum væri ekki skylt að lýsa samtök eða aðild að þeim ólögmæt í því skyni að synja ríkisborgara annars EES-ríkis um landgöngu á grundvelli 27. gr. tilskipunarinnar að því gefnu að slík aðgerð teldist viðeigandi í ljósi aðstæðna. Íslensk stjórnvöld þyrftu hins vegar og hefðu skilgreint afstöðu sína til samtaka Vítisengla með skýrum hætti og gripið til stjórnvaldsathafna í því skyni að vinna gegn starfsemi þeirra þar sem hún hefði verið talin fela í sér ógn við allsherjarreglu og almannaöryggi. Þá hefðu íslensk stjórnvöld tryggt að fyrir lægju nægileg gögn sem gerðu yfirvöldum kleift að meta hvort J hefði viðhaft eða væri líklegur til að viðhafa háttsemi sem teldist ógna grundvallarhagsmunum íslensks samfélags. Við mat á því hvers konar háttsemi gæti fallið undir allsherjarreglu og almannaöryggi í 1. mgr. 42. gr. laga nr. 96/2002 væri ekki hægt að fallast á að ákvæðið tæki eingöngu til þess þegar útlendingur væri háður fíkniefnum eða haldinn alvarlegum geðrænum truflunum. Slíkt túlkun væri ekki í samræmi við skilgreiningar Evrópuréttar á hugtökunum og upptalning ákvæðisins væri einungis í dæmaskyni. Þá sagði jafnframt í dómi Hæstaréttar að í ráðgefandi áliti EFTA-dómstólsins kæmi fram að aðild einstaklings að vélhjólasamtökum sem hefðu tengsl við skipulagða glæpastarfsemi gæti að öðrum skilyrðum fullnægðum talist háttsemi sem fæli í sér raunverulega, yfirvofandi og nægilega alvarlega ógn við einhverja af grundvallarreglum samfélagsins. Þá hefði EFTA-dómstóllinn að auki látið í ljós það álit að nægilegt væri að byggja ákvörðun um frávísun samkvæmt 27. gr. tilskipunarinnar á hættumati einu og sér að tilteknum fjórum skilyrðum fullnægðum, sem að mati Hæstaréttar hefði öllum verið fullnægt í málinu. Loks var talið að skilyrði 3. mgr. 87. gr. reglugerðar nr. 53/2003 um útlendinga, að stjórnvöld gætu beitt einhverjum úrræðum gagnvart íslenskum ríkisborgara við sambærilegar aðstæður, væri fullnægt í málinu, þar sem íslensks stjórnvöld gætu gripið til margvíslegra þvingunarráðstafana og annarra raunverulegra skilvirkra aðgerða gagnvart eigin borgurum. Að auki hefðu aðgerðir íslenskra stjórnvalda aðeins getað beinst að erlendum aðilum í því tilviki sem um ræddi. Að öllu þessu virtu var talið að ákvörðun um frávísun J frá Íslandi hefði átt sér næga lagastoð og að fullnægt hefði verið þeim skilyrðum sem íslensk lög og reglugerðir, virt í ljósi alþjóðlegra skuldbindinga Íslands, settu fyrir lögmæti slíkrar ákvörðunar. Var íslenska ríkið því sýknað af kröfu J.

Af framangreindu leiðir að aðgerðir til þess að gæta að almannaöryggi geta verið af fjölbreyttum toga og matskennd. Þá geta þau tengst refsiverðri háttsemi, slysum, óförum og ógnum af völdum náttúruvár og beinst að lifandi fólki og fjárhagslegum verðmætum.

2.2 Lögum og reglu haldið uppi

Í öðru lagi fellur undir ákvæðið að halda uppi lögum og reglu. Hér kristallast sérstaða lögreglunnar í samfélaginu og þess valds sem lögregla hefur samkvæmt ákvæði 9. gr. lögrl. sem handhafa lögregluvalds. Með lögregluvaldi er nánar átt við vald sem lögreglunni einni er falið til að gefa fyrirskipanir og til að grípa til aðgerða gagnvart þegnunum, með valdbeitingu ef nauðsynlegt er. Slíkt vald hafa aðeins þeir starfsmenn lögreglu sem beinlínis hafa það hlutverk að halda uppi lögum og reglu í samfélaginu frá degi til dags og þeir sem eru í stöðum æðstu yfirmanna.[12]

Liður í því er meðal annars halda uppi almennu eftirliti og bregðast við með afskiptum af borgaranum þegar tilefni er til og brestur verður á löghlýðni. Hvort í senn getur hér fallið undir háttsemi sem er refsiverð en einnig önnur háttsemi sem felur í sér réttarbrot, án þess að teljast refsiverð. Þegar háttsemi er refsiverð fer málsmeðferð að hætti sml. Þegar lögbrot eru ekki refsiverð fer að hætti lögrl. eða eftir atvikum ákvæðum sérlaga.

Í dæmaskyni um þennan greinarmun má nefna brot gegn hátternisreglu 2. mgr. 49. gr. umferðarlaga nr. 77/2019, þar sem mælt er fyrir um að ef vínandamagn í blóði ökumanns nemi 0,20‰, en sé minna en 1,20‰, eða magn vínanda í lofti sem hann andar frá sér nemi 0,1 milligrammi í lítra lofts, en sé minna en 0,60 milligrömm, eða ökumaður sé undir áhrifum áfengis þótt magn vínanda í blóði hans eða útöndun sé minna teljist hann ekki geta stjórnað ökutæki örugglega. Samkvæmt orðanna hljóðan er sú háttsemi bönnuð nemi vínandamagn í blóði ökumanns yfir 0,20‰ eða 0,1 milligrammi í lítra lofts við stjórnun ökutækis. Samkvæmt 1. mgr. 95. gr. umferðarlaga varðar sú háttsemi sektum eða fangelsi samkvæmt 49. gr. sömu laga ef vínandamagn í blóði ökumanns er yfir 0,5‰ eða vínandamagn í lofti sem hann andar frá sér er meira en 0,25 milligrömm í lítra lofts. Með öðrum orðum er sú háttsemi bönnuð ef vínandamagn í blóði ökumanns nemur 0,20-0,49‰ eða 0,1-0,245 milligrammi í lítra lofts en refsiverð fari vínandamagn yfir 0,5‰ eða 0,25 milligrömm í lítra lofts. Eðli máls samkvæmt myndi lögreglan í þeim tilvikum ávallt stöðva akstur ökumanns enda má enginn stjórna eða reyna að stjórna vélknúnu ökutæki ef hann er undir áhrifum áfengis samkvæmt 1. mgr. 49. gr. umferðarlaga. Viðkomandi ökumanni yrði aftur á móti ekki refsað.

Annað dæmi um greinarmun milli lögrl. og sml. er það álitaefni sem kom til kasta dómastóla að skera úr í Lrd. 25. mars 2019 í máli nr. 182/2019 (upptaka). Þar var staðfestur úrskurður héraðsdóms þar sem fallist var á kröfu B um að L skyldi afhenda B mynd- og hljóðupptöku til framlagningar í einkamáli. Í úrskurði héraðsdóms, sem staðfestur var með úrskurði Landsréttar, segir meðal annars: „Eins og að framan er rakið krefst stefnandi aðgangs að mynd- og hljóðupptöku lögreglustjórans á A frá […] 2016, sem var gerð til viðbótar við ritun fyrrgreindrar lögregluskýrslu. Lögreglustjóri hefur staðfest að málinu sé lokið hjá embætti hans og hefur ekkert komið fram um að hann muni aðhafast frekar vegna þess. Af lögregluskýrslunni verður ráðið að aðkoma lögreglu að málinu í umrætt skipti hafi ekki verið þess eðlis að um væri að ræða rannsókn á grundvelli laga nr. 88/2008 um meðferð sakamála. Skýrslan ber hins vegar með sér að lögregla hafi fyrst og fremst komið að málinu til að aðstoða og tryggja öryggi á staðnum, sbr. a- og d-liði 2. mgr. 1. gr. og 1. mgr. 15. gr. lögreglulaga nr. 90/1996. Af þessu leiðir að almenn fyrirmæli ríkissaksóknara frá 25. janúar 2017 (RS: 9/2017), um aðgang að gögnum sakamála sem er lokið, eiga ekki nægjanlega við um umrædda upptöku. Að þessu virtu þykja dómsúrlausnir frá æðri dómstigum um afhendingu gagna úr sakamáli í stafrænu formi síður hafa fordæmisgildi fyrir þetta mál, sbr. meðal annars úrskurð Landsréttar nr. 324/2018. Að framangreindu virtu fer um rétt stefnanda til aðgangs að umræddri upptöku eftir ákvæðum laga nr. 140/2012, en takmarkanir samkvæmt 1. mgr. 4. gr. þeirra laga eiga ekki við þar sem þær einskorðast við rannsókn sakamáls eða saksókn. Samkvæmt 1. mgr. 14. gr. laganna er stjórnvöldum skylt, sé þess óskað, að veita aðila sjálfum aðgang að skjölum og öðrum gögnum sem varða tiltekið mál ef þau hafa að geyma upplýsingar um hann sjálfan. Almenn ákvæði um þagnarskyldu takmarka ekki þann rétt, sbr. 3. mgr. 4. gr. laga nr. 140/2012. Umrædd upptaka geymir upplýsingar sem varða atvik í beinum tengslum við barn stefnanda, en hún fer með forsjá þess ásamt stefnda. Að því virtu fer um rétt stefnanda til upptökunnar samkvæmt framangreindri lagareglu. Lögregluskýrsla um umrædd atvik, sem rituð var til viðbótar upptökunni, bendir ekki til þess að takmarkanir samkvæmt 2. og 3. mgr. 14. gr. laganna geti átt við um upptökuna. Þá er stjórnvöldum almennt skylt samkvæmt 1. mgr. 18. gr. laganna, eftir því sem við verður komið, að láta í té afrit af gögnum í því formi sem þau eru varðveitt á. Þessu til viðbótar ber lögregluskýrslan með sér að þeim lögreglumönnum sem komu að umræddu máli kunni að verða skylt að bera vitni í þessu dómsmáli, ef þess verður óskað, um þau atvik sem lögregluskýrslan og upptakan tekur til, sbr. 1. mgr. 51. gr. og 3. mgr. 67. gr. laga nr. 91/1991. Að öllu framangreindu virtu og með vísan til 3. mgr. 67. gr. og 2. mgr. 68. gr., sbr. 70. gr., laga nr. 91/1991, verður fallist á með stefnanda að lögreglustjóranum á A sé skylt að afhenda henni mynd-og hljóðupptöku í máli lögreglu nr. […] í þeim tilgangi að leggja hana fram sem sönnunargagn í máli þessu.

Það hlutverk lögreglu að halda uppi lögum og reglu tekur tvímælalaust til staða sem teljast til almannafæris, sbr. Hrd. 20. febrúar 2003 í máli nr. 542/2002 (nektardans), þar sem deilt var um ákvæði lögreglusamþykktar og hvort hún bryti í bága við atvinnufrelsi.

Hrd. 20. febrúar 2003 í máli nr. 542/2002 (nektardans)

Deilt var um gildi breytingar sem gerð var á ákvæði lögreglusamþykktar fyrir Reykjavík nr. 625/1987 sem meðal annars bannaði sýnendum nektardans að fara um meðal áhorfenda og girti fyrir hvers konar einkasýningar. Hélt V ehf. því fram að með framangreindri breytingu væri vegið að atvinnufrelsi hans, sem varið væri af 75. gr. stjskr. Hann ræki löglega starfsemi, sbr. i-lið 9. gr. laga nr. 67/1985 um veitinga- og gististaði og lög nr. 36/1988 um lögreglusamþykktir geymdu engar reglur sem heimiluðu stjórnvöldum takmörkun þess réttar. Þótt nektardans væri leyfður lögum samkvæmt taldi Hæstiréttur engu að síður heimilt að setja þeirri atvinnustarfsemi almennar skorður í þágu velsæmis og allsherjarreglu. Í 3. gr. laga nr. 36/1988 fælust ótvíræðar heimildir til að setja um þetta reglur í lögreglusamþykkt og bæri lögreglu að hafa eftirlit með því, að þeim reglum væri fylgt og að ekki ætti sér stað refsiverð háttsemi á veitingastöðum. Einkasýningar á nektardansi færu fram í lokuðu rými innan veitingastaðanna og yrði slíku eftirliti þar ekki við komið. Fyrrnefnd breyting á lögreglusamþykktinni fæli ekki í sér bann við nektardansi en áskildi aðeins að nektardansara væri bannað að loka að sér með viðskiptamanni meðan á sýningu stæði og fara um meðal áhorfenda. Væri þetta almenn regla í samræmi við ákvæði laga nr. 36/1988 og gerði yfirvöldum kleift að fylgjast með sýningum á nektardansi og ganga úr skugga um, að allsherjarreglu og velsæmis væri gætt og að ekki færi fram refsiverð háttsemi í næturklúbbum. Leyfi V ehf. til að reka næturklúbb gæti þannig ekki falið í sér heimild honum til handa til þess að láta svokallaðan einkadans fara fram í lokuðu rými á veitingastaðnum eða leyfa för sýnenda meðal áhorfenda. Þessir þættir í rekstri V ehf. yrðu því ekki taldir atvinnustarfsemi, sem nyti verndar 75. gr. stjskr. Voru Í og R því sýknaðir af kröfum V ehf.

Hávaði eða ófriður er sérstakt álitaefni í þessu sambandi, sbr. eftirfarandi álit umboðsmanns Alþingis sem eru leiðbeinandi um hlutverk lögreglu og þeirra aðgerða sem lögreglu er heimilt að grípa til í því skyni að halda uppi lögum og reglu og tryggja almannafrið og allsherjarreglu.

Álit umboðsmanns Alþingis í málum nr. 2824/1999 og 2836/1999 (hávaði)

A, B og C kvörtuðu yfir aðgerðarleysi lögreglunnar í Reykjavík í tilefni af kvörtunum og tilkynningum vegna hávaða og ónæðis frá tilteknu húsnæði í einkaeign og óleyfilegri starfsemi bílabónstöðvar í húsinu. Af gögnum málsins mátti ráða að lögreglan í Reykjavík hafði á undanförnum árum haft fjölmargar slíkar tilkynningar, kvartanir og kærur til meðferðar frá íbúum í grennd við umrætt húsnæði. Höfðu íbúarnir einnig leitað til borgaryfirvalda og umhverfisráðuneytisins vegna málsins. Fram kom við meðferð málsins að lögreglan í Reykjavík hefði talið sig að lögum hafa takmarkaðar heimildir til aðgerða í tilvikum á borð við þau sem ofangreindar kvartanir A, B og C lutu að. Umboðsmaður ákvað að beina athugun sinni með almennum hætti að valdheimildum lögreglunnar þegar kvartanir og tilkynningar um hávaða og ónæði frá húsnæði í einkaeign berast lögreglu. Umboðsmaður tók fram að í málinu reyndi á álitaefni sem beindist að eignarráðum fasteignareiganda og þá að hvaða marki um væri að ræða einkaréttarlegan ágreining sem aðilar yrðu að leysa sín á milli og þá eftir atvikum með þeim úrræðum sem lög bjóða, t.d. með aðkomu dómstóla, eða hvort um væri að ræða slíka röskun á almannahagsmunum og eftir atvikum sérgreindum hagsmunum tiltekinna einstaklinga að lög leiddu til þess að yfirvöldum bæri að grípa inn í, og þá einkum lögreglu, og gera nauðsynlegar ráðstafanir til að stöðva eða stemma stigu við afleiðingum af þeim athöfnum sem kvartað væri yfir og/eða rannsaka hvort framin hefðu verið refsiverð brot. Rakti umboðsmaður ákvæði 72. gr. stjskr. um friðhelgi eignarréttar og tók fram að á síðari árum hefði í auknum mæli komið til reglur sem mæla fyrir um takmarkanir á eignarráðum fasteignareiganda og reglur sem áskilja að fyrir þurfi að liggja samþykki opinberra yfirvalda til tiltekinnar hagnýtingar eignar. Taldi umboðsmaður rétt að leggja á það áherslu að þau auknu afskipti opinberra aðila af hagnýtingu fasteigna kynnu einnig að hafa að einhverju marki leitt til þess að það kæmi nú að lögum í hlut lögreglu að grípa í meira mæli inn í athafnir fasteignareiganda en áður var þegar eignarráð hans og afskipti nágranna af þeim réðust aðallega af einkaréttarlegum reglum. Umboðsmaður rakti ákvæði 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. um hlutverk lögreglunnar og 15. gr. um aðgerðir lögreglu í þágu almannafriðar og allsherjarreglu og lögskýringargögn. Lagði umboðsmaður áherslu á að hlutverk lögreglu og lögbundnar heimildir hennar til afskipta af borgurunum næði til fleiri þátta og atvika en beinna rannsókna mála á grundvelli laga nr. 19/1991, um meðferð opinberra mála. Lögreglan hefði einnig almennt eftirlitshlutverk með því að almannafriður og allsherjarregla í merkingu 15. gr. lögreglulaga væri tryggð og virt á hverjum tíma. Benti hann á að 15. gr. fjallar ekki beinlínis um merkingu og inntak þessara hugtaka en hafa yrði í huga að aðgerðir lögreglu samkvæmt greininni hefðu eðli máls samkvæmt í för með sér íþyngjandi áhrif á þann sem fyrir þeim yrði. Þá væru slíkar ákvarðanir oft og tíðum teknar undir erfiðum kringumstæðum þar sem fram þyrfti að fara vandasamt mat á andstæðum og oft á tíðum ósamrýmanlegum hagsmunum. Þá rakti umboðsmaður ákvæði laga nr. 36/1988, um lögreglusamþykktir og sérstaklega ákvæði lögreglusamþykktar fyrir Reykjavík nr. 625/1987 með síðari breytingum. Taldi hann að í lögum væri beinlínis gert ráð fyrir aðkomu og ráðstöfunum lögreglunnar við þær aðstæður þegar mikill hávaði og ónæði hlýst af starfsemi eða athöfnum í húsi í grennd við íbúðabyggð. Álitaefnið snerist því ekki um hvort heldur hvaða ráðstafanir lögreglunni væri heimilt að grípa til og undir hvaða kringumstæðum. Það væri hlutverk lögreglunnar að lögum að gera ráðstafanir, ef tilefni yrði til, þannig að borgararnir gætu með raunhæfum hætti búið við aðstæður þar sem ekki væri fyrir að fara óeðlilegum hávaða og ónæði frá nágrönnum. Umboðsmaður benti þó á að samlíf borgaranna innan borgarmarka Reykjavíkur og í öðrum bæjarfélögum fæli eðli máls samkvæmt í sér tiltekið áreiti vegna hávaða og ónæðis annarra sem menn yrðu jafnan að sætta sig við. Taldi umboðsmaður að fjöldi tilvika og stig hávaða og ónæðis sem stafaði frá húseign nágranna í og við íbúðabyggð og eðli slíkra tilvika að öðru leyti gæti við ákveðnar aðstæður orðið svo ítrekað og umfangsmikið að það yrði talið fela í sér röskun á almannafriði og allsherjarreglu í merkingu 15. gr. lögreglulaga og ákvæða lögreglusamþykkta settra á grundvelli laga nr. 36/1988, sbr. t.d. 4. og 5. gr. lögreglusamþykktar fyrir Reykjavík. Við slíkar aðstæður væri lögreglunni beinlínis skylt að lögum að gera fullnægjandi og viðeigandi ráðstafanir til þess að bregðast við slíku ástandi. Að því er varðaði atvik þau sem lágu til grundvallar kvörtunum A, B og C tók umboðsmaður fram að afmarka þyrfti nánar hvort og þá hvernig lögreglan í Reykjavík hefði fullnægt framangreindum lögbundnum skyldum sínum. Umboðsmaður benti á að það leiddi af lagareglum um hlutverk lögreglunnar sem hann hefði rakið að henni bæri, við athugun mála vegna tíðra tilkynninga og kvartana um hávaða frá tiltekinni starfsemi sem fram færi í húsnæði, skylda til að kanna, meðal annars með formlegum fyrirspurnum til hlutaðeigandi yfirvalda, hvort fyrir lægju tilskilin leyfi til umræddrar starfsemi í húsnæðinu. Ef svo væri ekki gæti verið tilefni til þess að rannsaka sérstaklega hvort um væri að ræða brot á lögum og reglugerðum á viðkomandi sviði sem meðal annars gætu leitt til refsiábyrgðar. Taldi umboðsmaður sjónarmið um meðalhóf við val lögreglunnar á aðgerðum leiða til þess að rétt gæti verið að lögreglan beinlínis upplýsti hlutaðeigandi stjórnvöld þegar henni bærust í miklum mæli tilkynningar og kvartanir vegna hávaða og ónæði eða tiltekna starfsemi í húsnæði. Tók hann fram að bæru þessi vægari úrræði lögreglunnar ekki árangur til að koma á ásættanlegu ástandi gæti það leitt til þess að rétt væri að lögreglan gripi til þeirra úrræða sem henni væru fengin með lögum, sbr. 15. gr. lögreglulaga, t.d. með því að stöðva starfsemi. Benti hann á að áður en til slíkra úrræða yrði gripið þyrfti að koma til rannsóknar þar sem meðal annars væri upplýst hvaða heimildir lægju fyrir til handa eigandanum til að nýta eign sína. Að öðru leyti taldi umboðsmaður að gögn málsins gæfu ekki tilefni til þess að unnt væri að fullyrða að tilefni hefði verið til þess að lögreglan gripi til frekari aðgerða en gert var frá fyrstu kvörtunum og fram að því að byggingarfulltrúi bannaði alla tónlistarstarfsemi í húsnæðinu. Umboðsmaður taldi hins vegar að af gögnum málsins væri ljóst að viðbrögð lögreglunnar hefðu ekki verið í samræmi við hlutverk og skyldur hennar að lögum með tilliti til lögmæltrar aðkomu byggingarfulltrúans í Reykjavík og aðstæðna í málinu eftir að byggingarfulltrúinn hafði alfarið bannað tónlistarflutning í húsnæðinu og síðar þegar byggingarnefnd aflétti banninu en viðhafði enn tilteknar takmarkanir á tónlistarflutningi í því. Hafi þannig viðbrögð lögreglunnar ekki verið til þess fallin að tryggja og vernda almannafrið í merkingu þeirra lagareglna sem raktar hefðu verið í málinu. Var það því niðurstaða umboðsmanns að lögreglan hefði ekki sinnt með fullnægjandi hætti lögboðnu hlutverki sínu við framkvæmd takmarkana byggingarfulltrúa og byggingarnefndar Reykjavíkur en meðal annars kom til greina að mati umboðsmanns að lögreglan girti alfarið fyrir aðgang hljómsveita að húsnæðinu á meðan takmarkanirnar hefðu verið í gildi eða að hún beitti öðrum þeim íþyngjandi úrræðum sem 15. gr. lögreglulaga heimilaði. Umboðsmaður vék loks að því að við athugun hans á þessu máli hefði hann orðið þess var að skortur væri á almennum verklagsreglum um viðbrögð lögreglumanna þegar ítrekað væri kvartað af hálfu íbúa yfir miklum hávaða eða ónæði frá húsnæði í einkaeign. Sökum þessa taldi umboðsmaður rétt að vekja athygli ríkislögreglustjóra á þeim sjónarmiðum sem rakin væru í álitinu meðal annars í því skyni að hann gæti tekið afstöðu til þess hvort einhverra viðbragða væri þörf. Beindi umboðsmaður þeim tilmælum til lögreglustjórans í Reykjavík að hann sæi til þess að aðkoma og ráðstafanir lögreglunnar í tilefni af tilkynningum og kvörtunum íbúa í nágrenni við umrætt húsnæði og í öðrum sambærilegum tilvikum yrði framvegis hagað í samræmi við þau sjónarmið sem rakin hefðu verið í álitinu.

Í tilefni af þessum álitum setti ríkislögreglustjóri á árinu 2002 verklagsreglur þegar mikill hávaði og ónæði hlýst af starfsemi eða athöfn í húsi sem er í einkaeign. Eru þær verklagsreglur enn í gildi, sbr. verklagsreglur ríkislögreglustjóra þegar mikill hávaði og ónæði hlýst af starfsemi eða athöfn sem er í einkaeign.

Sérstakt álitaefni er þegar þvingunaraðgerðir lögreglu eru í þágu réttarvörslu fremur en refsivörslu og handtökuheimildum lögreglu er beitt á grundvelli lögrl. en ekki sml. Þessu til nánari skýringar má nefna beitingu handtökuheimildar a-liðar 1. mgr. 16. gr. lögrl. þegar handtaka fer fram í þeim tilgangi að halda uppi lögum og reglu, svo sem ef maður ærist á almannafæri eða veldur þar hneyksli eða hættu á óspektum, sbr. t.d. til hliðsjónar þau atvik sem uppi voru í Hrd. 8. desember 2016 í málum nr. 100/2016 til 108/2016 (Gálgahraun II), þar sem fjallað var um mögulega skaðabótaskyldu íslenska ríkisins vegna aðgerða lögreglu og handtöku níu einstaklinga við Gálgahraun í Garðabæ. Um samhljóða dómsniðurstöðu allra dóma var að ræða. Forsaga málsins var sú að með Hrd. 28. maí 2015 í málum nr. 812/2014 til 820/2014 (Gálgahraun I) féllu níu samhljóða dómar í sakamálum þar sem níu einstaklingar voru sakfelldir fyrir brot á 19. gr. lögrl. fyrir að hlýða ekki fyrirmælum lögreglu. Málsatvik í einu þessar mála, máli nr. 812/2014, voru þau að um haustið 2013 fór Vegagerðin í framkvæmdir við lagningu svokallaðs Álftanesvegar í Garðabæ sem að hluta lá um Gálgahraun. Framkvæmdirnar sættu mótmælum, einkum þar sem þær hefðu í för með sér óafturkræf náttúruspjöll á hrauninu og umhverfi þess, auk þess sem uppi var ágreiningur um lögmæti framkvæmdanna. Mótmælin fóru að öllu leyti friðsamlega fram en mótmælendur höfðu komið sér fyrir í hrauninu, meðal annars innan vinnusvæðis, og neituðu að hlíta fyrirmælum lögreglunnar um að víkja vegna framkvæmdanna. Fór svo að lögreglan fjarlægði mótmælendur með valdi og voru nokkur þeirra handtekin, þar á meðal A. Eftir að A hafði verið látin laus sneri hún aftur í Gálgahraun og þar var hún handtekin að nýju. Var deilt um það hvort A hefði neitað að hlýða ítrekuðum fyrirmælum lögreglu um að yfirgefa umrætt vinnusvæði í aðdraganda síðari handtökunnar. Talið var að mótmæli A og annarra mótmælenda teldust ótvírætt til tjáningar í skilningi 73. gr. stjskr. og að sá réttur þeirra til að hafa uppi slík mótmæli yrði eingöngu takmarkaður eftir þeim skilyrðum sem greinir í 3. mgr. greinarinnar, sbr. 10. og 11. gr. mannréttindasáttmála Evrópu (MSE), sem hefði verið veitt lagagildi með lögum nr. 62/1994. Fyrir lægi að framkvæmdirnar hefðu átt sér viðhlítandi stoð að lögum þegar í þær hefði verið ráðist. Lögreglu hefði því borið, í samræmi við fyrirmæli e- og f-liða 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl., að ljá Vegagerðinni aðstoð við að tryggja framkvæmd þeirra og grípa til þeirra aðgerða sem nauðsynlegar hefðu verið til þess að tryggja allsherjarreglu, sbr. 15. gr. laganna. Af gögnum málsins sem og vætti lögreglumanna teldist sannað að A hefði ekki hlýtt ítrekuðum fyrirmælum um að færa sig af vinnusvæði þar sem hún hafði verið stödd. Með þessum hætti hefði hún brotið gegn 19. gr. lögrl. enda yrði réttur hennar til að mótmæla að víkja að því marki sem hann hefði staðið því í vegi að framkvæmdir gætu haldið áfram, sbr. 60. og 3. mgr. 73. gr. stjskr. Var sérstaklega áréttað að aðgerðir lögreglu á vettvangi hefðu ekki gengið lengra en þörf krafðist og að A hefði ekki verið bannað að mótmæla framkvæmdunum með öllum tiltækum og löglegum ráðum, heldur eingöngu á vinnusvæðinu. Við ákvörðun refsingar, sem frestað var skilorðsbundið í tvö ár, var litið til þess að A hefði ekki áður hlotið refsingu, að fyrir henni hefði vakað að standa vörð um náttúruverðmæti og að það hefði hún gert með því að nýta á friðsaman hátt stjórnarskrárvarinn rétt sinn til að mótmæla þó svo að í þessu tilviki hefði hún gengið lengra en heimilt var.

Hrd. 8. desember 2016 í máli nr. 100/2016 (Gálgahraun II)

K höfðaði mál til heimtu bóta vegna meintrar ólögmætrar handtöku í Gálgahrauni þar sem hann hefði verið ásamt fleira fólki að mótmæla framkvæmdum við lagningu nýs vegar. Í dómi Hæstaréttar kom fram að í fyrri dómum réttarins hefði því verið slegið föstu að vegaframkvæmdirnar hefðu átt sér viðhlítandi lagastoð og hefði lögreglu því borið að ljá Vegagerðinni aðstoð til að tryggja framkvæmd þeirra og grípa til þeirra aðgerða sem nauðsynlegar voru til þess að tryggja allsherjarreglu. Var talið ljóst af gögnum málsins að K hefði ekki sinnt ítrekuðum fyrirmælum lögreglu um að víkja af vinnusvæðinu og hefði þannig leitast við að hindra lögmæta vegarlagningu. Þá hefði K stuðlað sjálfur í skilningi 2. mgr. 228. gr. sml. að þeim aðgerðum sem hann reisti kröfu sína á og hefði því eins og atvikum var háttað fyrirgert rétti til bóta samkvæmt 1. mgr. sömu lagagreinar.

Í dómi Hæstaréttar kemur meðal annars fram að af gögnum málsins sé ljóst að áfrýjandi hefði ekki sinnt ítrekuðum fyrirmælum lögreglu, sem sett voru fram á grundvelli 19. gr. lögrl., um að víkja af vinnusvæði Vegagerðarinnar í Gálgahrauni og leitaðist þannig við að hindra lögmæta vegarlagningu. Samkvæmt þessu hefði lögreglu verið heimilt samkvæmt a-lið 1. mgr. 16. gr. lögrl. að handtaka áfrýjanda og færa hann á lögreglustöð í þeim tilgangi að halda uppi lögum og reglu.

Aðgerðir við rannsókn sakamáls geta einnig verið sérstakt álitaefni í þessu sambandi þrátt fyrir að slíkar aðgerðir falli alla jafna undir rannsóknarhlutverk lögreglu samkvæmt c-lið 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl., sem og ákvæði sml., t.d. þegar beita þarf valdi til þess að tryggja hlýðni við yfirboðsvald. Nefna má í þessu sambandi tvo dóma Hæstaréttar Íslands, Hrd. 1994, bls. 813 (387/1993) (herbergi) og Hrd. 30. október 2008 í máli nr. 236/2008 (þvagleggur), en í báðum umræddum málum var áréttuð sú meginregla íslenskrar stjórnskipunar, að enginn gæti komið sér hjá að hlýða yfirvaldsboði í bráð, þótt hann véfengdi heimild stjórnvalda, sbr. 60. gr. stjskr.

Þessu til frekari skýringar kunna skil á milli handtökuheimilda lögrl. og sml. að vera óglögg og vandkvæðum bundið að greina þar á milli, einkum þegar mat lögreglu er óljóst hvort aðgerð sé í þágu réttarvörslu eða refsivörslu, sbr. t.d. til hliðsjónar niðurstöðu í Hrd. 1999, bls. 3386 (65/1999) (Good Morning America). Í umræddu máli var ekki fallist á að ætlað brot gegn 95. gr. hgl. hefði legið til grundvallar handtöku Ó, sem var handtekinn ásamt sjö öðrum, eða að handtakan yrði réttlætt á grundvelli 1. mgr. 97. gr. þágildandi laga um meðferð opinberra mála nr. 19/1991, en samkvæmt ákvæðinu var lögreglu rétt að handtaka mann ef rökstuddur grunur væri á að hann hefði framið brot sem sætt gæti ákæru, enda væri handtakan nauðsynleg til að koma í veg fyrir áframhaldandi brot, tryggja návist hans og öryggi eða koma í veg fyrir að hann spillti sönnunargögnum, sbr. nú 1. mgr. 90. gr. sml. Þá þótti ekki hafa verið leitt í ljós, að uggvænt hefði mátt þykja, að af framferði Ó og félaga hans leiddi óspektir eða hætta á óspektum í skilningi e-liðar 98. gr. laga nr. 19/1991, en samkvæmt því ákvæði var lögreglunni rétt að handtaka mann ef hann ærðist á almannafæri eða olli þar hneyksli eða hættu á óspektum, sbr. nú a-lið 1. mgr. 16. gr. lögrl. Var því ekki talið, að lögmælt skilyrði hefðu verið til handtökunnar.

Loks má nefna að lögregla getur haft hlutverki að gegna við að halda uppi lögum og reglu þrátt fyrir að einkaréttarlegur ágreiningur sé tilefni afskipta og/eða aðkoma lögreglu sé að veita yfirvöldum vernd eða aðstoð við framkvæmd starfa sinna á grundvelli e-liðar 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. Atvik í Hrd. 15. nóvember 2012 í máli nr. 60/2012 (Hverfisgata) sýna með ágætum aðkomu lögreglu við þannig aðstæður. Í umræddu máli höfðaði húsfélag mál gegn H til að fá hana skyldaða til að selja eignarhlut sinn í fjöleignarhúsi, sbr. 55. gr. laga nr. 26/1994 um fjöleignarhús. Fallist var á með húsfélaginu að H hefði brotið gróflega og ítrekað gegn eigendum annarra eignarhluta í fjöleignarhúsinu með því að virða ekki skyldur sínar samkvæmt lögum nr. 26/1994. Einnig var talið að húsfélagið hefði fullnægt formreglum 55. gr. laga nr. 26/1994. Þá var talið að 4. og 5. mgr. 55. gr. laga nr. 26/1994 fullnægðu skilyrðum 1. mgr. 72. gr. stjskr., enda gæti almenningsþörf krafist þess að eiganda eignarhlutar í fjöleignarhúsi yrði gert að láta af hendi eign sína með því að hún yrði seld gegn vilja hans, þegar stórfelld brot hans gagnvart öðrum eigendum vægju gegn friðhelgi eignarréttinda þeirra og heimilis, og eiganda væri tryggt fullt verð fyrir eignarhluta sinn. Eins og atvikum málsins væri háttað virtust ekki tiltæk önnur vægari úrræði til að gæta lögvarinna réttinda annarra eigenda fjöleignarhússins en að taka kröfu húsfélagsins til greina.

Í dómi Hæstaréttar segir meðal annars: „Í hinum áfrýjaða dómi er ítarlega lýst hvernig fram kemur í gögnum málsins að starfsmenn á ýmsum sviðum Reykjavíkurborgar, einkum við heilbrigðiseftirlit, félagsþjónustu, byggingarmál og sorphirðu, hafi orðið að grípa til íhlutunar í málefni aðaláfrýjanda af framangreindum sökum, að öðru jöfnu að tilhlutan annarra íbúa að Hverfisgötu 68a, en þau hafi einnig komið til kasta héraðslæknis og eldvarnareftirlits. Í tengslum við þetta hafi lögregla jafnframt þurft að hafa margvísleg afskipti af aðaláfrýjanda, meðal annars með því að veita atbeina til að knýja á um hreinsun á húsakynnum hennar, en samkvæmt gögnum málsins beitti Reykjavíkurborg í því skyni valdheimildum, sem nú eru í lögum nr. 7/1998 um hollustuhætti og mengunarvarnir, í apríl 1986, desember 1995, febrúar 2000 og júlí 2009. Að auki munu aðstandendur aðaláfrýjanda hafa tekið að sér hreinsun á húsnæðinu í október 1987 að undangenginni vettvangsskoðun heilbrigðiseftirlits, borgarlæknis og lögreglu og aðvörun borgarinnar um að gripið yrði til þvingunarúrræða.“ Þrátt fyrir að um einkaréttarlegan ágreining hafi verið að ræða hafði lögregla aðkomu að málinu á fyrri stigum, bæði við vettvangsskoðun og að ljá öðru stjórnvaldi atbeina sinn við að knýja fram valdheimildir. Er þetta í samræmi við niðurstöðu álita umboðsmanns Alþingis í málum nr. 2824/1999 og 2836/1999 (hávaði), þar sem umboðsmaður taldi meðal annars rétt að leggja á það áherslu að þau auknu afskipti opinberu aðila af hagnýtingu fasteigna kynnu einnig, að einhverju marki, að leiða til þess að það kæmi að lögum í hlut lögreglu að grípa í meira mæli inn í athafnir fasteignareiganda en áður var þegar eignarráð hans og afskipti nágranna af þeim réðust aðallega af einkaréttarlegum reglum.

2.3 Öryggi ríkisins

Í þriðja lagi fellur undir öryggishlutverk lögreglu að tryggja öryggis ríkisins. Hagmunir ríkisins byggja á þrískiptingu ríkisvaldsins, t.d. vernd fasteigna og upplýsinga-, net- og tölvukerfa í eigu stofnana framkvæmdavaldsins, Alþingis og dómstóla. Undir þetta fellur einnig að tryggja órofinn rekstur stofnana ríkisins en slíkir hagsmunir kunna enn fremur að teljast til mikilvægra innviða, þ.m.t. net- og tölvukerfi flutninga, heilbrigðisþjónustu, orku-, hita- og vatnsveitna, svo og stafræn grunnvirki samkvæmt 1. mgr. 2. gr. laga um öryggi net- og upplýsingakerfa mikilvægra innviða nr. 78/2019. Þá njóta ýmsir mikilvægir hagsmunir ríkisvaldsins refsiverndar samkvæmt X. kafla hgl. og starfsmenn ríkisins aukinheldur sérstakrar refsiverndar samkvæmt XI. og XII. kafla sömu laga.

Ríkislögreglustjóri hefur sérstöku hlutverki að gegna þegar kemur að öryggi æðstu stjórnar. Samkvæmt 1. mgr. 21. gr. reglugerðar nr. 325/2021 sinnir embættið verkefnum sem hafa það að markmiði að efla öryggi æðstu stjórnar ríkisins, samkvæmt b-lið 2. mgr. 5. gr. lögrl. Þá fer ríkislögreglustjóri samkvæmt 2. mgr. 21. gr. sömu reglugerðar meðal annars með yfirstjórn mála varðandi öryggi ríkisins vegna viðburða, tilvika eða ástands sem stofnað geta öryggi stjórnskipunarinnar, ríkisstofnana svo og almennings í hættu. Framangreint tekur til forseta Íslands, Alþingis, ríkisstjórnar, ráðuneytis, dómstóla, ríkissaksóknara og fleiri mikilvægra opinberra eininga sem teljast hluti af innviðum landsins. Þrátt fyrir að ekki sé sérstaklega fjallað um sveitarstjórnir verður að telja að þær geti tvímælalaust fallið undir helstu innviði landsins og undir þá hagsmuni sem njóta verndar að þessu leyti, enda njóta starfsmenn sveitarfélaga refsiverndar ákvæða XII. kafla hgl.

Í framkvæmd hefur reynt á vernd öryggis ríkisins og æðstu stjórnar, þ.á m. lýðræðislega kjörinna fulltrúa. Nokkuð reyndi á slíkt í hrunmálum og skemmst er að minnast skotárásar á bifreið borgarstjórans í Reykjavík snemma á árinu 2021 sem lagt var við heimili hans.  Sjaldgæft er aftur á móti að mál af því tagi komi til kasta dómstóla. Í þessu sambandi má þó nefna Hrd. 26. ágúst 2010 í máli nr. 507/2010 (níumenningar). Í málinu var deilt um hæfi dómara í sakamáli við héraðsdóm og þess krafist að hann viki sæti á grundvelli g-liðar 1. mgr. 6. gr. sml. Nánar tiltekið varðaði málið formhlið máls níu einstaklinga sem ákærðir höfðu verið fyrir árás á Alþingi. Ekki var fallist á vanhæfi dómara en í málinu krafðist verjandi A, B, C og D þess að dómarinn viki sæti með þeim rökum að hann hefði með því að hafa lögreglu í dómhúsinu þegar þingað hefði verið í því verið „nánast fyrirfram að lýsa yfir sekt á hendur“ ákærðu og komið með því í veg fyrir að þeir nytu „réttlátrar málsmeðferðar fyrir dómi, eins og þeim er áskilinn í stjórnarskrá“.

Í úrskurði Héraðsdóms Reykjavíkur, sem staðfestur var með dómi Hæstaréttar, segir meðal annars: „Miðvikudaginn 14. apríl sl. fór fram málflutningur um frávísunarkröfu verjanda tveggja ákærðu í sal 101, stærsta dómsal Dómhússins við Lækjartorg. Allir stólar í salnum voru setnir og jafnframt stóð þétt þvaga fólks frá dyrum og inn að véböndum og víðar um salinn. Þá sátu sumir á gólfinu. Úr þessari þvögu sást að steyttur var hnefi að dómaranum, eins og einnig mátti sjá á ljósmynd í einu blaðanna daginn eftir. Margir viðstaddra létu í sér heyra undir málflutningnum, aðallega til þess að fagna orðum verjandans en einnig til þess að láta í ljósi andúð á málflutningi saksóknarans, sem mátti láta sér lynda að hafa þvöguna þétt að baki sér þegar hann flutti mál sitt. Skoraði dómarinn á fólkið að hafa hljótt um sig en því var lítt sinnt. Gengið er um þrennar dyr á þessum sal, sem allar opnast inn. Þar af eru tvennar dyrnar læstar með rafsegullás. Lítur dómarinn svo á að hann hafi ekki haft fulla stjórn þinghaldinu við þessar aðstæður og að mönnum hafi jafnvel ekki verið óhætt í salnum. Þá er ljóst að við þær átti sækjandinn undir högg að sækja. Eftir þetta hefur dómarinn ákveðið, með heimild í 3. mgr. 10. gr. laga um meðferð sakamála, að takmarka aðgang að dómsal 101, þar sem þingað hefur verið í málinu, við þann fjölda manna sem þar rúmast með góðu móti eða jafnmarga og sætin eru. Þá hefur hann með heimild í 10. gr. laga um meðferð sakamála og 1. gr. lögreglulaga nr. 90, 1996 óskað eftir nærveru lögreglu í húsinu þegar þingað hefur verið í málinu til þess að tryggja þingfrið og öryggi manna. Hefur enda komið í ljós að full þörf hefur verið á nærveru og aðstoð lögreglunnar vegna manna sem ekki hafa farið að settum reglum og fyrirmælum dómarans. Dómarinn hefur haft samráð við dómstjóra héraðsdóms Reykjavíkur um þessa ráðstöfun, að svo miklu leyti sem hún er til þess fallin að hafa áhrif á aðra starfsemi dómstólsins. Samkvæmt 1. mgr. 8. gr. laga um meðferð sakamála stýrir dómari þinghaldi og gætir þess að það sé háð eftir réttum reglum. Þá eru í 10. gr. sömu laga ákvæði um þingfrið og til hverra ráða dómara sé rétt að grípa til þess að tryggja hann, þar á meðal til lögregluvalds. Samkvæmt 1. gr. lögreglulaga er það m.a. hlutverk lögreglu að gæta almannaöryggis, halda uppi lögum og reglu og leitast við að tryggja réttaröryggi borgaranna. Þá segir þar ennfremur að það sé hlutverk lögreglunnar að starfa í samvinnu við stofnanir sem hafa með höndum verkefni sem tengjast starfssviði lögreglu. Ákvörðun dómarans um að hafa lögreglu tiltæka í dómhúsinu er ekki beint gegn ákærðu í málinu heldur miðar hún að því að tryggja frið og reglu í þinghöldunum og þar með að því að gæta réttar og hagsmuna allra málsaðila. Verður ekki séð að dómarinn hafi með þessari ákvörðun sinni fyrirfram lýst yfir sekt á hendur ákærðu eða komið með henni í veg fyrir það að þeir njóti réttlátrar málsmeðferðar fyrir dómi. Ber að synja kröfu ákærðu um það að dómarinn í málinu víki sæti í því.

2.4 Réttaröryggi borgaranna

Í fjórða lagi er það eitt af hlutverkum lögreglu að tryggja réttaröryggi borgaranna. Verður að telja að þar sem lögregla er stjórnvald og hluti framkvæmdavaldsins lúti hlutverkið einkum að tryggja það réttaröryggi innan stjórnsýslunnar, eftir því sem tilefni er til. Borgarinn nýtur ýmissa mikilsverðra réttinda í þessu sambandi sem tryggð eru í stjskr., alþjóðlegum mannréttindasáttmálum og almennum lögum. Þá byggir íslensk stjórnsýsla meðal annars á sjónarmiðum um gagnsæi og að úr málum sé leyst innan stjórnsýslunnar með hlutlægum og málefnalegum hætti.

Hvað lögreglu viðvíkur njóta borgararnir sérstakrar verndar gagnvart ólögmætri valdbeitingu og annarri óréttmætri hegðun af hálfu handhafa ríkisvaldsins, sbr. ákvæði XIV. kafla hgl. um brot í opinberu starfi. Aukinheldur er réttarverndin fólgin í því að réttarbrot innan stjórnsýslunnar kunna að hafa ýmsar afleiðingar, svo sem ábendingar og/eða tilmæli um að gera betur varðandi ýmsar stjórnsýsluathafnir, ógildingu stjórnvaldsákvörðunar eða annarrar ákvörðunar og skaðabótaskyldu ríkisins. Þá kann slíkt enn fremur að leiða til ábyrgðar að starfsmannarétti gagnvart viðkomandi starfsmanni, skaðabótaábyrgðar starfsmanns sjálfs, að hann sé sviptur réttindum og að refsiábyrgð sé felld á hann vegna refsiverðrar háttsemi. Í réttarframkvæmd eru dæmi um að lögreglumenn hafi hvoru tveggja borið refsi- og skaðabótaábyrgð fyrir að hafa ekki gætt lögmæltra aðferða við framkvæmd lögreglustarfa, sbr. Hrd. 11. desember 2014 í máli nr. 102/2014 (kona handtekin) og Hrd. 1985, bls. 883 (Skaptadómur).

Í því skyni að tryggja réttaröryggi borgaranna er brýnt að lögregla fylgi í hvívetna lagaskyldu um að grípa til aðgerða og hafi í heiðri málsmeðferðarreglur við þá framkvæmd. Til nánari skýringar má nefna þær meginreglur sem fram koma í 1. og 2. mgr. 13. gr. lögrl. við framkvæmd lögreglustarfa, þar sem meðal annars er vísað til meðalhófsreglunnar og hlutlægnisreglunnar.

Líkt og áður er getið gilda ýmsar lögfestar meginreglur sem meðal annars hafa stjórnskipulegan réttargrundvöll og brýnt er að lögregla fylgi, sbr. t.d. málshraðareglan og jafnræðisreglan. Hefur málshraðareglan einkar mikið vægi við meðferð sakamála vegna þeirra ólögfestu réttarreglu sem mótast hefur í framkvæmd sem ólögmælt refsiákvörðunarástæða um að tafir á málsmeðferð, þ.á m. hjá lögreglu, kunni að hafa áhrif á ákvörðun refsingar, sbr. t.d. til hliðsjónar Lrd. 27. nóvember 2020 í máli nr. 135/2019 (tvær nauðgarnir), en dæmin er þó mýmörg og skiptir tugum á liðnum rúmlega tveimur áratugum. Þá má segja að vegna opinberrar umfjöllunar, bæði á alþjóðavísu og hérlendis, hafi jafnræðisreglan fengið aukið vægi á sviði löggæslu í tengslum við afstöðu einstakra lögreglumanna til atriða eins og þjóðernis og kynhneigðar vegna samskipta, afgreiðslu mála og töku ákvarðana. Þá er tjáning lögreglumanna sérstakt álitaefni í því sambandi. Sú hætta er ávallt fyrir hendi að unnt sé að tengja tjáningu lögreglumanna við fordóma og í versta falli hatursorðræðu samkvæmt 233. gr. a. hgl., sbr. sú opinbera umræða sem upp kom síðla árs 2020 vegna merkingar á einkennisfatnaði lögreglumanns.[13] Til að taka af allan vafa var reglum um einkennisfatnað lögreglu meðal annars breytt í þessu skyni með setningu reglugerðar um einkennisfatnað lögreglunnar nr. 690/2021, sbr. einkum 3. mgr. 17. gr. reglugerðarinnar um ásýnd og öryggi.

Enn fremur er lögregla bundin af lögmætisreglunni og réttmætisreglunni sem hvoru tveggja eru ólögfestar meginreglur innan stjórnsýsluréttar. Um lögmætisregluna hefur lauslega verið fjallað um en réttmætisreglan eða reglan um málefnalega stjórnsýslu er einnig mikilvæg regla en hún er til þess fallin að ýta undir traust lögreglu enda reglan ein af hornsteinum íslenskrar stjórnsýslu.[14] Reglan er nátengd hlutlægnisreglunni en innihald hennar lýtur að því að lögregla gæti réttmætra og málefnalegra sjónarmiða við framkvæmd lögreglustarfa. Í réttarframkvæmd eru dæmi um að lögreglumenn hafi ekki gætt slíkra sjónarmiða, t.d. við valdbeitingu, en einnig afgreiðslu mála. Um hið síðarnefnda má nefna atvik í Lrd. 23. nóvember 2018 í máli nr. 78/2018 (mútur) og Héraðsdómi Norðurlands eystra 12. nóvember 2015 í máli nr. S-93/2015 (lögreglumaður). Er síðara málið fordæmalaust og einstakt þegar kemur að framgöngu lögreglu við framkvæmd lögreglustarfa sökum grófleika.

Þá skal tekið fram að leiðbeiningaskylda stjórnvalda, sem meðal annars er mælt fyrir í 7. gr. ssl., hefur sérstaka þýðingu þegar um ræðir meðferð sakamáls. Leiðbeiningar taka að jafnaði til hvaða réttarreglur gilda, hvernig málsferð skuli hagað, hvaða gögn aðila máls beri að leggja fram og fyrirhugaðs málsmeðferðartíma. Í sakamálaréttarfari eru það einkum ákvæði sml. sem hafa að geyma sérákvæði um leiðbeiningarskyldu, bæði gagnvart brotaþola og sakborningi. Leiðbeiningar er lúta að réttindum sakbornings vega þungt þar sem um ræðir reglur sem kunna að varða réttláta málsmeðferð og njóta verndar stjskr., sbr. 70. gr., og alþjóðlegra mannréttindasáttmála, sbr. t.d. 6. mgr. MSE. Þá hafa sérlög einnig að geyma fyrirmæli um leiðbeiningar er tengjast sakamálum, t.d. 18. gr. laga um greiðslu ríkissjóðs á bótum til þolenda afbrota nr. 69/1995.

Loks má nefna að á liðnum árum hefur aukin áhersla verið á þolendamiðaða löggæslu (e. victim-oriented policing), þar sem aukin áhersla er á aðstoð og þjónustu við brotaþola.[15] Er það í samræmi við þær breytingar sem orðið hafa á viðhorfi fólks víða um heim og hér á landi til ofbeldis og þá ekki síst þegar um ræðir ofbeldi í nánum samböndum eða heimilisofbeldi og færum leiðum til að veita þolendum þess sem mesta réttarvernd. Af því tilefni setti ríkislögreglustjóri t.d. sérstakar verklagsreglur um skráningu og meðferð heimilisofbeldismála árið 2005. Frá þeim tíma hafa reglurnar verið uppfærðar nokkrum sinnum og í dag gilda reglur um efnið frá árinu 2018, sbr. núgildandi verklagsreglur um meðferð og skráningu heimilisofbeldismála.

Segja má að þær breytingar sem gerðar voru á 218. gr. a. hgl. með lögum nr. 83/2005 um bann við limlestingu á kynfærum kvenna hafi, að einhverju leyti, markað upphaf breytinga á íslenskri refsilöggjöf um aukna vernd þolenda.[16] Þá voru enn fremur gerðar breytingar á nokkrum ákvæðum hgl. með lögum nr. 27/2006 en horfið frá því að lögfesta sérstakt ákvæði um heimilisofbeldi.[17] Gerðar voru einnig breytingar á refsiákvæðum barnaverndarlaga nr. 80/2002 með lögum nr. 52/2009.[18] Breytingarnar höfðu meðal annars að markmiði að tiltaka með skýrum hætti að líkamlegar og andlegar refsingar gagnvart börnum eru óheimilar og refsivert athæfi. Tók frumvarpið bæði til ofbeldis af hálfu foreldra eða forsjármanna og einnig af hálfu annarra umsjáraðila. Þá höfðu lög um nálgunarbann og brottvísun af heimili nr. 85/2011 meðal annars þann tilgang að berjast gegn kynbundnu ofbeldi með lögfestingu hinnar svonefndu austurrísku leiðar þannig að ofbeldismenn yrðu fjarlægðir af heimilum sínum.[19] Enn frekari breytingar voru svo gerðar á ákvæðum hgl. með lögum nr. 23/2016 þegar lögfest var meðal annars nýtt ákvæði um heimilisofbeldi.[20] Um var að ræða innleiðingu á samningi Evrópuráðsins um forvarnir og baráttu gegn ofbeldi gegn konum og heimilisofbeldi (Istanbúl-samningurinn), þar sem heimilisofbeldi ætti við um öll líkamleg, kynferðisleg, andleg eða fjárhagsleg brot sem ættu sér stað innan fjölskyldunnar og heimiliseiningar eða á milli fyrrverandi og núverandi maka eða sambúðarmaka, hvort sem gerandi deildi eða deildi ekki eða hefði deilt húsnæði með þolanda. Einnig má benda á nýlegar breytingar á hgl. með lögum nr. 5/2021 um umsáturseinelti, sbr. setningu 232. gr. a. laganna,[21] og frumvarp til laga um breytingu á hgl. um kynferðislega friðhelgi, sbr. lög nr. 8/2021,[22] eru í sama anda og hér hefur verið fjallað um, þ.e. að auka refsivernd meðal annars í nánum samböndum og/eða milli einstaklinga sem tengjast.

2.5 Vernd eignarréttar

Í fimmta lagi fellur undir öryggishlutverk lögreglu að tryggja vernd eignarréttar. Um friðhelgi eignarréttar er mælt fyrir í 72. gr. stjskr., sbr. einnig 1. gr. 1. viðauka MSE. Í þrengri merkingu tekur eignarrétturinn til hins almenna umráða- og ráðstöfunarréttar yfir hlut og réttinda sem alla jafna teljast til fjárhagslegra réttinda.[23] Í víðtækari merkingu tekur eignarrétturinn þó til hvers kyns eignarréttinda, jafnt beinna sem óbeinna. Þá hefur verið talið að eignarrétturinn sé aðallega einkaréttarlegs eðlis en geti einnig verið allsherjarréttarlegs.[24]

Til beinna eignarréttinda teljast t.d. umráðaréttur, hagnýtingarréttur, ráðstöfunarréttur og skuldsetningaréttur yfir fasteignum og ýmsum lausafjármunum.[25] Til óbeinna eignarréttinda teljast veðréttur, afnotaréttur, haldsréttur og/eða önnur réttindi sem ætlað er að tryggja rétt þriðja manns.[26] Þá njóta réttindi eins og kröfuréttindi og réttindi til hugverka og auðkenna einnig réttarverndar.[27] Loks má nefna eignir sem ekki hafa beint fjárhagslegt gildi, svo sem minjar og réttindi sem ekki verða metin til fjár.

Eignarrétti er meðal annars veitt refsivernd XXVI.og XXVII. kafla hgl. þar sem fjallað er um auðgunarbrot og brot er varða ýmis fjárréttindi, en ákvæðin taka hvoru tveggja til beinna og óbeinna eignarréttinda, allt í senn töku eigna, hagnýtingu eigna, eyðileggingu og sviptingu þeirra. Að auki má nefna að XIX. kafla hgl. um ýmis brot á hagsmunum almennings er minnismerkjum og náttúruminjum veitt refsivernd, auk sérrefsilaga.

Aðkoma lögreglu að vernd eignarréttinda getur lotið að ýmsum þáttum. Nefna má rannsókn sakamáls á grundvelli sml., en hluti af þeirri málsmeðferð er að hafa uppi á munum sem aflað hefur verið með refsiverðum hætti og leggja á þá hald og koma í hendur réttmæts eiganda. Þá má nefna að leggja sýslumanni atbeina við aðfarargerð á grundvelli 3. mgr. 24. gr., 29.-31. gr. og 75. gr. laga um aðför nr. 90/1989 en slíkt fellur jafnframt undir aðstoðarhlutverk lögreglu samkvæmt e-lið 2. mgr. 1. gr. lögrl. Nefna má enn fremur að eitt af hlutverkum almannavarna samkvæmt 2. mgr. 1. gr. laga nr. 82/2008 er að takmarka eða koma í veg fyrir að eignir verði fyrir tjóni af völdum náttúruhamfara eða af mannavöldum, farsótta eða hernaðaraðgerða eða af öðrum ástæðum. Loks má nefna að samkvæmt 3. mgr. 24. gr. laga um menningarminjar nr. 80/2012 er Minjastofnun heimilt að leita atbeina lögreglu til þess að tryggja að fornminjar verði ekki fyrir skaða vegna framkvæmda,

2.6 Vernd opinberra hagsmuna

Í sjötta lagi hefur lögregla það hlutverk að vernda opinbera hagsmuni. Slíkir hagsmunir eru almannahagsmunir og/eða þeir hagsmunir sem beinast að samfélaginu og eru hagsmunir allra. Slíkir hagmunir geta meðal annars lotið að fólki, heilbrigði og velferð þess, umhverfi og náttúru, þar af náttúruauðlindum, atvinnustarfsemi og velferð dýra.

Nokkuð skýrt verndarandlag slíkra hagsmuna eru þeir hagsmunir sem tilgreindir eru í 2. mgr. 1. gr. laga nr. 82/2008 og tengjast almannavörnum. Þá kunna lagaskilyrði fyrir aðgerðum í þágu rannsóknar sakamáls að áskilja almannahagsmuni svo unnt sé að beita viðkomandi úrræði. Gildir þetta um símahlustun eða önnur sambærileg úrræði, sbr. 2. mgr. 83. gr. sml., og um beitingu gæsluvarðhalds þegar hin almennu skilyrði þess eru ekki fyrir hendi og sterkur grunur leikur á að sakborningur hafi framið afbrot sem að lögum getur varðað 10 ára fangelsi, enda sé brotið þess eðlis að ætla megi varðhald nauðsynlegt, sbr. 2. mgr. 95. gr. sml. Þá kunna sjónarmið vegna ríkra réttarhagsmuna að vega þyngra en einstaklingshagsmunir þegar gagna er aflað við rannsókn máls. Nefna má eftirfarandi dóm því til skýringar.

Hrd. 15. febrúar 2006 í máli nr. 59/2006 (bankareikningar lögmannsstofu)

Staðfestur var úrskurður héraðsdóms sem gerði bankastofnuninni L skylt að afhenda R afrit nánar tilgreindra skjala varðandi tilteknar færslur á bankareikningum í eigu tveggja nafngreindra manna. Í úrskurði Héraðsdóms Reykjavíkur, sem staðfestur var með dómi Hæstaréttar, segir meðal annars: „Samkvæmt 66. gr. og 67. gr. laga um meðferð opinberra mála, nr. 19/1991, er rannsókn opinberra mála í höndum lögreglu nema á annan hátt sé mælt í lögum. Markmið rannsóknar er að afla allra nauðsynlegra gagna til að ákæranda sé fært að ákveða að henni lokinni hvort sækja skuli mann til sakar, svo og að afla gagna til undirbúnings málsmeðferðar. Þau gögn og upplýsingar sem hér er krafist að veitt verði lögreglu eru að þessu leyti nauðsynleg fyrir rannsókn málsins. Samkvæmt 58. gr. laga um fjármálafyrirtæki nr. 161/2002, hvílir þagnarskylda á stjórnarmönnum fjármálafyrirtækja, framkvæmdastjórum, endurskoðendum, starfsmönnum og hverjum þeim sem taka að sér verk í þágu fyrirtækisins um allt sem varðar viðskipta- eða einkamálefni viðskiptamanna þess, nema skylt sé að veita upplýsingar samkvæmt lögum. Ákvæði þessu er þó ekki ætlað, frekar en öðrum sambærilegum ákvæðum, að ganga framar þeim ríku réttarhagsmunum sem lúta að því að unnt sé að rannsaka mál og afla sakargagna í samræmi við áðurgreind markmið rannsókna.“

Telja verður að með skírskotun til ríkra réttarhagsmuna í þessu sambandi sé vísað til þeirra almannahagsmuna að upplýsa um refsiverða háttsemi.

2.7 Vernd lögmætrar starfsemi

Í sjöunda lagi tekur öryggishlutverkið til verndar lögmætrar starfsemi. Mælikvarðinn um lögmæta starfsemi skírskotar til háttsemi sem er lögleg, ekki er bönnuð og nýtur réttarverndar. Dæmi um slíka starfsemi eru atvinnustarfsemi og starfsemi félaga, auk ýmissa athafna eins og tjáningar- og fundafrelsis. Framangreind starfsemi og athafnir njóta ríkrar réttarverndar, t.d. af stjskr., alþjóðlegum mannréttindasáttmálum og almennum lögum.

Almennt nýtur ólögleg starfsemi ekki réttarverndar, t.d. fíkniefnaviðskipti, viðskipti með þýfi eða starfsemi samtaka sem hafa ólöglegan tilgang, t.d. skipuleg brotasamtök samkvæmt 175. gr. a. hgl. Á stundum getur reynt á markatilvik þess hvort starfsemi njóti réttarverndar eða ekki. Niðurstaða sú sem varð í Hrd. 25. febrúar 2016 í máli nr. 832/2014 (auglýsing um kynlífsþjónustu) er nokkuð skýrt dæmi um slíkt markatilvik þar sem dómstólar komust að þeirri niðurstöðu að vændi, sem í eðli sínu er refsiverð og ólögleg starfsemi, nyti refsiverndar ákvæðis 248. gr. hgl. og það breytti engu um sakfellingu þótt brotaþoli kynni með háttsemi sinni að hafa brotið gegn 206. gr. hgl. með kaupum á kynlífsþjónustu.

Ýmsar skorður má setja starfsemi og athöfnum sem njóta ríkrar réttarverndar. Í réttarframkvæmd eru dæmi þar sem reynt hefur á lögmæti atvinnustarfsemi sem nýtur verndar 75. gr. stjskr. t.d. til þess að vernda allsherjarreglu, sbr. t.d. Hrd. 20. febrúar 2003 í máli nr. 542/2002 (nektardans) sem áður hefur verið fjallað um.

Þá má nefna ýmsar lagaheimildir sem skerða tjáningarfrelsið sem nýtur verndar 73. gr. stjskr., en slík skerðing verður að standast 3. mgr. sama ákvæðis. Nefna má hvatningu til refsiverðrar háttsemi, meiðyrðalöggjöf, áfengislöggjöf, tóbaksvarnarlöggjöf og þegar tjáning brýtur í bága við allsherjarreglu, sbr. t.d. niðurstöður í Hrd. 28. maí 2015 í málum nr. 812/2014 til 820/2014 (Gálgahraun I) er þegar hefur verið fjallað um.

Nefna má fundafrelsi samkvæmt 3. mgr. 74. gr. sem heimilt er að skerða, t.d. til verndar annars konar réttindum, sbr. t.d. Lrd. 27. nóvember 2020 í máli nr. 336/2019 (loftfar) og Hrd. 1999, bls. 3386 (65/1999) (Good Morning America) en um hinn síðari dóm hefur þegar verið fjallað.

Lrd. 27. nóvember 2020 í máli nr. 336/2019 (loftfar)

J og R voru gefin að sök brot gegn hgl. og lögum nr. 60/1998 um loftferðir með því að hafa um borð í tiltekinni flugvél reynt að tálma því að lögreglumenn framfylgdu ákvörðun Útlendingastofnunar um endursendingu A frá Íslandi til Svíþjóðar. Í dómi Landsréttar var ekki fallist á með J og R að háttsemi þeirra hefði verið refsilaus á grundvelli neyðarréttar og hjálpar í lífsháska, sbr. 13. gr. og 221. gr. hgl. J og R byggðu einnig á stjórnarskrárbundnu tjáningar- og fundafrelsi sínu, sbr. 1. mgr. 73. gr. og 3. mgr.   74. gr. stjskr. Talið var að þau mótmæli sem fólust í háttsemi J og R teldust ótvírætt til tjáningar í skilningi 73. gr. stjskr. Af því leiddi að réttur þeirra til að hafa uppi slík mótmæli yrði aðeins takmarkaður eftir þeim skilyrðum sem greinir í 3. mgr. greinarinnar. Talið var sannað að J og R hefðu með háttsemi sinni brotið gegn 2. mgr. 106. gr., sbr. 20. gr., hgl. og 3. mgr. 42. gr., sbr. 141. gr. laga nr. 60/1998. Við mat á því hvort sakfelling J og R uppfyllti skilyrði 3. mgr. 73. gr. stjskr. var rakið að sakfelling fyrir háttsemi J og R ætti sér ótvírætt stoð í lögum, þ.e. í fyrrnefndum lagaákvæðum, auk þess sem þær takmarkanir sem í ákvæðunum fælust teldust vera í þágu lögmætra markmiða. Við mat á því hvort sakfelling uppfyllti það skilyrði að teljast nauðsynleg og samrýmast lýðræðishefðum yrði að líta til þess að J og R hefði ekki verið bannað að mótmæla endursendingu A með öllum tiltækum og löglegum ráðum, heldur eingöngu að gera það í flugvélinni með þeim hætti sem þær gerðu. Var því talið að sakfelling uppfyllti öll skilyrði 73. gr., sbr. og 74. gr. stjskr. Á hinn bóginn yrði í ljósi stjórnarskrárákvæðanna að líta sérstaklega til þess við ákvörðun um refsingu að fyrir J og R hafi vakað að standa vörð um líf og heilsu A, sem þær álitu í hættu, og það hafi þær gert með því að nýta á friðsaman hátt stjórnarskrárvarinn rétt sinn til mótmæla þótt þær hafi í þessu tilviki gengið lengra en heimilt var. Að þessu virtu, því að J og R hefðu ekki hlotið refsingu áður, að verulegur dráttur hefði orðið á málinu og að því hefði verið hafnað að heimfæra háttsemi þeirra undir þau ákvæði í ákæru sem þyngstri refsingu vörðuðu var talið rétt að fresta ákvörðun refsingar J og R skilorðsbundið í tvö ár.

Þá nýtur fundafrelsið sérstakrar refsiverndar samkvæmt 122. gr. hgl. Slíkt fundafrelsi og/eða að fólk hópast saman af hendingu getur sætt ýmiss konar takmörkunum, svo sem vegna húsbruna eða umferðarslyss. Gilda þá lokanir lögreglu en samkvæmt 2. mgr. 15. gr. lögrl. er lögreglu meðal annars heimilt að loka svæðum til þess að tryggja allsherjarreglu. Loks má nefna lagaákvæði sem setja slíkum mannsöfnuði skorður, t.d. á grundvelli ákvæða í lögum um sóttvarnir nr. 19/1997 og einstaka lögreglusamþykktum.

 

3. Helstu ályktanir um öryggishlutverk lögreglu

Öryggishlutverk lögreglu er víðfeðmt líkt og gerð hefur verið grein fyrir. Það skiptist upp í nokkra hlutverkaþætti sem staðið geta sjálfstætt en tengjast einnig innbyrðis, auk þess sem einstaka hlutverkaþáttur getur tengst öðrum ákvæðum lögrl., öðrum lögum og sérstökum réttarsviðum. Af þeim sökum er vandmeðfarið að skýra einstaka hlutverkaþátt án samhengis.

Skil milli hlutverkaþátta geta með öðrum orðum verið óglögg, sbr. t.d. atvik í Hrd. 28. maí 2015 í málum nr. 812/2014 til 820/2014 (Gálgahraun I). Af þeim sökum þarf að skýra og túlka hlutverk lögreglu með hliðsjón af öðrum ákvæðum lögrl., einkum í III. kafla laganna um skyldu lögreglumanna og framkvæmd lögreglustarfa, sbr. t.d. álit umboðsmanns Alþingis í málum nr. 2824/1999 og 2836/1999 (hávaði). Þá er ekki einhlítt að einkaréttarlegur ágreiningur skeri úr um valdsvið lögreglu í því sambandi. Fátt eitt er því lögreglu óviðkomandi í þessu sambandi.

Loks getur reynst örðugt að skýra og túlka mismunandi aðgerðaheimildir lögreglu þegar aðgerðir eru þvingandi og halda þarf uppi lögum reglu þegar uppþot eða óreiðir eru fyrir hendi. Í  því sambandi getur verið nokkrum vandkvæðum bundið að greina á milli handtökuheimilda lögreglu samkvæmt 2. mgr. 90. gr. sml. og 16. gr. lögrl. þar sem fjölmenni hefur komið saman, sbr. t.d. Hrd. 1999, bls. 3386 (65/1999) (Good Morning America). Við þær aðstæður kann að þurfa að skýra hlutverk lögreglu sérstaklega, þar sem ákvæði 16. gr. lögrl. felur í sér sérstaka handtökuheimild lögreglu til að halda uppi lögum og reglu án þess að grunur sé uppi um ætlaða refsiverða háttsemi, t.d. vegna þess að maður hefur ærst á almannafæri. Ákvæði 2. mgr. 90. gr. sml. hefur aftur á móti að geyma nokkuð víðtæka handtökuheimild lögreglu á hendur hverjum þeim sem er nærstaddur og ástæða er til að gruna um ætlaða refsiverða háttsemi vegna uppþota eða fjölmennra óeirða sem brotist hafa út og hafa haft eða gætu haft í för með sér líkamsmeiðingar eða stórfelld eignaspjöll og ekki verður með vissu bent á hinn seka eða hina seku.

Heimildaskrá

Alþt. 2020-21, A-deild, þskj. 296 – 267. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingu á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19/1940 (kynferðisleg friðhelgi).

Alþt. 2020-21, A-deild, þskj. 133 – 132. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingu á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19/1940 (umsáturseinelti).

Alþt. 2015-16, A-deild, þskj. 547 – 401. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingu á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19/1940, með síðari breytingum (Samningur Evrópuráðsins um forvarnir og baráttu gegn ofbeldi gegn konum og heimilisofbeldi).

Alþt. 2010-11, A-deild, þskj. 1225 – 706. mál. Frumvarp til laga um nálgunarbann og brottvísun af heimili.

Alþt. 2008-09, A-deild, þskj. 19 – 19. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingu á barnaverndarlögum og barnalögum.

Alþt. 2005-06, A-deild, þskj. 419 – 365. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breyting á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19 12. febrúar 1940 (heimilisofbeldi).

Alþt. 2004-05, A-deild, þskj. 67 – 67. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingar á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19/1940, með síðari breytingum (bann við limlestingu á kynfærum kvenna).

Alþt. 1995-96, A-deild, þskj. 783 – 451. mál. Frumvarp til lögreglulaga.

Björg Thorarensen: Stjórnskipunarréttur – mannréttindi. 2. útgáfa. Bókaútgáfan Codex. Reykjavík 2019.

Braga, Anthony A. og Weisburd, David: Police Innovation Contrasting Perspectives Cambridge University Press. Second Edition. Cambridge 2019.

Charman, Sarah: Making Sense of Policing Identities: the ‘Deserving’ and the ‘Undeserving’ in Policing Accounts of Victimisation. Policing and Society An International Journal of Research and Policy, volume 30, 2020 – Issue 1.

Logi Kjartansson: Lögregluréttur – kennsluhandrit fyrir Lögregluskóla ríkisins. Lögregluskóli ríkisins. Reykjavík 2012.

Löggæsluáætlun fyrir árin 2019-2023. Dómsmálaráðuneytið, Reykjavík 2019, bls. 4-11.

Páll Hreinsson: Almennar efnisreglur stjórnsýsluréttarins. Fons juris. Reykjavík 2022).

Páll Hreinsson: Stjórnsýslulögin – skýringarrit. Forsætisráðuneytið. Reykjavík 1994.     

 Páll Hreinsson: Stjórnsýsluréttur – málsmeðferð. Bókaútgáfan Codex. Reykjavík 2013.  

Starfsskilyrði stjórnvalda. Skýrsla nefndar um starfsskilyrði stjórnvalda, eftirlit með starfsemi þeirra og viðurlögum við réttarbrotum í stjórnsýslu. Forsætisráðuneytið, Reykjavík 1999, bls. 18.

 Skýrsla þjóðaröryggisráðs um mat á ástandi og horfum í þjóðaröryggismálum. Stjórnarráð Íslands, þjóðarröryggisráð. Reykjavík, febrúar 2021.

Vefsíða ríkissaksóknara, www. rikissaksoknari.is.

Vefsíða Vísis, www.visir.is.

Þorgeir Örlygsson, Karl Axelsson og Víðir Smári Petersen: Eignarréttur I – almennur hluti. Fons juris útgáfa ehf. Reykjavík 2020.

Yfirlit dóma og álit

Dómar Hæstaréttar Íslands

Hrd. 28. maí 2015 í málum nr. 812/2014 til 820/2014

Hrd. 8. desember 2016 í málum nr. 100/2016 til 108/2016

Hrd. 25. febrúar 2016 í máli nr. 832/2014

Hrd. 19. febrúar 2015 í máli nr. 131/2015

Hrd. 11. desember 2014 í máli nr. 102/2014

Hrd. 17. október 2013 í máli nr. 191/2012

Hrd. 15. nóvember 2012 í máli nr. 60/2012

Hrd. 26. ágúst 2010 í máli nr. 507/2010

Hrd. 16. júní 2010 í máli nr. 224/2010

Hrd. 30. október 2008 í máli nr. 236/2008

Hrd. 15. febrúar 2006 í máli nr. 59/2006

Hrd. 20. febrúar 2003 í máli nr. 542/2002

Hrd. 1999, bls. 3386 (65/1999)

Hrd. 1994, bls. 813 (387/1993)

Hrd. 1985, bls. 883

Dómar Landsréttar

Lrd. 27. nóvember 2020 í máli nr. 336/2019

Lrd. 27. nóvember 2020 í máli nr. 135/2019

Lrd. 29. nóvember 2019 í máli nr. 220/2019

Lrd. 25. mars 2019 í máli nr. 182/2019

Lrd. 23. nóvember 2018 í máli nr. 78/2018

Dómar héraðsdóms

Héraðsdómur Norðurlands eystra 12. nóvember 2015 í máli nr. S-93/2015

Álit umboðsmanns Alþingis

Álit umboðsmanns Alþingis í málum nr. 2824/1999 og 2836/1999

 

Aftanmálsgreinar

[1] Skýrsla þjóðaröryggisráðs um mat á ástandi og horfum í þjóðaröryggismálum. Stjórnarráð Íslands, þjóðaröryggisráð, Reykjavík 202, bls. 46.

[2] Páll Hreinsson: Stjórnsýslulögin – skýringarrit. (Forsætisráðuneytið 1994), bls. 44.

[3] Páll Hreinsson: Stjórnsýsluréttur – málsmeðferð. (Bókaútgáfan Codex 2013), bls. 118-119.

[4] Logi Kjartansson: Lögregluréttur – kennsluhandrit fyrir Lögregluskóla ríkisins. (Lögregluskóli ríkisins 2012), bls. 4.

[5] Páll Hreinsson: Almennar efnisreglur stjórnsýsluréttarins. (Fons juris 2022), bls. 5-6.

[6] Alþt. 1995-96, A-deild, þskj. 783 – 451. mál. Frumvarp til lögreglulaga, VI. þáttur almennra athugsemda.

[7] Löggæsluáætlun fyrir árin 2019-2023. Dómsmálaráðuneytið, Reykjavík 2019, bls. 4-11.

[8] Braga, Anthony A. o.fl. Police Innovation Contrasting Perspectives. (Cambridge University Press 2019), bls. 12-19

[9] Alþt. 1995-96, A-deild, þskj. 783 – 451. mál. Frumvarp til lögreglulaga, athugasemdir við einstakar greinar frumvarpsins, um 2. gr.

[10] Alþt. 1995-96, A-deild, þskj. 783 – 451. mál. Frumvarp til lögreglulaga, athugasemdir við einstakar greinar frumvarpsins, um 2. gr.

[11] „Rannsókn ríkissaksóknara á atvikum í Hraunbæ 20“ (Ríkissaksóknari) https://www.rikissaksoknari.is/um-embaettid/frettir/nr/77, sótt 16. janúar 2022.

[12] Alþt. 1995-96, A-deild, þskj. 783 – 451. mál. Frumvarp til lögreglulaga, athugasemdir við einstakar greinar frumvarpsins, um 9. gr.

[13] „Umdeildir fánar á búningi lögregluþjóns vekja reiði“ (Vísir). https://www.visir.is/g/20202027469d, sótt 16. janúar 2022.

[14] Starfsskilyrði stjórnvalda. Skýrsla nefndar um starfsskilyrði stjórnvalda, eftirlit með starfsemi þeirra og viðurlögum við réttarbrotum í stjórnsýslu, bls. 66.

[15] Charman, Sarah: Making Sense of Policing Identities: the ‘Deserving’ and the ‘Undeserving’ in Policing Accounts of Victimisation (2020) Policing and Society An International Journal of Research and Policy, bls. 82.

[16] Alþt. 2004-05, A-deild, þskj. 67 – 67. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingar á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19/1940, með síðari breytingum (bann við limlestingu á kynfærum kvenna).

[17] Alþt. 2005-06, A-deild, þskj. 419 – 365. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breyting á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19 12. febrúar 1940 (heimilisofbeldi).

[18] Alþt. 2008-09, A-deild, þskj. 19 – 19. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingu á barnaverndarlögum og barnalögum.

[19] Alþt. 2010-11, A-deild, þskj. 1225 – 706. mál. Frumvarp til laga um nálgunarbann og brottvísun af heimili.

[20] Alþt. 2015-16, A-deild, þskj. 547 – 401. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingu á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19/1940, með síðari breytingum (Samningur Evrópuráðsins um forvarnir og baráttu gegn ofbeldi gegn konum og heimilisofbeldi).

[21] Alþt. 2020-21, A-deild, þskj. 133 – 132. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingu á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19/1940 (umsáturseinelti).

[22] Alþt. 2020-21, A-deild, þskj. 296 – 267. mál. Frumvarp til laga um breytingu á almennum hegningarlögum, nr. 19/1940 (kynferðisleg friðhelgi).

[23] Björg Thorarensen: Stjórnskipunarréttur – mannréttindi. (Bókaútgáfan Codex 2019), bls. 475-76.

[24] Björg Thorarensen: Stjórnskipunarréttur – mannréttindi, bls. 477-78.

[25] Þorgeir Örlygsson o.fl.: Eignarréttur I – almennur hluti (Fons juris útgáfa ehf. 2020), bls. 145-47.

[26] Þorgeir Örlygsson o.fl.: Eignarréttur I – almennur hluti, bls. 167-68.

[27] Björg Thorarensen: Stjórnskipunarréttur – mannréttindi, bls. 474-75.

Weaving a Journey: 19th-Century Iceland in an Italian Female Narrative

In his essay The Traveller’s Mind (La mente del viaggiatore, it.ed.) Eric J. Leed analyzes the western cultural model, which requires man to be mobile and woman to be static, in a consolidated mirroring of sexual identities (Leed 1992: 328); nonetheless, in the last part of his book the author considers that, in recent times, women moved “no longer constrained by those images of the mobile male and sedentary female” typical of the past (ibid: 335), and wishes for a greater interest in their travelogues.

Studies on female hodoeporics (Monga 1996: 6) are widespread nowadays, especially thanks to women scholars; however, the panorama of Italian women travelogue writers who “embarked with determination on a spatial and mental adventure traditionally denied to their sex” (Frediani et Al. 2012: 8) is still under investigation[1].

  1. Women’s travel writing: forgotten accounts

As a nation, Italy has a relatively recent history: it was unified only in 1861, after the turmoil of the Risorgimento. At the end of the century, aspiring to increase its position on the international scene, the new-born country was starting its colonial expansion; consequently, readers were developing a taste for adventure in exotic countries. An important representative of such narrative was Emilio Salgari (Verona, 1862 – Turin, 1911) who, even without an extensive travelling, built a remarkable repertoire by reworking the historical and geographical sources he found in libraries; his work is still well known and his books have involved, thrilled and educated not only his contemporaries, but many generations of Italians.

The literary production of Maria Savi Lopez (Naples, 1846? – 1940) met a different course and was almost completely forgotten. As an ante litteram ethnologist and a folklorist she mainly focused on the legends and traditions of the western Alps, albeit writing some travel books set in Northern Europe; her fascination for this area was affected both by her Romantic interest in folklore and history, and by her Positivist philosophical approach.

Nei Paesi del Nord (In Northern Countries, 1893) is a fictionalized account that deals with a journey to Iceland, a country very little known to Italians at the time: as evidence, in 1824 the renowned Romantic poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi had chosen an Icelander to represent the vain escape of man from Nature. In his Dialogo della natura e di un islandese (Dialogue of Nature and an Icelander) the protagonist embodies the author’s philosophy of cosmic pessimism: “[…] who likes or benefits from this very unhappy life of the Universe, preserved with damage and death of all the things that compose it?” (Leopardi 2003: 624).

  1. An unknown author…

Few biographical information exist about Savi Lopez, so it is not possible to say whether she actually visited Northern Europe or was, like Emilio Salgari, a voyageuse en fauteuil. I follow the considerations of historian Giovanni Levi, one of the pioneers in the field of microhistory who, in his essay about contemporary Greece I tempi della storia (The Times of History), reports an obvious, albeit far from trivial, observation: “The rich leave more documents than the poor, men than women, adults than children, and – evidently – the literate of the illiterate” (Levi, 2009: 43-44), thus underscoring how cultured people have more consistent means to be remembered and see their personal events set in history, while culturally disadvantaged categories are more easily forgotten. As a consequence, Levi argues for the need to go beyond the merely documentary level, and affirms that history is not only the result of a thorough analysis of documents, the conservation of which, albeit deceptively rich and sufficient, is often distorted and incomplete (ibid.: 45). According to him, “the historian’s use of brain and imagination is in fact proportionally inverse to the amount of traces available, the less we have, the more we must strive to understand, to interpret the fragments, to reconstruct. Scarce documentation warns us: documents are useful, but history must look at them with suspicion, always attentive to what left no trace, but nevertheless had relevance” (ibidem).

I have therefore tried to investigate Savi Lopez’s life, following the few existing traces, using both her works and the rare documents available, while interpreting, as Levi affirms, what left no trace in spite of its relevance.

Indeed, the biographical events of the author contrast with the hypothesis of a journey to Iceland: as a girl, Savi Lopez was forced to follow her father, who fled Bourbon political persecutions, from Naples to Turin; here she studied (privately, as no higher education was available for women at her time) and developed a strong interest in the folklore of Western Alps. Her marriage lasted only a few years: she soon became a widow with an eight-year-old son to look after. Back to Naples (then part of the reign of Italy) she earned her living as a teacher, as well as a reporter and a writer; as it was a habit among women writers at the time, her literary production was mainly addressed to the young generations and her aim was mainly educational. Albeit she cannot be considered a scholar, all her life she was a well-known expert in the field of Italian traditions and continued to collaborate with outstanding academics: among them, Angelo de Gubernatis, Professor of Sanskrit in Florence, and Giuseppe Pitré, the founder of Italian folklore. Last, but not least, she was on friendly terms with important Italian writers, such as Giosuè Carducci and Antonio Fogazzaro,

  1. … a traveller or a voyageuse en fauteuil ?

At Savi Lopez’s times reaching Iceland was neither easy nor customary[2]: communication took place by sea, usually to and from Scotland and Denmark, and concerned mostly trade and fishing; besides, scientific interest was more oriented to the surrounding ocean (notably, the “North-West passage” that might connect northern Europe and America) than to the forlorn island in the far north. Nonetheless several scholars, interested in its weird landscapes and geological nature, had reached it; among them, the Swedish scientist Uno von Troil, who in 1772 embarked to observe the active Hekla volcano and the famous Geyser, which soon gave its name to all other geysers worldwide[3]; and Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, more interested in Icelandic history, who tried to explain “the causes that so spectacularly changed the character of this ‘distinct and peculiar race of people’, from a nation producing the great medieval saga literature to the apathetic and feeble people he found in 1810” (Agnarsdóttir, 2010: 235). Among these early travellers, only one woman: Ida Pfeiffer, an Austrian self-taught scholar who visited Iceland in 1845 for a few months. Pfeiffer explored both the geological and the botanical field, and in 1846, once back in Vienna, published Nordlandfahrt: Eine Reise nach Skandinavien und Island im Jahre 1845 (A visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North in 1845).

Even if Savi Lopez can be situated among the few Italian women travel writers of her time, it is quite unimaginable that this middle-class woman, a mother and a teacher, could afford expensive trips abroad or long absences from Italy. Last, but not least, her book was first published in 1893, when Iceland was not yet known as an international tourist destination – the first cruise from Hamburg took place in 1905[4].

Savi Lopez was always very scrupulous in verifying her sources, as her works about Alpine folklore prove; therefore, she may have read the books of the first visitors, especially Pfeiffer’s report, with its sound scientific accuracy and wide amount of details. Besides, most of her information were certainly sourced from the encyclopaedias of the time, that contain the legends, historical topics and scientific information she reports: among these, the Manual of Natural History of Blumenbach, translated into Italian in 1826, and the Annals universal statistics, published in Milan in 1832, as for scientific information; the Literary and Artistic Scientific Museum published in Turin in 1846, dealing with sagas and folklore; the Universal ancient and modern biography (Venice, 1828), that reported legendary characters; Danish Greenland – Its People and Its Products, written by Dr. Hinrich Rink in 1877, regarding the Inuit people. Last, but not least, the well-known review “L’illustrazione italiana” (Italian Illustration) had published some impressive photos of the Hekla volcano 1878 eruption.

  1. The characters: interweaving relationships

Savi Lopez gives voice to her characters, a heterogeneous group composed of few men, a woman, and three young teenagers, to develop the narrative discourse. The comfortable living room of an English castle (an exotic setting in the eyes of 19th century Italian readers) frames the opening of the book. Here, the readers meet the protagonists: Lord Holland, the owner of the mansion and the organizer of this journey, eagerly waiting for the arrival of the steamer Vittoria that, after a brief stop in Denmark, will sail to Iceland. On board, besides Captain Fowl (the Lord’s trustworthy old friend), will sail his two teenage children, Rolf and Amy; Sir James, another good friend of the Lord’s, and his young daughter Silvia; eventually, miss Margaret, Amy’s governess.

All these characters are mostly masks, perfectly recognizable to the readers, reliable in their narratives, credible in their statements, without psychological implications: once outlined, they act as intermediaries, lending the readers their concrete, sensory perception and driving their cognitive re-elaboration. Therefore, in the reassuring context of the steamer, in company of these conventional characters, the narrative can concentrate on the unknown exotic destination.

The protagonists are sketched in different ways; female figures respect the gender(ed) stereotypes of the time: the two young girls, (the first English, the second of an Italian mother), are physically contrasting and, while young Amy is “beautiful and blonde, like her brother, who could be thirteen” (Savi Lopez 1920:2), Silvia, Amy’s friend, is “beautiful and dark […] taller and stronger […] seeing her, one would say she was born in some distant southern land”(ibid.:4); though her Italian origin (already obvious in her aspect) is revealed later, her sturdy aspect implicitly contrasts to a certain weakness and fragility in Amy, and Silvia assumes a reassuring role to her younger friend. The third female figure, the governess Miss Margaret, is “tall and dry, with pale blond hair, long teeth, very pale blue eyes with no expression”(ibid.:8): she represents the typical English spinster, an unattractive figure, but certainly suitable for her role and dutifully attached to young Amy.

On the contrary, male characters are never depicted, so encouraging the readers to build their own images, based either on the characters’ own statements, or on the qualities and skills they show during the journey.

The Captain is introduced by Lord Holland: “An old sea dog […] accustomed to guiding his ship with great skill in the midst of dangers”(ibid.:10); an emotional Lord recommends his children to him: “[…] you are boarding the joy, the glory, the hope of my old home”(ibid.:13), he says before the steamer sets off.

Sir James, Silvia’s father, is characterized by his knowledge, and the assertive tone of his own words.

Young Rolfe, Amy’s brother, proves to be a curious boy, eager to challenge unknown experiences. As for the Swedish scientist Franz, welcomed on board after his shipwreck, the author merely informs that both he and his son are provided with dry clothes by Sir James and Rolfe.

The characters show their diverse relationships according to the canons of the time: men are characterized by frank, cordial comradeship, and mutual esteem; all the children show deference, respect, and unconditional trust towards the adults[5]. The two girls’ interest is a continuous stimulus to men’s explanations; sensitivity is almost exclusively entrusted to them, as well as irrational fears and homesickness; Rolfe often shows his impatience and curiosity, but also some general knowledge; all the children are thoroughly aware of the importance of their journey and do their best to make the most of it, composing their herbaria with Icelandic species during their trips inland. Eventually the governess, the only adult woman in this microcosm – literally embarked on an adventure that she would have gladly avoided – decently bears all her female anxieties and stands apart, silently aware of her subordinate role both by gender and by social status; she seldom shares her limited knowledge with the group.

The narrative content undergoes a fixed division: the Captain, an experienced traveller, describes competently the environment, and reports some of his sailing memories, as well as stories learned from other seamen; moreover, his thorough knowledge of Northern folklore and traditions allows him to narrate Scandinavian legends. Sir James, instead, is meant to deepen some cultural and artistic aspects, in few cases supported by Miss Margaret. Dr. Franz is mostly entrusted with the geological description of Iceland. Eventually, Rolfe sometimes acts as a sort of cultural mediator, turning this wide range of information into a simplified language for the two girls, indirectly facilitating also non-specialist readers at home.

While the ship’s crew is completely ignored and the Icelandic guides remain anonymous, few subsidiary characters confirm the reliability of the narrative: the first one is the Scottish girl in Bornholm, who survived her family after a sinking and was adopted by a generous Swedish family; her moving story involve both the travellers and the readers, who partake in her tragic destiny. An Icelandic shepherd hosts the group during their trip to the mountains and witnesses his love for his home country, where he chose to settle back after living abroad. Eventually, the Akureyri host tells the visitors about superstitions and myths still widespread in Iceland.

  1. An educational itinerary

The educational aim of this expedition is made clear by Lord Holland’s words to his children: “You know well that since last year I wanted to take you on a suitable educational journey”(ibid.:2); the destination he chose is “that island that appears abandoned by God”(ibid.:7), as Sir James defines it.

The narrative follows the itinerary, leading the readers through an unknown path, rich in cultural destinations as well as weird natural events, constantly interwoven, as it is shown in the following summary.

Sailing from the English Channel across the North Sea and along the dunes of the Jutland peninsula, an amazing experience is immediately offered the party: a typical Nordic sunset, characterized by a “bizarre feast of light, a fantastic dance of colours“(ibid.:22) that leaves the travellers “an unforgettable impression”(ibidem).

The day after, in a general excitement, the steamer reaches Copenhagen: “soon everyone arrived in the beautiful city, that is rightly called ‘cheerful’ by its inhabitants”(ibid.:41).  This visit lasts only one day, then the tourists visit Roskilde, the ancient capital, by train; once back on board, a bad turn in the weather keeps the steamer offshore before resuming its journey to Bornholm; this unexpected stopover gives the Captain the opportunity to tell several shipwrecks that occurred in that area, as well as episodes of the historical conflicts between Sweden and Denmark.

In Bornholm the group meets a Scottish girl, adopted by a local family after a shipwreck, an outstanding example of solidarity among the poor offered to the readers. Then, after reversing the course, the Vittoria heads out to the open sea and, on their way to the Faroe Islands, passengers experience the vision of mirages. A new, remarkable sight awaits them around the archipelago: icebergs appear, both fascinating and threatening at the same time.

The Captain gives some information about these islands and their inhabitants, then the group visits Tórshavn; here the narrative highlights the bleak landscape and the persistent bad smell of fish, dried along the streets.

The monotonous sailing in the open ocean is enlivened with the narration of legends, until the ship faces a storm, and everyone has to stay below deck; at night the survivors of a Norwegian vessel, shipwrecked on its way back from Iceland, are rescued; among them, the Swedish scientist Franz Nikold with his young son.

During the last part of the sailing to Iceland the Captain tells some anecdotes about Greenland and the Greenlanders, called in the book “Eskimos”; later, it is the Swedish scientist’s turn to narrate his terrible shipwreck, while sharing his sincere enthusiasm for the “island of fire and ice”(ibid.:151).

When the travellers finally arrive on sight of the coast and Sir James describes its characteristics his daughter Silvia shows her excitement, while Miss Margaret is disappointed because of the grey, monotonous landscape. After the puffins on the Vestmannaeyjar the image of Reykjavík appears: just a small city, almost devoid of any cultural interest, warns the Captain.

Once landed, the group reaches an emporium, where they meet some natives; on the main square, they notice Thorvaldsen’s monument, while in the streets they can see the typical Icelandic horses. The tour ends with a visit to the Cathedral and the Parliament, the only outstanding buildings in the city.

The excursions into nature are more interesting: at the “hot water springs”(ibid.:196) the party observes women cooking and washing clothes in the open air. A horseback ride takes the group to

Þingvellir, where the first Parliament in history had met since 930. During this excursion, the absolute lack of inns forces the travellers to share a shepherd’s shelter: quite surprisingly, the man had travelled abroad to several European countries, but he eventually preferred to return and live in his homeland. He is happy to answer their questions about the winter on the island and tell them about the Hekla volcano.

The following day the group visit the geysers: here they meet some Icelanders that, already used to welcoming the few English tourists, gather to sell such “souvenirs” like typical wood and bone handicrafts, as well as hats and woollen gloves.

The Captain has to juggle icebergs on the way to the last destination, Akureyri; the town is pretty, with small houses and flowers on the windowsills, but unfortunately the stench of fish hanging to dry spoils the air everywhere. An invitation to lunch allows the visitors to meet a local family and hear the description of the long, gloomy Arctic night from the very voice of the natives. Here, in this extreme northern spot, the group can observe the midnight sun and witness the killing of a white bear, which had just attacked some men.

On their way back seals and whales are often spotted from the deck of the ship. Back in Reykjavík, passengers are pleasantly surprised to find Lord Holland, who decided to join them despite his health problems. All together they joyfully return to England, and the narration ends with Silvia’s meaningful comment: albeit satisfied with the experience, she remembers her Italian homeland, “more beautiful, more cheerful than any northern country!”(ibid.:230).

  1. A tightly woven narrative fabric

Savi Lopez’s narrative relies on a wealth of information combined into different threads, according to a precise hierarchical order, and mostly reported by her characters.

Weaving a widely different range of information in a tight plot, alternating legends and historical topics, interposing scientific elements to memories, comparing events and actual experiences she creates a narrative fabric, varied and compact at the same time, where her educational and documentary purposes remain hidden in the foreground of an adventurous journey.

The author means to characterize the Icelandic environment as exhaustively as possible: above all she ranges from folk stories about trolls and giants to the Sagas about real or imagined ancestors, often containing supernatural elements; then, she deals with historical events, as well as accounts about the island’s social organization and politics, with regards to its contacts with the rest of Europe; she also sources information from mythology, thus explaining the origins of both natural phenomena and religious habits. The author is also accurate in describing the natural environment, the geological structure, and the climate of this exotic island. Whenever it is possible, she lets her travellers observe and filter the topics through their actual experience.

To emphasize the sense of extraneity with the destination – an exotic place totally new to her Italian readers, reached only after a long, dangerous, and demanding sailing – the author widens the gap between the text and her readers choosing a castle on the English coast as the starting point to this adventure; this gap is furtherly reinforced by the protagonists, who are not Italians but English travellers.

As a balance to this estrangement, Savi Lopez provides a reassuring and familiar microcosm: the steamship Vittoria, where the group always returns after their excursions, a steady scene where the narrative develops through their conversations.

The somewhat heterogeneous distribution of the chapters clearly shows a hierarchical order of the content: Iceland occupies five chapters, and five more ones, set on board the steamer during navigation, explain a vast range of cultural phenomena: from sagas to popular legends, to the Arctic physical and geological phenomena. The remaining four chapters break this interwoven structure, offering a descriptive frame: the first sets the narrative scene, another one describes the Faroe Islands, and two are dedicated to Denmark and Copenhagen.

The author assumes a heterodiegetic and omniscient role to provide information, often quoting “our travellers” as spokespersons, creating a complicity among the three parties in her work: herself, the characters, and her readers[6]. These travellers often share her omniscient role, talking about a variety of topics (from legends to history, from botany to the physical phenomena of the Arctic); in this realistic environment her audience of non-specialist readers is encouraged to identify and feel involved, both emotionally and rationally.

  1. Thread 1: Folklore and legends

Savi Lopez’s first narrative thread covers her main interests: myths and popular legends, mixed to historical subjects, are developed since the very start of the journey and all along the navigation. This subject is mainly let to the Captain and Sir James, who often take turns in the dialogues: while sailing towards Denmark the first hints at “the old times”(ibid.:59) when “on Christmas Day King Klinte-Konge [received] many gifts at the Stevnsklint reef, where he was believed to be living”(ibidem) near the coasts of Denmark. Gifts to the temple of Odin were also brought in the village of Lejre. Sir James follows, describing the Valhalla and the privileges of glorious dead warriors.

While the steamer heads to Iceland, among the mists of the North Sea, the Captain narrates the legend of Great Father Ocean’s palace, destroyed by Christopher Columbus when “he crossed the old borders of the world”(ibid.:118), thus eliminating ancient beliefs; however, some old stories survive, like the ones about legendary female figures living almost everywhere in marine waters: the Mediterranean Sirens are known as Mary Morgan in the English Channel and in Brittany, and are called Mermaids in the Baltic Sea, in the North Sea and in the Atlantic Ocean. He also reports the story of Perlina, King of North Sea’s daughter, that he had heard from other sailors: she used to live on the mainland for some years as the guest of a couple of sovereigns until, returning to the beach, yielded to the call of her fellow creatures and, taken by nostalgia, she swam back into the abyss.

During their stay in Reykjavík the group returns to the steamer every night and here the conversations sit between legend and history: the Captain maintains Sagas act as a system that preserves culture, both oral and written, providing “many memories of these nations”(ibid.:173). Saga herself was in fact personified: “In the ancient epic songs of the old Edda it was said that goddess Saga was sitting night and day next to god Odin, the inventor of poetry and, like him, she used to drink from a golden cup, drawing water in the great river that represented history; therefore, we understand that, according to the concept of the peoples of the North, poetry and tales must find their position in history”(ibid.:174).

The narrative proceeds with Sir James developing the topic introduced by the Captain: he describes first the figure of the skalds, the Icelandic singers, then the old and the new Edda, with its cosmogony based on the Giants, the first inhabitants of the world, still alive in the Icelanders’ imagination; of which the legend of the Stone Woman, a huge stone located between Breiðafjörður bay and Faxaflói Bay, stands as an appropriate example.

Few guides and a shepherd during the trip inland witness popular beliefs; the shepherd describes the fickle and evil trolls and witches, including the fearsome hundred-headed Gryla. These good and bad spirits still play important roles in the natives’ difficult daily life.

Superstitions about the weird characters who populate the island are confirmed by the Akureyri’s host: during the long and boring winter nights people tell how “the giants of the cold season, also called Trolls, according to popular beliefs jealously guard immense riches; they command a whole people of miserable castaways who, according to our rough neighbours in Greenland, have their noses cut off; they own herds of whales, seals, polar bears; and when they sit on enormous icebergs, wearing a shimmering mantle of ice upon their shoulders and a crown of diamonds on their long white hair, there is no king of the earth who can equal them in grandeur and majesty”(ibid.:225).

  1. Thread 2: Tales of kings and pirates

The three teenagers traveling north represent the ideal audience for some historical episodes of the countries visited; here, more than focusing on accuracy, the narrative concentrates on the characters’ relational and emotional aspects.

While sailing towards Denmark the Captain talks about wars between the Danes and the Swedes; the story of the city of Viborg and the adventures of King Erik are instead entrusted to the voice of Miss Margaret. During the excursion to Roskilde, the ancient capital of Denmark, Sir James illustrates some historical events: first the victory of Valdemar in Estonia and his return from that land, laden with riches; then, the Danes’ fights against pirates, and their freeing of Christian slaves. Sir James also tells about Queen Margaret, a sort of ante-litteram feminist, who defeated and humiliated her cousin Albert of Mecklenburg. He had advised her to sew, instead of competing with men for power; in response, the queen defeated him and “commanded him to be brought before her in feminine clothes, wearing a madman cap, with a tail long 19 arms […] because he had said that he would wear the crown only when Margaret would have been his prisoner »(ibid.:57).

The visit to Bornholm in search of a “Nordic Museum of antiquities”(ibid.:66) unfortunately shows just a ” dunghill of ancient peoples”(ibidem), a rather chaotic heap of weapons, tools, and ornaments in stone and bronze, says the Captain. Once ashore, the party observes the runes and Sir James provides explanations about menhirs, or dolmens, like the English stonefenge[7].It is again the Captain to tell the story of Egill, the pirate who resided on the island in King Canute’s times: this king was undoubtedly “the greatest king in the North”(ibid.:70), as he “conquered England”(ibidem).

On the way back along the Jutland, the Captain reports the story of Vejle, first seat of King Gorm the Elder, and later of Christian II; Sir James follows, to deepen the character of Gorm the Great. Eventually it is the governess, Miss Margaret, who describes a female figure: Queen Thyra, wife of Gorm the Great, who was committed to spreading Christianity. Then the Captain describes Ahrus, the most important city of Jutland, and tells the story of Gustav Väsa’s imprisonment on the island of Kallö. A new story told by the Captain deals again with a pirate, Palnatoke, enemy of King Harald Blatand, son of Queen Thyra.

In Cronborg fortress’s basements, built in 1585 to resist the Swedes, legend has that Ogier the Dane, knight of Charlemagne, lays still asleep; this fortification resisted 1659 siege by Charles X of Sweden and also this story is told by two voices, Sir James’s and the Captain’s.

Finally, young Rolfe is entrusted with the narration of a recent historical event: the 1801 battle between Horatio Nelson and the Danes, that the Admiral had defined as the bloodiest of all his 105 battles.

Whereas Denmark occupies a great deal of the historic narrative, history of Iceland is very essential. The trip to Þingvellir allows Sir James to illustrate the organization of the old Parliament, showing the stone seats, the Logberg, or rock of the law, where laws and judgments were released; and eventually the “blood stone”(ibid.:183), where convicted were executed. Sir James asks his small audience to try and visualize a session of the Almannagjá: “tall warriors”(ibidem) protected the priests and judges, while people could watch them from a high platform. In this place, on June 4th, 1000, the chieftain Snorri, returning from Europe, delivered his famous speech that converted Icelanders to Christianity, “a great change as regards habits and religion, that took place without strife and bloodshed on the island”(ibid.:184). Eventually, Sir James traces a brief history of the Althing, from its abolition during the Danish rule to its restoration in 1843, ending with Iceland’s autonomy in 1874.

Also the Swedish scientist Franz participates in the historical narrative: he starts describing the early Norwegian settlements in Greenland in 868, and their sailing from Iceland to Greenland, where they remained until 983. Afterwards, the journeys were mainly directed southwards to Europe, and only a small number of people remained in Iceland, subdued by Hakon of Norway in 1264, until the island was finally ceded to Denmark in 1830.

Eventually, Sir James explains the scarcity of monuments and community buildings in Reykjavík: for a long time the Icelanders had preferred to hold their Parliament in the open.

  1. Thread 3: science, nature, religion

Sailing unknown waters can only but stimulate curiosity among the passengers (and presumably, among the readers too) about the marine environment; the Captain, the only expert in this field, describes the sandy coast of Jutland, focusing on the phenomenon of moving dunes, extremely dangerous to sail since any storm changes their morphology.

Further on, between the Faroe Islands and Iceland, the passengers experience mirages, which the children had only read of as typical phenomena of desert areas. It is again the Captain who explains why navigation becomes more difficult near the Poles: the approach to the magnetic pole disturbs the compass needle and makes it less sensitive. In front of Reykjavík harbour he also provides a technical note about a dredger, “stealing the deepest secrets from the sea”(ibid.:163).

Icelandic geological nature is described by Dr. Franz, the Swedish expert just rescued on the steamer. Instead, the author herself tells of the most surprising natural events that await the party around Akureyri: the dangerous icebergs and the amazing midnight sun.

Eventually, it is again her voce to provide few features of northern economy: fish processing takes on a crucial importance both in the Faroe Islands and the city of Akureyri, while Bornholm is famous for its granite and agricultural products. Savi Lopez also highlights the spread of Catholicism, which contributed to decrease false beliefs and superstitions; conversely, albeit Lutheranism was the most widespread creed in the author’s times, she omits any hint to it.

  1. Thread 4: Italy

The presence of Silvia, Sir James’s young daughter, keeps the image of Italy alive with her frequent observations and comparisons all over the narrative; her observations provide the readers a reassuring sense of superiority. Since the beginning “the laughing villages and crowded hotels”(ibid.:9) of Piedmontese valleys, where “flowers are gathered in bundles”(ibid.:10) are contrasted with the “poor land of Iceland”(ibidem). Any image described by Silvia is invariably in favour of her distant homeland: Aosta Valley castles are more interesting than the Danish ones; Pompeii is richer in archaeological finds than Bornholm; Icelandic volcanoes are less fascinating than the Vesuvius; the beauty of the Gulf of Naples and the Apennines win over the desolation of the Icelandic landscape.

Besides, while she declares her equal love for both her parents’ countries, Italy and Great Britain, it is the first that prevails in her discourse: ” [Italy] acquired so much glory on the sea […] introduced us to the New World, and is now preparing to be respected and powerful more than ever”(ibid.:5): Silvia’s observations allude to the greatness of the Medieval Maritime Republics (Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi in Italy, and Ragusa on the Croatian coast) that ruled the Mediterranean; to the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, and eventually to the leading role of the new state, the so-called Third Italy[8] in the contemporary international arena.

Italian recent history is also alive in Silvia’s words: she grows furious at the mere mention of Horatio Nelson, who caused the death of Neapolitan Admiral Caracciolo; only Sir James’s assertion – that the “reliable Italian battleships”(ibid.:6) would be able to keep any foreign threat away from the peninsula – reassures her.

Last, but not least, Italian artistic primacy is reaffirmed by miss Margaret, who describes Thorvaldsen’s educational journey and his cultural debt to the peninsula.

  1. A thread apart: Greenland and the Inuit

Greenland stands apart from the steamer’s route; however, its folklore, history, nature, and culture are strictly interwoven into a one-night narrative thread that reports the scarce, stereotyped and not always accurate notions of the author’s times.

Greenland appears as a land of uncertain borders, where the pagan, ignorant and semi-nomadic people live, says the Captain. This gloomy environmental situation leads them to be extremely superstitious and to believe in mysterious presences; they spend a nomadic life in tents in summer, while in winter they stay in common residences “divided into as many parts as the families who live in the house”(ibid.:138); their clothes consist of “some rather tight trousers, and a jacket with a tight hood around the neck, with such small openings where one can only pass one’s hands and head through”(ibidem). Only their talent allows them to survive in that hostile nature: they invented ice fishing, and manage to assemble very protecting clothes and extremely robust boots.

A question of Miss Margaret’s allows Sir James to illustrate some historical details: contacts between Greenland and Iceland remained regular for several centuries, but around 1450 “no one cared about Greenland anymore”(ibid.:139). However, the few residents seemed to have no memory of that first colonization: in fact in 1585, when John Davis landed with his crews, the inhabitants considered them as supernatural beings, showing the same reaction as the South American Indians in front of the Spanish Conquistadores.

According to the Captain, Greenlanders maintain ‘primitive’ beliefs: despite their Christianization, superstitions remain alive, and magical powers are bestowed to the Ingersuits[9], both benign and evil spirits similar to human beings, that live in elegant residences. The Captain adds that local legends are preserved intact by a strict oral tradition: the narrator can “vary […] the expression given to words and gestures; but he is not even allowed to change a syllable, because everyone knows them and, as soon as they hear the slightest variant, they warn the narrator of his mistake”(ibid.:140). The Captain ends with the moving story of Iliarsorkik[10], “less boring than many others”(ibidem): the boy, a little orphan rejected by the village, has to show his courage facing and defeating a bear to be accepted in the community.

Overall, the Captain justifies the natives’ frame of mind: in fact “theirs is a country where earth, sky, and sea have such an aspect that almost force those who see them to imagine foreboding events”(ibid.:145). In addition, sometimes they hear “certain very loud cries, [that] one cannot know whether they come from the atmosphere or from the sea”(ibidem), considered “bad omens”(ibidem); from the mountains “a deafening noise, as if struck by a lightning […]”(ibidem) echoes, while “blocks of ice scattered over the endless plains sometimes have the appearance of monstrous animals, of gigantic people”(ibidem); moreover, sometimes bears land on icebergs and attack the poor Greenlanders. Finally, in addition to real dangers, the natives imagine the existence of Kajarjaks[11], a kind of gigantic spirits causing violent storms. While this narration arouses amazement and fear in the two girls, it seems to stimulate young Rolfe’s (and possibly some readers’) sense of adventure – leading him to imagine wild adventures in the Arctic area.

  1. Conclusions

Such a fluid narrative situation creates a “suspension of disbelief”, as S.T.Coleridge defined it  in his  Biographia  Literaria, that encourages the readers to identify with the travellers of a weird journey, feel a wealth of new emotions and learn a huge amount of information about Iceland, a neglected area of the world.

Conversely, the rigidly defined structure guides and supports their imagination, both during their explorations and in the reassuring setting of the steamer, ending their adventure back home. Consequently, the readers achieve a complete and exhaustive, albeit not always accurate, image of Iceland.

The characters mirror the readers: young people give voice to curiosity, enthusiasm, in some cases even fear and hesitation in front of the unknown; adults represent reliability, culture and experience, while the only female figure, fragile “by nature”, does not hide her apprehensions and reveals her own sensitivity. Eventually, the author arranges a complex intersection of characters and themes, offering her readers a unique opportunity to get acquainted with Iceland while remaining comfortably seated in their armchairs.

 

N.B. All translations into English are by the author.

 

References

AGNARSDÓTTIR, Anna, “In Search of “A Distinct and Peculiar Race of People”: the Mackenzie Expedition to Iceland, 1810”, in 1700-tal Nordic Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 10:11; DOI:10.7557/4.2619

COLERIDGE, Samuel  Taylor (1817). Biographia  Literaria, https://web.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/biographia.html

CUTINELLI, Francesco (1890). “Maria Savi Lopez e l’ultimo suo libro”, in Rassegna pugliese di scienze, lettere e arti”, Volume VII, n.18-19, pp.285-286.

FREDIANI, Federica (2007). Uscire. Reggio Emilia: Diabasis.

FREDIANI, Federica; RICORDA, Ricciarda; ROSSI, Luisa (2012) Spazi segni, parole. Milano:Franco Angeli.

LAWSON LUCAS, Ann (2017) Emilio Salgari. Una mitologia moderna tra letteratura, politica, società. Vol. 1: Fine secolo. 1883-1915. Le verità di una vita letteraria. Firenze: Olschki.

LEED, Eric J. (1992). La mente del viaggiatore. Bologna: il Mulino.

LEOPARDI, Giacomo (2003) “Dialogo della Natura e di in islandese”, in Armellini, G.- Colombo, A. (edit), La letteratura italiana, vol.B, p.624. Bologna: Zanichelli.

LEVI, Giovanni (2009). “I tempi della storia” in Historical Review / La Revue Historique, Institut de Recherches Néohelléniques, vol. VI pp.41–52.

MASOERO, Marisa (1985). Introduzione In: Maria Savi Lopez. Leggende delle Alpi. Ivrea: Pheljna, p. XI.

MASOERO, Marisa (1993). “Maria Savi Lopez. Un racconto, alcuni versi e saggi” In: Marco Cerruti (a cura di), Il «genio muliebre». Percorsi di donne intellettuali fra Settecento e Novecento in Piemonte. Antologia. p. 91-135. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.

MONGA, Luigi (1996). “Travel And Travel Writing”, in Annali d’Italianistica L’Odeporica/Hodoeporics: On Travel Literature, Volume 14. pp. 6-54.

PERUGI, Rosella (2019). Altrove. Viaggiatrici italiane nell’Europa del nord. Doctoral thesis, UTU: Turku.

PFEIFFER, Ida (1853) Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North. London: Ingram, Coke &Co..

ROSSI, Luisa (2005) L’altra mappa, Diabasis, 2005; R.Perugi, Altrove, Doctoral Thesis, Turku University, 2019.

SAVI LOPEZ, Maria (1893). Nei paesi del Nord: Danimarca ed Islanda. Torino: G. B. Paravia. (this  article  refers  to  1920  edition)

SAVI LOPEZ, Maria (2002). Nani e Folletti. Palermo: Sellerio.

SAVI LOPEZ, Maria (2008). Leggende del mare . Palermo: Sellerio.

SAVI LOPEZ, Maria (2014). Leggende delle Alpi Ivrea: Il Punto-Piemonte.

SAVI LOPEZ, Maria (2016). La donna italiana del XIV secol., Liber-liber: e-book

SAVI LOPEZ, Maria (2018) Tramonto regale. Liber-liber: e-book

STEUART MACKENZIE, Sir George (1811) Travels in the Island of Iceland: During the Summer of the Year MDCCCX. London: Thomas Allan ed., https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=4xwCAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA72&hl=it

VON TROIL, Uno (1780). Letters on Iceland: containing observations on the civil, literary, … history; antiquities, … customs, … &c. &c. made, during a voyage undertaken in the year 1772, by Joseph Banks, … Written by Uno von Troil, … To which are added, the letters of Dr. Ihre and Dr. Bach to the author, … Also Professor Bergman’s curious observations ….London: Robson,  http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Troil%2C%20Uno%20von%2C%201746-1803

 

Endnotes

[1] Among others: L.Rossi, L’altra mappa, Diabasis, 2005; F.Frediani, Uscire, Diabasis, 2007; F. Frediani, R. Ricorda, L. Rossi, Spazi segni, parole, Franco Angeli 2012; R.Perugi, Altrove, Doctoral Thesis, Turku University, 2019.

[2] Ida Pfeiffer writes that she had to wait several weeks in Denmark, before she could find a cargo ship for Iceland (Pfeiffer 1856:20).

[3] U. von Troil, 1780: Letters on Iceland […] the definition is given in letter XXI, p.247-“hver”.

[4] Another Italian traveller, Giulia Kapp Salvini, took part in this cruise and left a travelogue: Le capitali del Nord (Hoepli, Milan 1907).

[5] An example can clarify this statement: before leaving, both Amy and Rolfe are worried to leave their father alone, but express their apprehension in very different ways: while the boy, staring into his father’s eyes, offers directly to give up the trip, Amy instead looks for a physical contact sitting at the bottom of her father’s chair, in a subordinate position, and silently expressing the same purpose by stroking his hand.

[6] The sentence –“our travellers”- and the possessive “our” will be repeated several times (pp. 13, 31, 42, 180, 181 …), to consolidate the relationship between readers and protagonists.

[7] The Author compares the site of Stonehenge, well known to her English travellers, to explain the value of these Danish remains; the letter f instead of h may be a misprint.

[8] It was Giosuè Carducci, one of the outstanding poets of the time and Nobel Prize in 1906, to appoint as “Third” the recently unified Italy, resulting from the struggles of Risorgimento, to mean it as a leading power, heir to the greatness of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance.

[9] The author uses the English spelling to report the names of these, as well as the following, spirits.

[10] See above, n.9.

[11] See above, n.9.

Jules Pretty, Sea Sagas of the North: Travels & Tales at Warming Waters (Stroud: Hawthorne Press, 2022)

I welcome this book, a keen Icelandic reader of the coastal culture and communities more or less connected here in the North Atlantic and the North Sea east to Öresund since the Viking Age. Besides the general public, students in teacher education, humanities, and social sciences could get inspired by the tales and the method. I can easily relate to the content of the book. We need to tell stories of the sea, old and new.

The book contains a dedication, contents, preface, maps, pictures, glossary, timeline, on spelling and pronunciation, on time, distances, weights and measures, comments on the text and stories, on the illustrations, acknowledgments, directions on a walk with the author, on the author, advertisements, and invitations to promotions by the author. The way the book reaches out to the reader is pleasing.

The author takes us on a journey through time that spans from the oldest epic poems to the present, built on a variety of sources. The most important texts are Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic medieval literature, of those the Norse Mythology on heathen gods the most important. The tales are of the interconnectedness of people in Iceland, eastern England, Shetland Islands, Norway, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and the now drowned Doggerland.   The author wants stories to make us think in a different way than we now do. The moral and political message of this book is that we can make decisions that save us from the scenario of destruction of nature and human societies that otherwise might wait. Past mistakes can be fateful, being in military command in medieval times, or negligence regarding the safety of fishermen in modern times. By dividing the great gifts of the earth more equally amongst us, and by respecting nature as we did in the times of Ægir and Rán, when nature and human society were one, we might turn the tide. We do have a choice, the Neolithic people we learn about who lived on and fled Doggerland did not.  The author works with the fact that after the innovation of technology that made it possible for the Norse to attack undefended monasteries on the coast of England, crossings were created that have been there ever since. I find that the author’s location of the invaders in Lofoten shows a high level of optimism about the technical possibilities of the 8th century for sailing a thousand nautical miles, and the long way upstream. The Limafjord in contemporary Denmark must be the most likely place they came from. How much or how little should the method of narrative tale let scientific implications interfere with a good story?

The peoples of the North were as much or as little connected with the rest of the world as all other nations were with their rest. Perhaps more, as sea voyages were safer travelling on roads until the New Age. The technology to travel the sea was expensive, but there are many mentions of Icelandic rulers on their way to and from Norway spending the winter in Shetland. English, German, Dutch, Basque, French, Norwegian, Belgian, and of course, Faroese sailors utilized the fishing banks around Iceland for over 500 years.

For some reason, an ancestor of mine, living on the now remote Langanes in the North-East, always had French jenever on offer, or so the story goes. Communication between foreign fishermen and, the local population may have decreased with the mechanization of fishing. The anger in one of the cod wars when Tjallinn (aka the Charlie), which was the Icelandic term for British trawlermen, rained broken locks, chain links and rotten vegetables on the crew on deck of a boat from my fishing village is memorable. They should have met them outside the ballroom!

The first Icelandic trawler was bought from Great Britain. Many words of English origin are still used on the deck of an Icelandic trawler, for example the fishing gear itself troll (trawl), and the excellent word spanni (crocodile spanner), which gracefully obeys all the inflections and grammatical rules of the Icelandic language (singular: spannispannaspannaspanna, plural: spannarspannaspönnumspanna). I do not find the word in the online version of a modern Icelandic dictionary, and on the online translation website the word is explained as a wrench, which the tool is not. Coastal culture does not necessarily have much space in the culture of a nation even though it, for long based its prosperity in large part, on the sea. But, when we sing/scream the national anthem (written in Edinburgh, 1873) at the start of national soccer matches, King Gilgamesh´s search for the eternal flower is there: “Eternity’s flow’r, with its homage of tears”.

The great poet Snorri Sturluson would not have minded being mixed with his namesake Snorri goði Þorgrímsson, “the wisest of those who were not prescient”, as in a tale based on the Saga of Burnt Njál. For those of us who are used to distinguish, between the contemporary stories of the 13th century and the dramatic works written about life in the first centuries of Iceland’s settlement, this is unfortunate. Still, it does not change the value of the narrative.

It is a pleasure to have a story told. Child slavery in England in the early 20th century is a surprising exposure. One will think of the glory days as a deckhand in high summer on a shrimp fishing boat far north of Iceland. Three on board; the captain, my father who was a schoolmaster in the winter and a sailor in the summer like any other half-and-half East Anglian, and a proud 16-year-old. There was no trawling at night and the teenager took the night shift but got to sleep until noon on the morning-towing instead. We worked maybe two hours at a time when the troll was taken, otherwise not much to do. You were not allowed to fall asleep during the night shift on the wheelhouse. The orange midnight sun coloring the sky, the sea, and the other shrimp boats. Buzzing on the radio, those on the other boats chatting. The transmitter reached foreign radio stations which helped to stay awake; Radio Luxembourg presents Status Quo playing Rockin’ all over the world!

Studying Small States: The role of security and strategy as concepts

The first comprehensive work on small states in international relations was published in 1959, emphasizing the limited capacity of small and weak military states to resist the pressure of the great powers. Scholars have since debated what a small state is or does and what sets apart small states from bigger states or great powers. Variables such as population size, limited diplomatic resources, vulnerability and a lack of military capacity, size of economy (GDP) and territory, power, perception and image are used to formulate the definition of a small state and to describe its functions, “modern” definitions portray small states as global actors with an international voice, focusing on how a small state can influence international organizations. With these variables and methods, as of today, thirty-four states can be defined as small in Europe, for example, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Austria, the Netherlands, Latvia, Slovakia and Iceland. The problem with modern small state studies is that they overlook how important the concept of security is for small states and their policy. International security and strategy are central for small state studies because the principles of security include equal rights for all nations, safeguards in the military, political, economic, health and humanitarian areas, respect for sovereign rights and a just political settlement of international crises and regional conflicts. If these principles are universal, small states can develop a strategy in cooperation with other states. Here it is argued that the “old” methods of defining small states are neither obsolete nor outdated. For small states, the importance of being small depends not only on the notion of size but also on the asymmetrical relationship with the powerful states. In this paper, the focus is on international security and strategy, the concept of smallness, power relation and binary oppositions in small state studies using Iceland as an example, in the period from 1945 to 2007. The hypothesis is that a small state responds to change in the international system to achieve security. This paper recognizes the limited capability of small states and the power asymmetry of international relations. I argue that binary oppositions and the inherent vulnerability in small state studies explain the security policy and strategy of a small state.

  

 

Small states

In the Cold War quantitative definitions of small states were first used to study “smallness” in the international system, the variables used were military strength, population size, the geographic mass of countries and the gross domestic product (GDP). A more qualitative approach studied small states from the role and influence small states have or don’t have in the international system: their relations with greater powers, in military alliances and within world politics, forced to make decisions based on information supplied by bigger states (Baker Fox 1959; Vital 1966, 1971; Rothstein 1968; Keohane 1969; Handel 1981). In the post-Cold War era, the research has focused on international organisations and the influence “small states” could exercise in cooperation with other states and international organisations and how the political elite in a small state used to define their state. A psychological definition assumes that states define themselves as they see themselves. If a state perceives itself to be small, so shall it be (Goetschel 1998; Wivel 2005; Mouritzen & Wivel 2005; Rickli 2008; Hey 2003; Frímannsson 2018; Johnston & Ágústsson 2018; Thorhallsson 2006; 2018).

Still, others have researched small states based on the notion of ‘niche diplomacy’. This framework demonstrates how small states became smart states, focus on a few foreign policy issues and specialize to become successful internationally (Wivel 2010; Rickli 2008). “This involves focusing on matters that are recognized and viewed in positive light by the international community in order to earn influence” (Baruchello, Kristjánsson, Jóhannsdóttir, & Ingimarsson 2018, p. 2).

Thorhallsson‘s (2018) important small state and shelter theory in general terms analyzes the identity and the behavior of small states in world politics. The gist of shelter theory is that small states seek economic, political and societal shelter in order to prosper. This means that the small states depend on the shelter provided by larger states, superpowers and international organizations, even on military alliances.  This definition is both material and psychological. In this way, a small state is: “not defined by any specific qualities that it possesses (or lacks) but rather by the position it occupies in its own and other’s eyes” (Rothstein 1968, p. 127).

One can, therefore, view shelter theory at least implicitly as a realist understanding of the international challenges small states are faced with. However, the assumption that small states must rely on shelter (aid) from other states and organizations follows in the footsteps of the liberal institutionalist assumption embedded in the text and stresses the advantage of international organizations for small states. Finally does the constructivist focus on identity and norms highlight domestic politics and the preferences of the political elite. Constructivism is, however, not a theory of international relations but a meta-theory concentrating on human society and interestingly, constructivism has little to say about security (Booth 2009).

The focus of this paper is, somewhat, different.  It aims at framing international security and strategy in small state studies. It is worth noting that small state studies began in earnest early in the Cold War period. At that time Classical realism (or political realism) was the most “popular” international relations theory. The theory established in the post-World War II era, explains international politics as a result of human nature. Classical realists’ main argument is that order is fragile and created through constant tensions between nation-states. Thus, paraphrasing, state security and interests should have priority for all states. The main signpost of political realism is the concept of interest defined in terms of power (Rösch 2014).  It is no coincidence that the first comprehensive small state studies focused on the limited capability and vulnerability of small states and the power asymmetry in international relations. The research used realism to explain the behavior of small states in the international system and created the power relation and binary oppositions in small state studies. However, though binary oppositions are implied in small state studies and used to study international relations, gender, race and in colonial/postcolonial studies, binary oppositions have not been used directly to study small states.

 

The binary oppositions in small state studies are:

Big state vs. Small state

Security vs. Insecurity (vulnerability)

Them vs. Us

Power vs. Weakness

Inside vs. Outside (international institutions, international organisations, military alliance’s)

 

These variables (oppositions) explain the status and vulnerability of small states in the international system. The premise is studying small states from the perspective of what small states are not or lack. Therefore, if binary oppositions are used as concepts to study small states a clear picture emerges of the international and security relationship small (weaker) states engage in.

 

 

Security and Strategy

This author argues that when studying small states, it is important to research international security and strategy. Security is vital for small states in their relations with “powerful states” as the absence of security means that states must help themselves. I use both broad and narrow definitions of security to examine the behavior (strategy) of small states in international relations. The security definitions are military security, economic security, social security, environmental security and human security. To understand small states and their security policy, it is necessary to research the ‘grand strategy’ during the Cold War (1948-1989) and international security at the end of it (from 1990 to the present).

In this paper, a strategy is defined as a set of consistent actions designed to achieve a specific goal. For small states, the strategy is all about gaining a position and exploiting emerging possibilities to the very best. They acknowledge that there is always an element of uncertainty about the future and that future strategy is about a set of options (strategic choices) that protects national interests as: “[N]ational security always comes first” (Sheehan 2005, p. 11). Of course, this is a realist view of the world, and many would say that this approach is not as important as identity politics and the modern holistic methodology in small state studies. I disagree and argue that, in essence, all small states are predominantly “realist states” because of their smallness, and the binary oppositions in small state studies.

It can, however, be difficult for small states to choose when and how it is best to protect their own interests as few small states have the political power and resources to predict what might occur in the future (Rothstein 1968, p. 29). There is still truth in what Thucydides [2006] wrote a long time ago: “the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept” (Crane  1998, p. 63: Rostoks 2010, p. 88).  Even though Thucydides (c.  460 – c.  400 BC) statement is from the past, history is full of examples that demonstrate the insecurity of small (weaker) states. That small states are influenced by more powerful states and react to change in the international system and accept what they have to accept.

 

 

Binary oppositions

In international relations and its subfield of small state studies language is an important factor when creating ideas, discussing certain actors, concepts, events and the preservation of a situation. “According to Jacques Derrida, logocentric thought not only produces binary oppositions, but also sets up a hierarchical relation between the two terms. It assumes the priority of the first term and conceives the second in relation to it, as a complication, a negation, a manifestation, a disruption of the first” (Culler, 1982, p. 93; Calkivik 2017, p. 7). In small states, binary oppositions (for example, big versus small, security versus vulnerability or inside versus outside) are used by both political elites and academics to create a specific meaning out of certain events, and to explain state actions, policy, theory and political thought. In small state studies, the logocentric constructs dualities (big/small, inside/outside) and opposing themes are used in the language to frame an argument.

One of the most important and common binary oppositions in small state studies is to establish different international organizations, groups or states in terms of ‘them’ versus ‘us’. According to it, small states must rely on other states for protection or partnership, participate internationally, join military alliances or international organisations to prosper (security/shelter). In this author’s opinion, this assumption is rooted in realism and historical memory. Titles of books and papers about small states demonstrate this:

 The survival of small states; Small states in the global system; Small states in Europe; Weak states in the international system; Small states inside and outside the European Union interests and policies; Small states in world politics explaining foreign policy behavior; The National security of small states in a changing world; Small states in international relations: Alliances and small power; The size of states in the European Union theoretical and conceptual perspectives; The inequality of states a study of the small in international relations; Small states in the European Union what do we know and what would we like to know; Small States and Shelter Theory: Iceland’s External Affairs; The Tyranny of Doctrine and Modern Strategy: Small (and Large) States in a Double Bind; The Survival Strategies of Small Nations; Small states: Survival and proliferation; Iceland: a Small State Learning the Intelligence Ropes”.

The underlining meaning of all titles is ‘binary’ using the comparison between small and big states, them and us, comparing power with weakness, security with vulnerability and inside with outside.

The inherent vulnerability and the binary opposition(s) in small state studies mean that political prudence and the distribution of power [influence] among states within the international system is important for small states and the key to the “determinant of state behaviour” (Waltz 1979). States tend to balance, i.e., strategic balancing is induced by the system. “[E]ach state plots the course it thinks will serve its best interests” (Waltz 1979, p. 113). The perfect example of this strategy is Iceland in the Cold War, it plotted and used its strategic location in the North-Atlantic to secure a national interest, the extension of its fishing zone.

 

 

Iceland as a case study

A scholar from a small state is almost always analyzing his state in comparison with bigger states, comparing them and us; this is also the case with this paper. I assume that all states, big or small, strive to influence the international system. The principal argument is that all states are equal at least in theory (Rothstein 1968; Thorhallsson et al 2006). That all states have equal opportunities, but in reality, small states are not as influential on the international scene as some bigger states are. The binary oppositions in the argument above are thus not only small and big states, but also them and us and power and weakness. From the perspective of the state (big or small), power can be measured as influence or control over outcomes, others, events and issues; as a goal for state or leaders; control over resources and capabilities; as the attainment of security or as a reflection of victory in a conflict. Finally power can be measured as status, which some states and actors have, and others do not (Paul 1994, p. 185; see also: Maoz 1989, pp. 239-266; Hart 1976, pp 289-305).

Samuel Huntington (1993; 2002) wrote that power enables states to shape their interests, protect their security and defend against threats. Small states do just that when building alliances and participating in international organisations. For the sake of argument, we can say that Iceland has less power than Denmark that has less power than Germany. Iceland in nearly all terms is the smallest of the three countries and is more likely to compare itself historically, socially, politically and even economically with Denmark than Germany. Denmark, however, would look to Germany for comparison economically, historically and politically. I assume that Germany, historically, first and foremost compares itself with France or the United Kingdom or the other G12 states. Relationship with other like-minded states is always important for a small state, and of course, the two small states, Iceland and Denmark have international security interests that are Nordic and both Trans- Atlantic and European. The case of Iceland demonstrates how important the security relationship with the U.S. was (is) for Iceland’s position, status, and strategy in international affairs.

After the end of the Second World War and during the Cold War traditional realism focused on state security as the priority for all states. Security was seen in military terms linked to states and alliances. The definition of security “narrowed down to a largely military focus under the pressure of nuclear arms race” (Buzan 1997, p. 6). The state was the main actor, and the principal aim of a small state was survival in a bipolar world dominated by the two nuclear superpowers. When the two superpowers began to compete on the international scene both militarily and economically in the late 1940s, Iceland had to react to change in the international system.  The majority in the Icelandic parliament had learned the lesson from WWII that Iceland could not defend its territory alone, neutrality was not an option against an aggressor. The role of ‘size of state’ and debate about hard security, military alliance (power) and protection, security, and vulnerability (binary opposition) in security matters centered on economic security and the decision to join NATO. The Icelandic government believed that the world system in the late 1940s was dangerous for the small state. “Icelanders are a small and unarmed and peaceful nation – the North Atlantic Treaty brings more security” (Bendiktsson 1949, p. 98; 290; 291). The language (logocentrism) they versus us was used to speak against NATO or to rationalize and explain membership to the Icelandic nation in a hierarchical relation (Alþingi 1949).

In the Cold War, Iceland was important for defense and security in the North-Atlantic and used its geographical position to secure national interests. The Icelandic strategy in the Cold War had one specific goal: to establish full control over the fishing zone around the island. The small state was able to exploit the possibilities of the bipolar system of the Cold War period, acting as a ‘free rider’ state or a ‘reluctant ally’ yet basing its security policy on military and economic protection from a great power, the United States, ‘at little extra cost’ to itself. During the Cold War, the strategic location of Iceland in the North-Atlantic helped to develop a special relationship with the US and NATO. This allowed securing Iceland’s national economic interests in a series of Icelandic-British conflicts over fishing grounds in Icelandic territorial waters in 1958, 1972 and 1976, also known as the Cod Wars (Ingimundarson 1996, 2001, 2011; Thorhallsson 2018; Kristjánsson 2016; Johannesson 2004). The main security threat in Iceland was unhindered fishing by foreign ships in Icelandic waters. Icelandic politicians willingly risked the relationship with NATO and the United Kingdom to secure its interests. The outcomes of the Cod Wars were vital for Iceland’s economic security and a continuation of Iceland’s struggle for independence (Grimsson 2020; Johannsson 2008). In hindsight, Iceland was more threatened by Soviet military might in the Cold War than by UK actions. The case of the Cod Wars (in the context of geopolitical tension of the two superstates during the Cold War) demonstrates that small states have influence, even bargain power, if in a political and geographical important location.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the concept of security was broadened out. Problems connected to migration, human rights, ethnic violence, social security, human security, economic and environmental matters became urgent and a more likely threat to international peace than a potential armed conflict. The concept of security, ‘politicized’ at that time, started to incorporate more and more issues. The need to distinguish between traditional and non-traditional security gained increased attention (Fierke 2007). At the same time did the strategic importance of Iceland diminish after the breakup of the Soviet Union when the era of free-rider state strategy became obsolete.

For a small state like Iceland, a broader security definition means an opportunity to actively engage in international affairs. Iceland faced considerable outside pressure from the international community to contribute more to international aid, development programs and peacekeeping operations after the Cold War. The pressure came in part from the United States, pointing out that Iceland had to participate as a NATO member state. Icelandic politicians agreed and used this opportunity to continue and strengthen the “good security” relationship with the United States. Thus, Iceland took part in operations in former Yugoslavia to help heal the wounds of the civil wars in Bosnia and Kosovo after the NATO military operation against the Serbs in 1999. The new Icelandic strategy was based on a broad security perspective because international circumstances in the 1990s were fundamental in shaping how states evaluated their security and defense matters. The second reason for a new strategy was that security, politics, and economic affairs linked like never before. Thus, European political and economic policy became more significant for Icelandic security. Iceland joined the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1994. Perhaps the biggest step internationally was when Iceland applied for the first time for a seat on the UN Security Council. Politicians in Iceland cited the broadening out of the security concept to justify this new and more active international security policy (Hannibalsson, 1993; Asgrimsson 1999, 2001, 2004; Kristjánsson 2010; Thorhallsson 2012; Ingimundarson 2007).

The strategy in the 1990s and the new millennium was designed to achieve a specific goal, protect Icelandic interests by strengthening economic security ties with the EU, building security cooperation with Europe, and signing the Schengen Agreement. Iceland started to engage more in conventional security matters by partaking in UN peace-keeping missions and NATO operations, for example, in Kabul in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Finally, in 2007 Iceland fully took over responsibility for the defense of its territory. The strategy was about a set of options (strategic choices) to protect national interests and achieve security (including military security) and about Iceland as a more active small state in the [binary] relations with powerful states (Report on Security and Defence at the Turn of the Century 1999; Asgrimsson 2004; Sverrisdottir 2007).

The Icelandic case (strategy) demonstrates how important security is for the role of small states in the international system. In “modern” small state studies, sometimes, excluding the notion of security, rooted in constructivism, perception and identity politics, small states (defined as they see themselves) deliberately act as “norm entrepreneurs” to gain influence. These factors contradict the traditional IR theories that focus on power, military and economic security but confirm the binary oppositions in small state studies. The assumption is: firstly, international law and sovereign rights have gained more recognition and authority since the establishment of the UNO and this has strengthened the position of small states internationally. Consequently, in the era of globalisation, the great powers are no longer in the position to dictate the rules disregarding the international community. Secondly, international cooperation is more important for small states than powerful states. This discourse is popular in the small Nordic countries (including Iceland) explaining small states outside or inside the EU (binary opposition). The focus is on the power (influence) state exercise that a state can be weak (small) in one relation but at the same time powerful in another. The point is small states outside (them and us) the EU are weaker (power and weakness), but small states inside the EU are more effective and benefit from the economic shelter (security) (Ingebritsen 2002; Thorhallsson 2012, 2008; 2018; Thorhallsson & Wivel 2006; Thürer 1998; Hey 2003; Rickli 2008; Mouritzen & Wivel 2005).

Even though small state studies treat small and big states as equals in the post-Cold War era, the great powers can choose to change their policy alone or in international organizations, whereas small states have limited influence on the international political environment if the great powers decide to change their policy  (Thorhallsson & Wivel, 2006; Wiberg 1987; Goetschel 1998). The way small states achieve security has not changed in the new millennium. In exchange for protection, security (shelter), the small state does align itself with the greater power. Both Denmark and Iceland did just that when they joined NATO in the late 1940s. In the new century, both countries supported military action in Afghanistan and Iraq for international security reasons and military protection. For example, Denmark chose to advance its international status and security through active military participation in Afghanistan and Iraq with “high alliance loyalty to the US” (Archer 2014).

Even though Iceland was ready to participate more internationally, in Iceland, the military partnership with the American super-power continued to be central for the small state and the core of the Icelandic security policy (Report on Security and Defence at the Turn of the Century 1999; Policy Statement 2003). This relationship was so important that when the Icelandic government learned that the American fighter jets would leave the Keflavik airbase, the Icelandic government took the step to join the “coalition of the willing” in the war against Iraq in March 2003, hoping to stop the departure of the fighter jets from Iceland. The American government decided to delay its decision after pressure from the Icelandic authorities, who continued to see NATO and the defense agreement between Iceland and the US from 1951 as the central point of Iceland’s security policy (Kristjánsson 2016; Ingimundarson 2007). But in the end, the Icelandic high alliance loyalty to the US did not prevent the departure of the foreign defense force from the island in 2006. The powerful partner in the security relationship did what it had the power to do, whereas, the small (weak) state, Iceland, had to accept the decision made by the greater power.

 

 

Conclusions

Small states are studied together with bigger and more powerful states. The term smallness is, however, not easily defined. Quantitative and qualitative approaches in this study demonstrated this. This paper highlights binary oppositions in small state studies and explains how they can be used to understand the security policy and strategy of a small state. The binary oppositions demonstrate that small states, the weaker party in an asymmetric relationship, navigate the international security landscape in partnership with other states, organizations, and institutions. In this author’s opinion, power and influence are two of the four main variables that explain and define a small state. The other two are international security and strategy. This is important because the relationship small states have with powerful states and the international security environment influences the security policy and strategy of a small state. The example of Iceland demonstrates how a small state used its security relationship with the great power United States to form a strategy, protect its interests and limit the consequences of international transformations to achieve security. The closure of the U.S. military base in Iceland does, however, confirm that the relationship small states have with great powers can be one-sided. The Icelandic example does also show how Iceland reacted to change in the international security landscape after WWII, after the Cold War and in the new millennium to protect its interests and become more active internationally. The gist here is that the binary opposition in small state studies/theory is power-related. In this paper, the main idea is that the security policy and strategy of small states are rooted in the notion of binary opposition in small state studies. In essence, the logocentrism of small state studies identifies their security policy and strategy. The Icelandic example confirms when studying small state(s) one can, methodologically, focus on the concepts of security and strategy, smallness and vulnerability and the binary opposition in small state studies.

 

 

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Wiberg, H. (1987). The Security of Small Nations: Challenges and Defences. Journal of Peace Research, 24(4), pp. 339-363. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/424427

Wivel, A. (2005). Between Paradise and Power: Denmark’s Transatlantic Dilemma. Security Dialogue, Vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 417-21. doi:10.1177/0967010605057974.

Wivel, A. (2010). ‘From small state to smart state: Devising a strategy for influence in the European Union’, (in) Small states in Europe: Challenges and opportunities. (ed.) R. Steinmetz, and A. Wivel, pp. 15–30. Farnham, England: Ashgate.

Edward H. Huijbens, Developing Earthly Attachments in the Anthropocene (London: Routledge, 2021)

Letting the proverbial genie out of the bottle is bad. Killing the genie after it has leaped out of the bottle is even worse. Now, and perhaps forever, the bottle is going to be empty. Our culture, to a significant extent, is a thoroughly disenchanted one. Apart from a passé and largely passing minority, notions of sacredness and divinity have mostly disappeared from the leading conceptual horizon. As Nietzsche famously asserted, God is dead—and it was us who killed Him. Academia, for one, cultivates a veritable graveyard of past ‘irrationalities’ and serves as an imposing bastion of practical atheism, especially in the Nordic countries, where the intellectuals’ secular outlook is part and parcel of the broader conventional wisdom. On Sundays, people no longer go to church. Instead, they go to the shopping mall.

Yet, hence joining a growing chorus of perplexed educated wanderers (e.g., Arne Næss, Lauren Greyson, Brendan Myers), Huijbens’ latest book reveals a thinking and feeling man who, faced with the depths and the vastness of the life-destruction brought forth by the ongoing human-made climate crisis, rediscovers a genuine sense of desecration and with it, hidden spiritual urges and half-grasped religious insights. His picture of the current state of the world is, in point of fact, worthy of the Apocalypse:

[W]e are all caught up in the climate crisis together and through globalised capitalism a veritable race to the bottom is unfolding where the rich simply float on top of the vortex funnelling the rest to a future of climatic ruin with no safeguard in the Enlightenment promises of technological fixes, public provisions of welfare or other promises of the Modern era. (119)

His picture of the correct relationship between humankind and Earth is, for its part, worthy of some time-honoured indigenous tradition, or of a younger New-Age creed:

“[A] non-social and more-than-human entity is making itself felt and heard: our planet Earth.” (152)

[…]

“In our continual conativity with nature through the solutions we propose, we support nature’s immanence. Adding deep time and the Earth itself as immanent to us, life on Earth becomes truly humbling.” (153)

[…]

“Being kind to earth is for me not about reversing progress and that which has been gained by the human technological acumen. We need to judiciously build on the past, but at the same time make space for an expanded repertoire of reason, science and humanism, and moreover the Earth itself.” (159)

As Huijbens himself admits:

“[O]ur current imagination and vocabulary betrays us. Therefore we need to reinvent the shamans of old, killed by the Moderns.” (110)

Most of the book comprises a vast array of loose reflections about insightful theoretical influences and inspiring personal anecdotes (or “vignettes”) explaining, at least in part, how Huijbens has come to think about the Anthropocene and the future of our suffering planet in ways that rub rather cruelly against the received categories of contemporary science, his own field of geography included. As Huijbens notes:

“The language of science and technology tends to obfuscate th[e human] connection [to Earth], or shroud it in darkness through the violence of abstraction and compartmentalisation of the challenges to be addressed.” (111)

Thus, Chapters 1 and 3 list and discuss a plethora of learned suggestions (e.g., Latour, Olsson, Deleuze, Žižek and Eco) that can make us think of the human condition in the natural as well as cultural world that we inhabit, both individually and collectively, as a matter of “fluid being” or, paying due homage to some trendy ‘-isms’ of our day, “post-humanism” (9 et passim) and fancy new forms of “empiricism” (21 et passim). As Huijbens writes:

“[W]e are very much creatures of the making of the strictures imposed upon us by a long history of decisions and things settled and seemingly fixed. Revealing their inherent fluidity does indeed provide ‘wiggle room’ and places emphasis on the moments of encounters, the abysmal lines where one becomes other or something else through our practices of naming and pointing and being believed in doing so.” (31)

Icelandic echoes of this fluid conception of being constitute the bulk of the materials gathered in Chapter 2 and, to a lesser extent, Chapter 4, both of which emphasise how geology itself is indeed very mobile in Huijbens’ country of birth, and how substantial human progress can be obtained without devastating the planet, e.g., by harvesting clean energy sources and by promoting “slow tourism” (104).

The fundamental challenge to the positive Icelandic experiences, and to life on Earth in general, is identified and debated in Chapter 4. The challenge being, perhaps unsurprisingly, the neoliberal institutions that pervade our world, both in tangible terms (e.g., the copious amounts of advertised junk around which orbits much of the world’s economy) and in intangible terms (e.g., the acquisitive and emulative mentalities cultivated by our cultures and exacerbated since the times of mass consumerism).

Chapter 5 adds to the mix the positive experiences coming from another European country, where Huijbens is currently active as an academic: the Netherlands. With its long and complex history of transformation and protection of the land, this nation shows how destructive peat-mining turned into a bucolic bliss of sorts, protected by technologically innovative windmills “to propel pumps that would drain water” and avoid flooding (124), and now inspiring clean-energy transformations that, like the ever-present bicycles, are significant examples of a frequently sensible approach to the environment, both materially (e.g., as means of transport that do not require fossil fuels) and immaterially (e.g., as cultural symbols of successful political campaigns for a greener way of life).

Chapter 6 concludes the book by attacking once more the aforementioned fundamental challenge to life on Earth:

“Roughly framed ‘neoliberal discourses’ have been adept at naturalising environmental degradation as a collective responsibility that demands individual, privatised responses mostly to be attained through consumptive choices. According to dogmatic market logic it is up to me to seek out the ‘earth-friendly’ chocolate and if enough of us do, it will earn its place at the supermarket checkout.” (142)

Much more is needed, as a matter of fact, according to Huijbens, who reviews and assesses a number of proposed solutions to the ongoing climate crisis. In particular, Huijbens expresses his genuine doubts about “green ideas” that do not aim at “reducing our consumption or any kind of slowing down or reduced demands.” (145) Au contraire, he advises “a further and deeper reorientation of our valuing and mindsets, rather than a simple redistribution of wealth and social egalitarianism.” (152)

Like a river of lava, or a glacial flood, Huijbens’ prose is far-reaching, unstoppable, and “meandering” (78). The logical structure and argumentative progression hereby reconstructed are certainly present in the book, but they require a fair amount of careful reading and patient ingenuity in order to be grasped. The book is, if anything, a very personal and uncommonly free-flowing account of how a secular Nordic geographer may come to realise that we need to show “responsibility, kindness and care” (162) towards Mother Earth, yet without possessing theological (e.g., siblinghood in God-the-Parent) and/or philosophical categories (e.g., life-value onto-axiology) that allow for the conceptualisation and clarification of the sacred and/or spiritual domain, to which Huijbens’ concerns truly belong.

Without categories of this ilk, it is unlikely that Huijbens may ever ground successfully powerful universal normative and axiological claims such as the following: “at our current juncture we can well afford to prioritise the wellbeing of others. How well we can do that will indicate to what extent we can be true to the Earth itself.” (158) Perhaps, this book is a first step in a much longer and much more complex journey.

Kirsten Thisted and Ann-Sofie N. Gremaud (eds.), Denmark and The New North Atlantic: Narratives and Memories in a Former Empire (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2020)

Denmark and The New North Atlantic – Narratives and Memories in a Former Empire presents a critical interdisciplinary study of a region marked by Danish imperialism and today affected by a renewed interest in the Arctic: the North Atlantic (i.e., coastal Norway, Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands).

Edited by Kirsten Thisted and Ann-Sofie Gremaud, this two-volume book investigates how geopolitical and climatic changes reshape power dynamics and relationships in the North Atlantic. Throughout the book, historians, ethnographers, culture and communication scholars, literary theorists, and art historians from universities in Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, and Norway interrogate past narratives, emerging discourses and current relations in the nations of the North Atlantic.

The first section of the book offers a broad overview of the author’s assessment and help contextualise the following analyses. After briefly explaining that the North Atlantic is a porous and situated concept, Thisted and Gremaud highlight the influence of the past over the present and (perceived) future of the region. Indeed, political and emotional relations set during the Danish Empire seem deeply entrenched. While the emergence of the Arctic on the international scene contributes to their renegotiation, they appear to continue affecting current dynamics. Thisted and Gremaud further argue that these past relations and influences, often charged with racism, sexism and discrimination, are often overlooked. With this research, the authors thus hope to expose and reflect on these narratives and to participate in enabling a move forward.

Having set out the book’s objective, the second section synthesises the history of the Danish Empire in the North Atlantic and the development of distinct nations in the region. By replacing the national narratives of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands in light of their relationship with the Danish Empire, the authors question – or at least nuance – the dominant narratives, allowing us to better comprehend current discourses and dynamics.

Following these rather general sections, the subsequent parts of the book draw on politics, ideology, art, literature, ecology and gender tropes to study the evolving narratives of the North Atlantic region. By recalling former power relations and past constructions, the different sections contextualise and question present developments and discourses in the nations of the North Atlantic, at regional, national, and global levels. Similar research questions are applied to the different nations, highlighting common features in the North Atlantic and interrogating political, social and cultural asymmetries. Section 3 thus analyses geographical perceptions and definitions of the North Atlantic, underlining how these are situated. Section 4 investigates the shaping of collective identities by assessing narratives of purity and authenticity and is directly complemented by Section 5, which questions gendered discourses and practices, by focusing on narratives of impurity or hybridity. Section 6 reflects on representations of the past as definers of an idealised future and Section 7, focused on political considerations and the use of natural resources, plays a concluding role by summarising that past dynamics and hierarchies continue to shape the present.

A few characteristics make this publication especially valuable. First, throughout the book, the authors use historical and local examples, especially artistic productions, to feed their analyses. These numerous inputs of local narratives make the reflections particularly relevant, founded and meaningful. It is very pleasant to read an academic work with such a diverse array of examples. While the different sections of the book tackle various subjects, the systematic use of local narratives connect them and make the book a coherent production.

Secondly, the application of a post-colonial lens to the narratives of the North Atlantic countries, and not only of Greenland, is a sensible and pertinent choice that also connects the different sections. As a matter of fact, Icelandic narratives are rarely analysed in light of the country’s colonial history, yet the authors here show how necessary it is to do so. By highlighting the countries’ shared colonial past and its influence on the post-colonial present; and by applying the same interrogations to Greenlandic, Icelandic, and Faroese narratives, the authors recognise and overcome the asymmetric hierarchies set by Danish imperialism.

Thirdly, the authors often take the time to clarify the academic concepts they use, even though most of them have been created and defined by other scholars. This explanatory process allows the reader to truly understand the book’s theoretical framework and the authors’ vision behind their analyses. As such, it adds to the meaningfulness of the book and underlines the authors’ desire to produce intelligible research.

On the other hand, the discussion around coastal Norway could have gained in being better incorporated to overall reflection. While Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands are almost always integrated into the analyses, coastal Norway only appears sporadically. Although it is explained that the North Atlantic has porous borders, it would have been interesting to consider narratives from coastal Norway more often, especially as many themes would have been applicable and relevant to that region.

Furthermore, Section 3 and its effort to analyse past and present geographical perceptions of the North Atlantic is underwhelming. Indeed, part of the development seems too conceptualised, thereby missing to represent felt geographies. While most of the book’s analysis is robust and backed by well-grounded arguments and examples, Section 3’s focus on the “Blues” – an emerging field of research which considers the ocean as an integral part of modern geography – as a means of analysing the North Atlantic’s relationship with its environment feels blurry and unfinished. Nevertheless, the themes approached in this section were interesting, and it will be important to follow up on the emergence of the “Blues” as an academic field in the coming years.

In sum, this book covers a very wide spectrum of notions and effectively manages to give the reader a general understanding of the North Atlantic’s current dynamics, hierarchies and discourses internally, regionally and globally. By constantly using local and concrete examples, the authors generally avoid developing a theoretical analysis with little meaning outside of the academic sphere. By adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, the authors pinpoint the pervasiveness of the imperialist project in the North Atlantic nations. Finally, by highlighting the lasting effects of the asymmetrical power relations set out by the Danish Empire in the region, the authors successfully bring attention to deeply entrenched issues while avoiding any deterministic projections and recognising the agency of its inhabitants.

Francesco Sangriso, Snorri Sturlson Heimskringla: Le saghe dei re di Norvegia V (Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso, 2019)

This hefty 862-page volume is the fifth instalment of the new Italian edition of Snorri Sturlson’s Heimskringla, the best-known among the old Norse kings’ sagas and a true testament to Sangriso’s dedication and scholarship.

This scientifically flawless volume contains the edition of the Óláfs saga Helga, a pivotal element in the structure of the Heimskringla and its longest section, focused on the life and deeds of Óláfr Haraldsson, later known as Saint Óláf and Rex Perpetuus Norwegie. Far from being a simple biography of an outstanding king, this saga also provides a deep insight into Nordic society, as well as captivating glimpse of its everyday life. Institutions, warfare, medicine, religious beliefs: several facets of Nordic life have been portrayed in Snorri’s lines, in a fascinating pageant of lively details.

The importance of this section of the Heimskringla, however, goes well beyond its nature as mere “historical source”, since the text includes a remarkable collection of 168 inserts of skaldic poetry. Many of these are primary sources vis-à-vis original authors such as Sigvatr ꝥórðarson and Ottar svarti, whose poetic production had been largely preserved in the text of the medieval saga.

As done in Sangriso’s previous instalments of the Haralds saga gráfeldar, this volume too spans over three chapters, the first being basically a long foreword to the translation, in this fifth volume once more based on Bjarni Aðalbjanarson’s 2002 edition. In the foreword Sangriso explores the roots of Olaf’s sanctity and the development of his cult, fostered by the Church, which exploited the older mystique of the “holy king” as a way to strengthen its presence in a formerly pagan environment.

Nevertheless, Snorri’s narration doesn’t seem excessively biased and his take on the figure of the king is complex and multifaceted. What the reader is getting here lies far from a bombastic hagiography of “saint”. It’s rather the life of a man whose violent behaviour is not rhetorically concealed, though his bravery and devotion are frequently praised. In this larger scheme, therefore, Olaf’s Christianity is just one step in his quest for royal power, rather than the outcome of some divine inspiration.

The second chapter is the pivotal element of the whole book, as occurred already in the Haralds saga gráfeldar, although the Óláfs saga Helga is way longer. A rich critical apparatus of footnotes is again a testament to the curator’s philological struggle and provides some very useful and welcome clues about the historical background of the saga. Once again, the fluency of the translation is praiseworthy, which makes this reading extremely pleasant, rewarding, and almost as intriguing as a well-written novel.

The third chapter is about poetry in the Óláfs saga Helga. Here the 168 poetic inserts are extracted from the text, dissected word by word, and sometimes preceded by a short foreword about their authors and their biographies. Lastly, this section is followed by an index of places; it is an extremely valuable asset for the full comprehension and appreciation of the saga itself. Unfortunately, the volume lacks the guidance of one or more maps for a visual location of the same places, and this is perhaps the weakest point of the whole edition. A few geographical plates, indeed, would have pleased all those readers who might feel a bit lost in Olaf’s peregrinations.

Once more, in this book, Sangriso proves his high-level scholarship and when the reader gets into his long (and at times intimidating) footnotes, s/he feels confident that his hand has been guided by a vast and reliable knowledge of the subject. Unlike the third volume of the Heimskringla, which I previously reviewed for Nordicum-Mediterraneum, Snorri’s text spans here over a large portion of the book, thus creating a good balance between eminently scholarly sections and pages that might appeal, instead, to any casual reader.

However, in this volume too, the analysis of the poetical inserts is clearly addressed to a small élite of specialists, who must be well-versed in Germanic philology. Other, more general readers, yet, can be equally pleased by the fluency of the translation and the captivating flavour of Old-Norse epic that, sometimes, gleams powerfully through Snorri’s words. This Olaf’s saga is actually highly recommended to any Medieval historian, insofar as it is a valuable primary source with regard to several aspects of 11th-century everyday life and a cherry-picking of marvels from that time and age.

GLOSSARIUM IURIS ROMANI – Latneskt-íslenskt Orðasafn Rómaréttar Jústiníanusar

Nútímalögfræði grundvallast að mörgu leyti á hugtökum Rómaréttar til forna og þess vegna er brýnt að nemendur í lögfræði kynni sér þau þegar á fyrstu misserum náms síns svo að þeir verði vel í stakk búnir að bera saman hin mismunandi réttarkerfi (Evrópu). Rómarétturinn er besta þjálfun fyrir tilvonandi lögmann, dómara eða stjórnmálamann til að læra að rökræða. Saga segir frá nýútskrifuðum stúdent sem að loknu námi sínu í klassískum fræðum og latínu sækir um auglýst starf hjá stóru fyrirtæki. Honum er boðið í viðtal þar sem hann er spurður af hverju hann telji sig hæfan til að vinna þar enda hafa fornmál eins og latína lítið eitt að segja í nútíma viðskiptum. En hann svarar um leið: «Þeir sem töluðu þetta mál reistu heimsveldi og stjórnuðu því í margar aldir». Þá var hann ráðinn… Það er ekki fráleitt að fullyrða það sama um námið í Rómarétti.

Sá sem þetta ritar varð að stunda nám í rétti Rómverja til forna í tvö misseri á fyrsta ári framhaldsnáms síns í kirkjurétti við háskóla San Pio X í Feneyjum. Þótt hann skildi ekki mikið í byrjun (enda guðfræðingur að mennt) og velti fyrir sér gagni og markmiði þessa námskeiðs gerði hann sér þó grein fyrir mikilvægi þess á síðari námsárum sínum þar sem blasti við honum eitt hugtak á fætur öðru sem á rót sina að rekja til Rómaréttar Jústiníanusar. Það er reyndar óhætt að fullyrða að Rómaréttur til forna er enn lifandi í þeirri einu stofnun sem er til allt frá tímum fornaldarinnar og kennir sig við Rómaborg, þ.e.a.s. í Rómversk-kaþólsku kirkjunni.

Rómarétturinn hefur alltaf verið fastur partur af lögfræðináminu í Háskólanum á Akureyri frá stofnun lagadeildarinnar árið 2003. En hér skarar þessi háskóli fram úr öllum háskólum á Íslandi enda eina menntasetrið hérlendis þar sem Rómaréttur er kenndur. Farið er yfir sögu, þróun, inntak og skipun Rómaréttar til forna með áherslu á einkamálarétt, samningarétt, skaðabótarétt og réttarfar Rómverja. Rætt er um helstu embættin í réttarkerfi Rómverja og einnig um réttarheimildir, lagasetningar, tilskipanir og lögskýringar. Niðurröðun og flokkun laga í Rómarétti er skoðuð, t.d. þrígreiningin í lög um persónur (de iure personarum), lög um hluti (de rebus) og réttarfar (de actionibus) eins og hún birtist í lagasafni Jústiníanusar I (f. 482, d. 565) keisara Austrómverska ríkisins, og kallast Corpus Iuris Civilis.

Kennslan fer fram á ensku með tilliti til erlendra námsmanna. Að fyrsta kennsluári sínu loknu fannst þeim sem þetta ritar hins vegar ágætis tækifæri til að búa til orðasafn á íslensku yfir helstu hugtök Rómaréttarins enda hafa flestir námsmenn ekki stundað latínu á menntaskólaárum sínum. Orðalistinn er langt frá því að vera fullkominn og er reyndar „work in progress“. Stefnt er að því að gefa aðeins yfirlit yfir þau hugtök sem fjallað var um í kennslunni. Stuðst var m.a. við tveggja binda ritið „Rómaveldi“ (1963/64) eftir Will Durant í íslenskri þýðingu Jónasar Kristjánssonar, sem og lögfræðiorðasafn íðorðabanka stofnunar Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum (→ Íðorðabankinn / arnastofnun.is).

Summary

Modern law is based in many ways on the concepts of ancient Roman law, therefore, it’s important that law students get to know them right at the beginning of their studies so that they will be well equipped to compare the different legal systems (in Europe). Roman law is the best training ground for a future lawyer, judge or politician to learn to argue. There’s the story of a student who recently graduated in ancient Greek and Latin and applies for an advertised job at a big company. He is invited to a job interview where he is asked why he thinks to be qualified to work there because classic languages such as Latin are not relevant in modern business. He replies simply: «Those who spoke this language built an empire and controlled it for centuries». And he was hired…

The author of this article had to study Roman law the entire first year of his studies in Canon law at the Faculty of San Pio X in Venice. Although he didn’t understand much at the beginning and wondered about the usefulness and aim of this course, however, he realized its importance in his later years, where he faced one concept or term after the other, which is rooted in ancient Roman law. Indeed, it is safe to assert that Roman law is still alive in the only institution that exists from the classic era onwards and is called Roman, i.e. in the Roman Catholic Church.

Roman law has always been part of the study of law at the University of Akureyri since the founding of the Faculty of law in 2003 – and it‘s the only faculty in Iceland where up until now Roman law is taught properly.

After his first year of teaching here in Akureyri, the author decided to write a glossary in Icelandic explaining the main concepts of Roman law, because most students have not studied Latin at all in their high school years.

 

1. Saga og stjórnskipan Rómaveldis

aedilis                                edíll, umsjónarmaður ríkisverka.

auctoritas                          áhrifavald, ábyrgðarvald ≠ → potestas!

Augustus                           hinn göfgi eða hinn tigni; heiðurstitill sem Octavíanus → princeps var fengið árið 27 f.Kr. sem sagan hefur fyrir misskilning gert að nafni hans. Áður hafði þetta orð aðeins verið haft um helgistaði og helga dóma. Titill þessi varð seinna að embættisheiti handhafa æðsta framkvæmda­valds í Rómaveldi og sameinaður fjölskyldu­nafni Caesar: Caesar Augustus.

Cæsar                               fjölskyldunafn  hins valdamikla Gaiusar Júlíusar sem síðan varð að titli fyrir þann sem fór með æsta vald í Rómaveldi: Caesar = keisari = Kaiser (þýska) = tsar (Rússakeisari).

censor                               sensor; sensorar voru tveir, kjörnir til fimm ára af → comitia centuriata. Annar þeirra sá um manntal það sem tekið var á fimm ára fresti og mat eignir borgaranna til skattlagningar og þátttöku í landsstjórn og styrjöldum. Sensorar skyldu rannsaka hæfni og feril allra þeirra sem sóttu  um embætti. Þeir vöktu yfir sæmd kvenna, fræðslu barna, meðferð þræla, innheimtu skatta, byggingarfram­kvæmdum ríkisins, leigu ríkiseigna og skipulegri ræktun landsins. Þeir gátu lækkað hvern sem var í mannvirðingu og vikið úr öldungaráðinu þeim sem sekir fundust um siðleysi eða glæpi.

clientes                              skjólstæðingar.

comitia centuriata              hundraðsdeildaþing; þetta þing tók nafn af því að hernum, og síðar þjóðinni allri, var skipt í centuriae, hundraðsdeildir, deildir sem upphaflega voru skipaðar hundrað mönnum hver. Flokkun þjóðarinnar í hundraðsdeildir hafði verið gerð bæði vegna skattgreiðslu og herþjónustu, og þá þótti Rómverjum skylt að atkvæðisréttur yrði að tiltölu við þá skatta sem menn greiddu og þá herskyldu sem þeim var lögð á herðar. Þetta hundraðsdeildaþing kaus hina æðri embættismenn, samþykkti eða felldi frumvörp þau sem fyrir það voru lögð af öldungaráðinu eða öðrum stjórnarmönnum, hóf styrjaldir og samdi frið. Það var hinn breiði grundvöllur sem bæði her og ríkisstjórn hvíldi á. Þó voru valdi þess mikil takmörk sett. Það kom því aðeins til fundar að það væri kallað saman af → consul eða → tribunus plebis. Það mátti ekki breyta neinu í tillögum þeirra, heldur einungis greiða atkvæði með eða móti.

comitia curiata                   kyndeildaþing (curiata → á latínu: cum ire = fara eða koma saman eða cum-vires = (karl-) menn sem mætast ): Ættahöfðingjar koma saman sem fulltrúar fyrir hinar þrjátíu deildir (curiae) kynflokkanna þriggja. Til loka þjóðveldisins hafði þetta kyndeildaþing því hlutverki að gegna að veita nýkjörnum embættismönnum stjórnvaldið, → imperium. En eftir hrun konungsveldisins missti kyndeildaþingið skjótlega öll önnur völd í hendur samkomu sem nefndist → comitia centuriata.

comitia tributa                    sveitaþing fólksins; á þessum þingum  var mönnum raðað samkvæmt ættbálki (tribus) og búsetu á grundvelli manntals. Hver sveit hafði eitt atkvæði, og auðmenn voru ekki metnir dýrar en fátæklingar. Öldungaráðið viðurkenndi rétt sveitaþingsins til löggjafar árið 287, og úr því jókst vald þess jafnt og þétt, svo að kringum 200 var það orðin helsta uppspretta einkalöggjafar í Rómaborg. Á sveitaþinginu fóru þó ekki heldur fram neinar almennar umræður. Einhver embættismaður, oftast → tribunus plebis, bar fram laga­frumvarp og reifaði það. Annar embættismaður mátti mæla gegn frumvarpinu, en þingið hlaut að láta sér nægja að hlýða á mál þeirra og segja síðan já eða nei.

concilium plebis                 alþýðuþing; samsvarar að mörgu leyti → comitia tributa nema að það kom saman undir forystu → tribunus plebis og var samansett einungis af → plebeium.

concilium principis              keisararáð, tuttugu manna ráðgjafanefnd → princeps; með tímanum hlutu úrskurðir þessa ráðs gildi sem tilskipanir öldungaráðsins ( → senatusconsulta).

consul                               ræðismaður, voru tveir og kjörnir til eins árs í senn, æðsta embætti lýðveldisins. Ræðismenn voru bundnir hvor af annars jafnræði, af samþykktum öldungaráðsins og af neitunarvaldi alþýðuforingja (→ tribunus plebis).

cursus honorum                 framabraut embættismannsins; honor = heiður af því að hann gegndi embætti sínu án endurgreiðslu. Þar af leiðandi var rómverska lýðræðið í reyndinni fámennisstjórn þeirra sem auðinn áttu og gátu þess vegna gefið kost á sér til embætta ríkisins.

dictator                              alræðismaður (einvaldur); í neyðarástandi sem öldunga­ráðið lýsti yfir (Videant consules ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat – “ræðismennirnir megi sjá svo um að ekkert mein verði unnið ríkinu”) mátti annar hvor ræðismannanna tveggja tilnefna alræðismann sem fékk óskorað vald yfir öllum mönnum og eignum, en hann mátti ekki eyða almannafé án samþykkis öldungaráðsins, og valdatími hans var bundinn við sex mánuði eða eitt ár.

dominatus                          einveldi; í sögu Rómaveldis tímabil frá 285–565 e.Kr. þar sem síðustu leifar hins lýðræðislega stjórnarkerfis voru lagðar niður og keisarinn fór með allt ríkisvald og var kallaður dominus = drottinn.

equites                              riddarar, kaupsýslu- eða fésýslumenn.

imperator                           aðalherstjóri eða herforingi; síðan samheiti fyrir → princeps og → Caesar Augustus. Á öðrum tungumálum tökuorð fyrir keisara: emperor (enska), empereur (franska), imperatore (ítalska), emperador (spænska).

imperium                           herstjórnarvald; einnig vald þeirra sem gegndu æðstu embættum þjóðveldisins (eins og → consul eða → praetor).

iurisdictio                           lögsaga, dómsvald.

monarchia                          konungdæmi; í sögu Rómar tímabilið frá 753–510 f.Kr.

patres (et) conscripti          “feður og meðskráðir” = öldungar úr stétt patrisíanna (feður) og úr röðum auðugra manna (einkum → equites) sem tókst með auðæfum sínum að ryðja sér braut upp í öldungaráðið.

patricii                               afkomendur feðranna, þ.e.a.s. afkomendur þeirra 100 höfðingja sem kjörnir voru af Rómúlusi við upphaf sögu Rómar

patronus                            verndari.

plebeius                             almúgamaður.

plebs                                 lýður, alþýða.

pontifex maximus               æðstiprestur hinna rómversku trúarbragða og forseti prestafélags sem allt fram á 5. öld f.Kr. var falið að sjá um túlkun laganna.

populus                             þjóð; allir frjálsir ríkisborgarar Rómar, patricíar og plebejar.

potestas                            vald; einkum vald → pater familias [sjá → persónuréttur]; einnig embættisvald æðstu stjórnarmanna ríkisins.

praetor                              pretor; dómstjóri eða dómsforseti.

praetor peregrinus             útlendingapretor, í fyrstu yfir erlenda menn í Rómaborg, síðan yfir alla Ítalíu og loks yfir skattlöndin. Var honum fengið vald til þess að bræða saman lög Rómverja og heimamanna á hverjum stað. Árlegar skipanir pretors þessa og úrskurðir skattlandsstjóra sköpuðu smám saman þann þjóðarrétt (→ ius gentium [sjá → réttarkerfi / almenn hugtök]) sem fylgt var í stjórn heimsveldisins.

praetor urbanus                 pretor Rómaborgar.

princeps (senatus)             hinn fyrsti eða oddviti (öldungaráðsins); titill sem Octavíanus Ágústus var fenginn árið 28 f.Kr. og sem hann hélt allt til æviloka. Í upphafi merkti þetta tignarheiti að nafn hans stæði efst á skrá öldunga, en brátt tók það að merkja stjórnanda ríkisins, og er af því komið orðið prins í nútíma­málum.

principatus                         í sögunni er stjórnarfar Octavíanusar og eftirmanna hans um næstu tvær aldir kallað “principat” eða oddvitastjórn. Var og eigi um algjört einveldi að ræða, því allt til dauða Commódusar (192 e.Kr.) viðurkenndu allir keisararnir, að minnsta kosti í orði kveðnu, að þeir væru einungis oddvitar öldungaráðsins (principes senatus) innan stjórnarkerfi lýðveldisins. Formlega séð tímabilið frá 27–285 e.Kr.

quaestor                            kvestor; embættismaður sem sér um ríkissjóðinn eða ríkishirsluna.

res publica                         lýðveldi, bókstaflega: „(opinbert) mál sem varðar alla“. Skv. gríska sagnfræðingnum Pólybíos (2. öld f.Kr.) er hin rómverska res publica besta stjórnskipan í heiminum: Takmarkað lýðræði er fólgið í löggjafarvaldi þinganna, höfðingjaveldi undir forustu öldungaráðsins, tvíveldi undir skammvinnri stjórn hverra tveggja ræðismanna, einstöku sinnum einveldi þegar kjörnir voru alræðismenn. Samkvæmt Cíceró er einveldi besta stjórnarfarið þegar einvaldurinn er góður, en verst allra stjórnhátta þegar hann er illur. Höfðingjaveldi er einnig gott ef bestu mennirnir fá að stjórna. Lýðræði er gott þegar fólkið er dyggðugt. Heppilegasta stjórnarfarið telur hann því samsteypu úr þessu þrennu eins og Pólybíos. Ef engar hömlur eru á lagðar breytist hins vegar einræðið í harðstjórn, höfðingjaveldið í fámennisstjórn og lýðræðið í skrílræði og óstjórn. Í sögu Rómar á tímabilinu frá 510-27 f.Kr.

senatus                             öldungaráð, upphaflega ráðgjafasamkunda patrisíanna. En ættahöfðingjar þeir sem í öndverðu skipuðu ráðið, voru smám saman leystir af hólmi af fyrrverandi → consules og → censores, og sensorarnir höfðu vald til að fylla tölu ráðsmanna í 300 með því að nefna til ráðsins menn af stétt patrisía eða riddara. Menn sátu í ráðinu ævilangt.

tribunus plebis                   alþýðuforingi eða málssvari alþýðu í hvívetna, eftir 367 f.Kr. tíu talsins. Hlutverk þeirra var að vernda lýðinn fyrir ofríki landsstjórnarmanna, og þeir gátu með orði → veto stöðvað allar athafnir stjórnvaldanna hvenær sem einhverjum þeirra bauð svo við að horfa. Þessir tíu menn voru sacrosancti (= friðhelgir), sem kallað var: það var talið helgispjöll og lífllátssök að beita þá ofbeldi nema á tímum lögmætrar alræðisstjórnar (→ dictator).

triumviratus                           þremenningasamband, þríeyki eða þrístjóraveldi (1. Crassus, Pompeius og Caesar; 2. Octavíanus [síðar Ágústus], Markús Antoníus og Lepídus).

veto                                   ég banna: neitunarvald alþýðuforingja til að vernda lýðinn fyrir ofríki landsstjórnarinnar. Með veto gátu þeir stöðvað allar athafnir stjórnavaldanna hvenær sem einhverjum þeirra bauð svo við að horfa.

 

2. Réttarkerfi Rómaveldis

a. Almenn hugtök

constitutiones principum                           skjalfestar skipanir keisara; þær birtust í fjórum myndum: 1) edicta, þ.e.a.s. princeps gefur út tilskipanir í krafti embættisvalds síns sem giltu um allt heimsveldið; 2)  decreta eða úrskurðir hans í dómarasæti höfðu lagagildi eins og hjá öðrum embættismönnum; 3) rescripta, þ.e.a.s. princeps veitti skrifleg svör við fyrirspurnum um ýmis vafamál annaðhvort bréflega (epistulum) þegar um var að ræða fyrirspurn embættismanns eða sem ákvörðun þar sem skrifað var undir beiðni óbreytts borgara sem hafði snúið sér til hans (subscriptio); 4) mandata eða fyrirmæli þau sem keisarar gáfu embættismönnum og sem urðu með tímanum ítarleg stjórnsýslulög.

Corpus iuris civilis              lagasafn eða Rómaréttur Jústiníanusar sem skiptist í fernt: Codex (heildstæð og samræmd löggjöf eða safn tilskipana keisara – keisaralögin) sem á rót að rekja til tilrauna sem áður höfðu verið gerðar til að bókfesta rómverska réttinn; Digesta eða Pandectae (útdrættir úr álitsgerðum, úrskurðum og fræðiritgerðum nafntogaðra lögfræðinga); Institutiones (inngangsfræðin eða kennslubók í rómverskum rétti fyrir laganema; eins konar almenn lögfræði) og Novellae (nýmæli, nánar tiltekið lög sem sett voru eftir að Codex hafði birst).

decemviri                           tímenningar sem sömdu → leges duodecim tabularum (tólftaflnalög). Flestir telja, að verkefnið þeirra hafi verið tvíþætt, þ.e.a.s. að bókfesta gildandi réttarvenjur og einnig að setja nýmæli og fella brott úrelt ákvæði.

edictum                             tilskipun; ýmis lagaleg fyrirmæli sem voru minni háttar eða sérstaks eðlis voru sett í mynd tilskipana (edicta) af embættismönnum Rómaborgar. Hver nýr borgarpretor (praetor urbanus) gaf út edictum praetorium eða edictum perpetuum sem kunngjört var af kallara á Rómatorgi og letrað á vegg. Þar voru birtar þær lagareglur sem pretorinn hugðist fylgja í dómsstörfum ( → formula, sjá → réttarfar) og öðrum athöfnum á embættisári sínu. Svipaðar tilskipanir voru útgefnar af útlendigapretorum (praetores peregrini). Samkvæmt stjórnarvaldi sínu máttu pretorar skýra nánar gildandi lög. Þannig samtengdust hin fornu grundvallarlög Rómverja (→ ius civile) og lifandi dómsstörf pretoranna. Þegar lög eða lagagreinar voru endurteknar í tilskipunum pretora mörg ár í röð (edictum tralaticium), urðu þau ákveðinn þáttur í hinum svonefnda → ius honorarium. Hitt bar þó einnig iðulega við að pretor gengi í gegn tilskipunum og stefnu forvera síns, og ríkti svo óvissa í löggjöf og gjörræði í dómum. Til þess að binda enda á óvissu þessa bauð Hadríanus keisari að steypa öllum embættismannalögum saman og gefa þeim varanlegt gildi (edictum perpetuum, 130 e.Kr.). Skyldi keisarinn einn hafa vald til að breyta þeim.

ius                                     réttur / réttarkerfi sem nær bæði yfir skráðan og óskráðan rétt.

ius civile                            réttur Rómaborgar, síðar ríkisréttur á grundvelli → leges duodecim tabularum og annarra lagasetninga.

ius gentium                        alþjóðaréttur; réttur í gildi meðal allra þjóða og auk þess réttur til að leysa mál  milli rómverskra ríkisborgara og útlendinga.

ius honorarium                   „heiðursréttur“; réttur í krafti ráðherravalds æðstu embættismanna rómverska lýðveldisins;  «heiðursréttur» af því að þeir gegndu embætti sínu án endurgreiðslu; einnig kallað ius praetorium enda voru það helst → praetores eða dómstjórar sem leyfðu nýjar aðferðir innan réttarkerfisins.

ius naturale                        náttúru- eða eðlisréttur sem allar skepnur (bæði menn og dýr) fylgja.

ius privatum                       einkaréttur sem varðar samskipti milli einstaklinga.

ius publicum                      réttur sem varðar ríkið eða samskipti milli einstaklings og ríkisvalds.

ius non scriptum                óritaður / óskráður réttur; frekar óskipulegt safn af ættarvenjum, konungstilskipunum og boðorðum prestanna → mos maiorum.

ius scriptum                       ritaður / skráður réttur.

ius respondendi ex auctoritate principis       leyfi veitt útvöldum lögspekingum til að svara fyrir hönd keisara eða princeps.

leges duodecim tabularum        tólftalfnalög; fram á 5. öld f.Kr. höfðu patrisíaklerkar varðveitt lög Rómverja og skorið úr lögmálsþrætum. Þeir höfðu haldið lagaskrám sínum leyndum og notað einokun sína og samband laganna við trú og helgisiði sem vopn gegn breytingum á þjóðfélagsháttum. Eftir langvarandi þóf sendi ráðið nefnd þriggja patrisía til Grikklands að rannsaka löggjöf Sólons og annarra grískra lagasmíða (árið 451). Þegar þeir komu aftur heim að þremur árum liðnum, kaus þjóðfundurinn tíu menn → decemviri til að setja ný lög og veitti þeim alræðisvald í Róm um tveggja ára skeið. Löggjafarnir breyttu fornum réttarvenjum Rómverja og settu þeim hin frægu tólftaflnalög, sem samþykkt voru á þjóðþingi með nokkrum breytingum og síðan höfð uppi á torginu til sýnis hverjum þeim sem lesa vildi – og lesa kunni. Þessi hljóðláti atburður olli aldahvörfum í sögu Rómverja. Nú var í elstu mynd letrað lagakerfi þess réttarkerfis sem síðar kallast Rómaréttur. Töflurnar tólf voru á tvennan veg bylting í lögum: Nú voru Rómalög birt almenningi, og jafnframt gerð veraldleg. Töflurnar tólf  tóku við af óvissu og óskráðum lagavenjum og urðu brátt grundvöllur almennrar menntunar. Fram á daga Cícerós máttu allir námsmenn læra þær utanbókar, og eflaust hafa þær átt drjúgan þátt í að móta hina ströngu og stefnuföstu, rökfimu og löghneigðu skapgerð Rómverja. Þær voru auknar og endurbættar aftur og aftur, með setningu nýrra laga, pretoraboðum, ráðssamþykktum og tilskipunum keisara, en voru þó grundvöllur rómverskra laga í 900 ár allt til daga Jústiníans keisara, en með honum hofst nýr þáttur rómverskrar réttarsögu.

lex                                     lagaboð eða lagabálkur; lögin voru í senn lex og → ius = lagaboð og réttur. Lex sem ritað lagaboð er partur af ius. Lagafrumvörp embættismanna ríkisins voru afgreidd á hinum ýmsu þingum (→ comitia, sjá → saga Rómaveldis).

magistratuum edicta          lagalega bindandi ákvarðanir dómsforseta (praetor).

mos maiorum                     siðir feðranna; allt fram á 4. öld e.Kr. fyrirmynd siðgæðis og uppsretta laganna.

plebiscitum                        úrskurðir alþýðunnar eða lög afgreidd af alþýðudeild Rómaborgar (→ concilium plebis, sjá → saga Rómaveldis) sem allt frá 287 f.Kr. (lex Hortensia) tóku einnig gildi fyrir þjóðina alla, þ.e.a.s einnig fyrir heldri borgara (patricii).

principum placita                löggjafarvald → princeps; tók á sig mismunandi form.

responsa prudentium         lagatúlkun lögspekinganna; oft leituðu lögmenn og dómendur ráða lögspekinganna. Smám saman höfðu skrifleg svör þeirra, samkvæmt óskráðri venju, nálega sama gildi sem lög væru. Ágústus veitti úrskurðum þeirra fullkomið lagagildi með tveimur skilyrðum: að lögspekingurinn hefði fengið hjá keisraranum → ius respondendi eða rétt til að svara spurningum um lagaefni og að svarið væri sent innsiglað til dómara þess sem fjallaði um hlutaðeigandi mál. Á dögum Jústiníanusar voru þessi responsa eða lagasvör orðin mikil fræðigrein og bókmenntir og urðu þau uppspretta og grundvöllur hinna miklu lögbóka hans → Corpus iuris civilis, sér í lagi Digestum.

senatusconsultum              formleg ráðgjöf eða ályktun öldungaráðsins sem hafði þó ekki lagagildi á tímum þjóðveldis. Þau töldust vera tillögur sem beint var til embættismanna. En í reynd voru áhrif þess svo sterk að embættismenn létu vart bregðast að hlýða fyrirmælum þess. Og lögðu sjaldan fyrir þjóðþing nokkur þau nýmæli sem ekki höfðu þegar hlotið blessun öldungaráðsins. En smám saman urðu þau ákveðin tilmæli og fyrirskipanir, og frá og með  tímum → principatus (sjá → saga Rómaveldis) öðluðust þau fullkomið lagagildi.

aequitas                            að taka tillit til ástæðnanna í málaferlum umfram bókstaflega túlkun laganna (→ ius honorarium).

b. Persónuréttur 

adoptio                              ættleiðing persónu sem er → alieni iuris og færist úr valdi eins → paterfamilias yfir til annars.

adrogatio                           ættleiðing persónu sem er þegar → sui iuris og fer undir vald annars → paterfamilias.

agnatus                             ættingi eða frændi í karllegg skyldur öðrum í gegnum sama → paterfamilias.

alieni iuris                          að vera háð(ur) valdi annars (= alieni) sem er einmitt → paterfamilias; lagalega ósjálfstæð(ur).

auctoritas tutoris                samþykki forræðismanns í ákveðnum viðskipta­samskiptum skjólstæðings síns.

capacitas agere                 hæfni til að eiga í samskiptum sem eru lagalega bindandi einnig í umboði fyrir hönd annars manns (t.d. sonur undir valdi → patria potestas eða jafnvel þræll þar sem báðir njóta ekki [enn] → capacitas iuridica).

capacitas iuridica               lögmæt hæfni þess sem er ekki lengur undir valdi → paterfamilias eða → dominus.

capitis deminutio                «stöðuminnkun» sem gat verið þrennskonar: frelsissvipting, svipting ríkisborgararéttar (→ civitas) eða brottvikning úr eigin fjölskyldu → emancipatio.

civitas                                borgararéttur Rómar, síðar ríkisborgararéttur; rómverskir borgarar voru allir þeir sem tilheyrt höfðu rómverskri ættsveit eða fengið inngöngu í hana með ættleiðingu (→ adoptio eða → adrogatio), lausn úr ánauð (→ manumissio) eða leyfi stjórnvalda. Þegnréttur þessi var í þremur þrepum: 1) Fullgildir borgarar (cives optimo iure) sem höfðu fjórþætt réttindi: kosningarrétt (ius suffragii), embættisrétt (ius honorum), rétt til að giftast frjálsborinni persónu (ius connubii) og rétt til að gera verslunar­samninga sem verndaðir voru af rómverskum lögum (ius commercii). 2) Borgarar án kosningarréttar sem höfðu rétt til hjónabands og samninga, en ekki til kosninga eða embættis. 3) Leysingjar sem höfðu kosningarrétt og samningsrétt, en ekki hjónabands- eða embættisrétt. Fullgildir borgarar höfðu auk þess ýmisleg sérréttindi samkvæmt einkalögum: Faðir hafði vald yfir börnum sínum (→ patria potestas), eiginmaður eða → paterfamilias yfir konu sinni (→ cum manu), eigandi yfir eignum sínum (→ dominium, sjá → eignarréttur) og frjáls maður yfir öðrum samkvæmt samningi.

clientes                                   skjólstæðingar; þeir, sem ekki voru merðlimir ættar (gentis), voru réttlausir, en þó ekki alltaf meðhöndlaðir sem þrælar. Oft voru þeir teknir upp í einstakar patrisíaættir, sem óvirkir lægra settir meðlimir og voru í þjónustu þeirra. Nefndust þeir clientes, en sá, sem tók þá upp í ætt sína. Nefndist verndari → patronus. Voru þeir háðir verndara í einu og öllu, en honum bar að veita bæði þeim og eingum þeirra hvarvetna vernd, koma fra fyrir þeirra hönd í málum. Urðu þá clientes þessir nokkurs konar hálflfrjáls stétt.

cognatus                           blóðskyldur ættingi með eða án sama → paterfamilias.

coniugium                          hjónaband, bókstaflega: «samoka». Að brúðkaupsveislu lokinni lyfti brúðguminn brúðinni yfir þröskuld heimilis, fékk henni lykla hússins, og síðan beygðu bæði höfuð sín undir ok til að jarteikna band það er þau tengdi saman. Fyrir því var hjónabandið kallað coniugium = samoka.

conubium                           brúðkaupsréttur.

cum / sine manu                hjónaband var ýmist cum manu eða sine manu (manus = hönd sem tákn fyrir vald eða eign  sbr. → emancipatio eða → manumissio), þ.e. cum manu ef brúðurin og allar eigur hennar var selt undir vald eiginmanns (ef hann var einnig → pater familias) eða tengdaföður, ellegar skyldi hún sem fyrr lúta forsjá föður eða eigin → pater familias síns (= sine manu).

cura / curatela                    umsjón eða forræði til að annast málefni ungra karlmanna sui iuris komnir að lögaldri en enn ekki orðnir 25 ára eða vanþroskaðra og ekki viðskiptahæfra sui iuris.

curator                               lögráðandi, sá sem fer með forsjá ungra karlmanna sui iuris komnir að lögaldri en enn ekki orðnir 25 ára eða vanþroskraðra og ekki viðskiptahæfra sui iuris.

dos                                    heimanfylgja, heimanmundur.

emancipatio                       „láta af hendi“ (e/ex manu; manus eða hönd sem tákn valds yfir persónum eða hlutum); sonur eða dóttir verða sui iuris fyrir ákvörðun → paterfamilias þeirra og yfirgefa þar með sína eigin fjölskyldu.

familia                               faðir og móðir, hús þeirra og lausafé, börn þeirra, kvæntir synir, sonabörn þeirra og sonakonur, þrælar og skjólstæðingar – þetta allt til samans var hin rómverska familia sem fremur mætti kalla heimili en fjölskyldu, ekki hópur náinna skyldmenna, heldur fólk og fé sem allt var undirgefið elsta karlmanni flokksins → pater familias.

gens                                  ætt; flokkur frjálsborinna manna sem röktu kyns sitt til eins forföður, báru nafn hans, blótuðu guðina sameiginlega og voru skuldbundnir til samhjálpar í friði og stríði. Hvert sveinbarn bar þrjú nöfn: eiginnafn (prænomen), t.d. Públíus, Marcus, Caius; ættarnafn (nomen), svo sem Cornelíus, Túllíus, Júlíus, og viðurnefni (cognomen), svo sem Scipíó, Cíceró, Caesar. Konur voru að jafnaði nefndar ættarnafninu einu: Cornelía, Túllía, Cládía, Júlía.

gentiles                          ættflokksmenn.

impubes                            drengur til 14 ára aldurs, stúlka til 12 ára aldurs.

infans                                barn allt til 7 ára aldurs.

libertus / libertinus              leysingi; þræll sem hefur öðlast frelsi.

mancipium/mancipia          «handhöfn» undir valdi → pater familias eins og eiginkona og börn (sem eru þó frjálsbornir ríkisborgarar!), uns honum þóknast að gefa þeim frelsi, sleppa af þeim hendinni (t.d. með → emancipatio).

manumissio                       að veita þræli frelsi.

paterfamilias                      «faðir fjölskyldunnar» eða höfuð fjölskyldunnar (elsti lifandi karlmaður flokksins sem getur verið faðir, afi eða langafi) sem lýtur ekki stjórn annars manns, þ.e.a.s. ef sonur kvæntist meðan faðir hans var á lífi, hélst föðurvaldið yfir barnabörnunum í höndum afa þeirra.

patria potestas                   föðurvald; persónulegt vald höfuðs fjölskyldunnar; hann einn átti öll réttindi að lögum á fyrstu tímum þjóðveldisins; innan fjölskyldunnar er hann sá eini sem mátti kaupa, eiga og selja fasteignir eða gera samninga og þurfti að samþykkja hjónabönd þeirra sem lutu valdi hans.

patronus                            eftir að hafa veitt þræli frelsi varð fyrrverandi → dominus að verndara leysingjans.

peculium                            fé eða eign í umsjón persónu sem lýtur stjórn sem sonur eða þræll og sem hún má nota að vild en er samt eign → paterfamilias eða → dominus.

puber                                 drengur allt frá 14 ára, stúlka allt frá 12 ára aldri.

pupillus                              skjólstæðingur.

servus                               þræll sem lagalega séð varð ekkert annað en (mennskur) hlutur (res) og naut þar með ekki persónuréttinda. Þrælar máttu ekkert eiga, erfa eða gefa. Þeir gátu ekki gengið í lögmætt hjónaband. Börn þeirra voru talin óskírgetin/óskilgetin, og ambáttarbörn voru talin til þræla jafnvel þótt faðirinn væri frjáls maður.

status                                staða persónu sem greindist af þrem einkennum: libertas (frelsi), civitas (borgararéttur) og familia (fjölskylda). Aðeins sá eða sú sem bjó yfir öllum þessum einkennum var persóna í fyllstu merkingu orðsins: hann / hún var frjáls en ekki þræll, var ríkisborgari en ekki útlendingur og tilheyrði rómverskri fjölskyldu.

sui iuris                              að vera óháð(ur) → patria potestas; lagalega sjálfstæð(ur).

tutela                                 forræði yfir barni undir lögaldri eða ævilöng forsjá konu (tutela mulierum) sem eru sui iuris og lúta þar með ekki lengur stjórn → paterfamilias.

tutor                                  lögráðandi, sá sem fer með forsjá barns undir lögaldri eða konu (tutela mulierum) sem eru sui iuris.

c. Eignarréttur

animus                              hugarfar; í vissum tilvikum þarf animus að vera til staðar svo að lagalegar afleiðingar koma til greina, t.d. við eignarnám án titils (animus possidendi) eða við þjófnað (animus furandi).

bona fide                           „í góðri trú”; hugarfar manns sem telur sér trú um að haga sér rétt í samskiptum (t.d. í samningum) eins og sæmir góðum borgara.

bonae fidei possessor        sá sem hefur eignast e-ð af samningsaðila sem er í raun og veru ekki lögmætur eigandi; en hann getur hlotið titil eigandans í gegnum → usucapio.

bonorum possessio            eignarhald arfs heimilað af pretor þegar ekki var hægt að ganga að erfðum samkvæmt → ius civile (sjá → réttarkerfi Rómaveldis). Í gegnum → usucapio varð þess konar erfingi þá að löglegum eiganda.

commodatum                     útlán mestmegnis → res mobilis til notkunar eða afnota án þess að krafist sé leigugjalds; ófullkominn tvíhliða samningur, þ.e.a.s.  lántakandi einn skuldbindur sig til að skila því sem hann fékk til afnota en skyldur lánveitandans gætu hafist að ákveðnum skilyrðum uppfylltum.

conducere                         taka á leigu.

consensus                         samkomulag, samþykki.

contractus                         samningur.

contrectatio                        að skipta sér af eign óviðkomandi manns → furtum.

creditor                              kröfuhafi, lánardrottinn eða  skuldheimtumaður, þ.e.a.s. lögvarin heimild tiltekins aðila, kröfuhafa, til þess að krefjast þess af öðrum aðila, skuldara, að hann geri e-ð eða láti e-ð ógert.

crimen                               afbrot, glæpur eða meiri háttar refsivert ásetningsbrot, oftast gegn almennum hegningarlögum, afbrot, sem sætir opinberri ákæru (crimen publicum).

culpa                                 (refsivert) gáleysi, ófyrirsynja eða óvarkárni sem í vissum tilvikum (culpa lata = að gera sér ekki grein fyrir því sem hver og einn veit) jafngildir → dolus.

custodia                             ábyrgð manns á hlutum annarra sem eru í hans umsjón (detentio) t.d. → depositum → commodatum → locutio conductio án þess þó að hann ætli að eiga þá (animus possidendi).

damnum emergens            fjárhagslegt tjón í kjölfar tjóns á eign eða eignarmissi (→ Lex Aquilia).

damnum iniuria datum       skaði á eign annarra (→ Lex Aquilia).

debitor                               skuldari, sá aðili að kröfusambandi sem á að inna greiðslu af hendi til samræmis við kröfuna.

delictum                             (lög-)brot eða sú háttsemi sem er andstæð réttarreglum og gefur þeim sem verður fyrir því tækifæri til að leita réttar síns fyrir dómstól.

depositum                          samningur um að geyma e-ð (→ res mobilis) án þess að fá endurgoldið; ófullkominn tvíhliða samningur, þ.e.a.s. aðeins sá sem tekur við hlut skuldbindur sig til að skila því sem hann hefur fengið í gæslu en skyldur hins aðilans gætu hafist að ákveðnum skilyrðum uppfylltum.

diligentia                            nákvæmni eða vandvirkni í umsjón hluta sem faldir eru manni til umsjónar (t.d. í → depositum). Krafist er að haga sér eins og bonus et diligens paterfamilias.

dolus                                 blekking eða fyrirætlun um að villa um fyrir samningsaðila á lymskulegan hátt (sjá einnig í réttarfar → exceptio doli).

dominium                           eignir (hlutir og þar með einnig þrælir) á valdi eigandans (= dominus).

dominus                            eigandi hluta (einnig þræla!).

emere                                kaupa.

emptio venditio                  kaupsamningur; fullkominn tvíhliða samningur milli tveggja einstaklinga.

error                                  villa.

exheredatio                        brottfall erfðaréttar.

extraneus heres                 erfingi sem kemur að utan, þ.e. utan fjölskydunnar.

fideicommissum                 fyrirmæli í erfðaskrá þar sem hinum löglega arftaka er falið að láta hluta af arfinum renna til manns sem á ekki fullan erfðarétt skv. lögum.

furtum                               þjófnaður.

hereditas                           arfur; samheiti á þeim réttindum sem ganga að erfðum (eign, kröfur, skuldir), þ.e. skipta um eigendur við andlát manns, arfleifanda.

heres                                 erfingi sem tekur við eignum, kröfum og skuldum hins látna.

honorarium                        þóknun.

hypotheca                          veðlán

in bonis habere                  sá sem hefur eignast t.d. → res mancipi af lögmætum eiganda án þess þó að eignaskipti hafið farið fram skv. lögum (→ mancipatio); þar með vantar hann titil eigandans; en hann getur hlotið titil eigandans í gegnum → usucapio.

iniuria                                móðgun eða lögbrot sem felst í því að ráðast á líkama annars aðila eða svívirða hann.

in iure cessio                     formleg afhending eignar fyrir dómstóli pretors þar sem sá sem tekur við hlutum lýsir hátíðlega yfir að vera eigandi á meðan sá þegir sem lætur þá af hendi.

intestatio                            erfðaröð án erfðaskrár.

iura in re aliena                  réttir í hlutum / eign annars aðila (t.d. vegaréttindi →  via).

Lex Aquilia                         lög frá 3. öld f.Kr. sem heimila að innheimta skaðabætur af þeim sem hefur af ásettu ráði eða af gáleysi valdið tjóni á eigum annarra (→ damnum iniuria datumdamnum emergens lucrum cessans).

locare                                leigja út.

locatio conductio                samningur á grundvelli samþykkis tveggja aðila til 1) að leigja út (færanlegan eða ófæranlegan) hlut (locatio conductio rei) til 2) að leigja út þjónustu (locatio conductio operarum) eða til 3) að láta framkvæma vinnu á hlut (locatio conductio operis). Fullkominn tvíhliða samningur.

lucrum cessans                 tjón á hagnaði í kjölfar tjóns á eign eða vegna eignarmissis í heild (→ Lex Aquilia).

mancipatio                         hátíðleg afhending eignar í votta viðurvist fyrirskipuð fyrir → res mancipi, → emancipatio ( sjá → persónuréttur) eða → testamentum. Formlega numin úr gildi á tímum Jústiníanusar.

mancipium                         frumform eignanna, oftast fengið og aflað með eigin hendi (= manu capere); handhöfn.

mandatum                         umboð; samningur á grundvelli samþykkis tveggja aðila þar sem annar aðilinn lofar að gera hinum greiða án þess þó að þiggja greiðslu fyrir það; ófullkominn tvíhliða samningur, þ.e.a.s. aðeins sá sem tekur við umboði skuldbindur sig til að gera það sem honum er falið en skyldur hins aðilans gætu hafist að ákveðnum skilyrðum uppfylltum.

metus                                hótun eða ógnun til að neyða annan aðila til gera samning (sjá einnig undir réttarfar → exceptio metus).

mutuum                             lán á varningi  til neyslu; sá sem tekur við varningi eins og víni, korni eða olíu gerist eigandi þessa og skuldbindur sig til að endurgreiða lánveitanda sama magn í sömu gæðum (tandumdem); einhliða samningur.

necessarius heres             neyðarerfingi, oftast þræll sem tekur við þegar arfurinn er skuldir einar.

obligatio                             skylda; skuldbinding sem hefst með samningi.

occupatio                           að gerast frumeigandi hlutar sem hefur ekki verið í eign annars manns (res nullius) eins og eyjar eða villidýr.

pignus                               pantur; veð

possessio                          eignarhald án löglegs titils; einhver gerir eigna annars að sinni.

pretium                              verð.

procurator                          umsjónarmaður sem sér um (viðskipta-) mál annars manns eftir að hafa fengið fullt umboð til þess.

proprietas                          lögleg eign sem nýtur verndar erga omnes (gagnvart öllum).

rapina / vi bonorum raptorum          rán; lausir munir annarra teknir með valdbeitingu (vis).

res communes                   hlutir í almannaeigu.

res corporales                    áþreifanlegir hlutir.

res divini iuris                     hlutir guðdómlega réttarins.

res extra commercio          hlutir undanskildir viðskiptum.

res humani iuris                 hlutir mannlega réttarins.

res immobiles                    fastir hlutir (hús, lóð = oftast fasteignir).

res in commercio               hlutir í viðskiptum.

res incorporales            óáþreifanlegir hlutir eins og samningar og kröfur og skuldir sem fylgja þeim.

res mancipi                        hlutir eins og í → res immobiles á ítalskri grund, vegaréttindi (→ via), þrælar og burðardýr sem krefjast → mancipatio í eignarskiptum, þ.e.a.s. sérstakrar hátíðlegrar athafnar í votta viðurvist.

res mobiles                        lausafé (í merkingunni: færanlegir hlutir).

res nec mancipi                 hlutir sem ekki krefjast mancipatio í viðskiptum og eru einfaldlega afhentir í → traditio.

res nullius                          hlutur sem hefur ekkir verið fyrr í eign annars manns.

res publica                         hlutir í ríkiseign.

res religiosae                     heilagir hlutir og staðir (eins og greftrunarstaðir).

res sacrae                        helgigripir sem njóta bannhelgi (eins og musteri).

res sanctae                    helgihlutir undir sérstakri vernd guðanna (borgarmúrar og borgarhlið).

res universitatis                  hlutir í almannaeign.

res                                    hlutur; annar hluti Rómaréttar Jústiníanusar sem fjallar um hlutaréttinn.

societas                             (viðskipta-) félag á grundvelli samnings þar sem fleiri aðilar samþykkja að deila ávinningum og töpum.

solutio (≠ vinculum)            samningsslit skv. ákvæðum samnings, þ.e.a.s. upplausn samnings með því að gera það sem kveðið er á um í samningi.

stipulatio                            munnlegur samningur að hefðbundnum hætti á grundvelli ákveðinna spurninga milli samningsaðilanna («Lofar þú mér að gefa mér hitt og þetta? Ég lofa þér að gefa þér hitt og þetta»). Hér er um að ræða klassískan einhliða samning stricti iuris, þ.e.a.s. aðeins annar aðilinn (= sá sem svarar) skuldbindur sig til að gera það sem felst í samningi eða loforði. Stipulatio gat þjónað sem einskonar frumform samnings fyrir viðskipti milli einstaklinga.

suus heres                         «síns eigin erfingi» = sonur eða dóttir sem verður → sui iuris við andlát → paterfamilias (→ persónuréttur) og tekur við fjölskyldueignum.

testamenti factio                lögmætt umboð til að skrifa undir erfðaskrá.

testamentum                     erfðaskrá.

traditio                       einföld eignarskipti ( → res non mancipi) sem krefjast ekki → mancipatio.

usucapio                            að verða löglegur eigandi þeirra hluta sem maður hefur þegar undir hendi (með animus possidendi) að liðnum fyrningarfresti (tvö ár fyrir → res immobiles og eitt ár fyrir → res mobiles).

usufructus                         afnota- eða nýtingarréttur sem heimilar að uppskera ávexti sem kunna að vaxa á grundu annars manns.

vendere                             selja.

via                                     «vegaréttindi»; sá sem nýtur þessara réttinda má fara yfir eign annars manns sem kann að liggja milli tveggja hluta eign lands síns (→ iura in re aliena ).

vinculum (≠ solutio)            band milli tveggja samningsaðila.

vis                                     valdbeiting; brotaþoli getur höfðað mál gegn geranda bæði skv. → ius privatum og → ius publicum.

d. Réttarfar

arbitrium                            gerðardómur; á tímum einveldis (dominatus) endanleg úrlausn deilumáls utan dómstóls ef báðir deiluaðilarnir komu sér saman um það.

actio                                  “verknaður”; réttur rómversks borgara til að hefja málaferli.

actio bonae fidei                málaferli sem leyfði dómaranum að taka tillit til ýmissa ástæðna eða staðreynda sem ekki koma beinlínis fram í → formula. Dómstjórinn veitti dómaranum svigrúm til að meta góða trú eða trúverðugleika (bona fides) deiluaðilanna beggja.

actio civilis                         málaferli á grundvelli laganna; einnig kölluð actio in ius concepta.

actio in factum                   málaferli sem leyfa dómaranum að hefja rannsóknina á grundvelli ákveðinna staðreynda sem sannast við rannsóknina; ein af actiones honorariae (→ ius honorarium, sjá → réttarkerfi).

actio in personam              málaferli á grundvelli (viðskipta-)samskipta tveggja einstaklinga sem hófust með samningi (→ contractus) eða með lögbroti (→ delictum) annars aðila.

actio in rem                       málaferli á grundvelli samskipta milli einstaklings og hluts sem hann á (res), oftast til að endurheimta eignina (→ rei vindicatio).

actio iudicati                       ef sá sem hefur verið dæmdur sekur vildi ekki greiða skuld sína innan ákveðins tíma gat ákærandinn hafið ný málaferli gegn honum til að neyða hann að gera það sem honum bar að gera samkvæmt úrskurði dómarans.

actio poenalis                     málaferli gegn þeim sem hefur valdið tjóni (→  delictum).

actio Publiciana                  málaferli (in rem) heimiluð af praetor sem leiðbeinir dómaranum að viðurkenna sem staðreynd að skilyrði fyrir usucapio (= að verða löglegur eigandi að liðnum fyrningarfresti) hafi verið uppfyllt (einnig kallað actio fictitia); ein af actiones honorariae (→ ius honorarium, sjá → réttarkerfi).

rei vindicatio  (actio)           eignarkrafa; málaferli til að endurheimta eign sína.

actio stricti iuris                  málaferli sem veita dómaranum ekkert svigrúm til að taka tillit til ástæðna sem ekki er gert ráð fyrir í formúlu, t.d. málaferli á grundvelli → stipulatio (sjá eignarréttur).

actio utilis                          málaferli á grundvelli staðreynda sem ekki er gert ráð fyrir beinlínis í lögunum en sem líkjast þeim að breyttu breytanda; ein af  actiones honorariae (→ ius honorarium, sjá → réttarkerfi).

actor                                  sá sem sækir um málaferli; í sakamálum accusator (ákærandi) og í einkamálum petitor eða postulator (sá sem krefst réttar síns).

appellatio                           áfrýjun; þegar aðili dómsmáls leitar endurskoðunar á dómi um efni máls með málskoti til æðra dómstóls. Ekki var gert ráð fyrir því að skjóta máli til hærra dómstigs á tímum lýðveldisins. Úrskurður dómarans var endanlegur. En frá og með tíma principatus mátti áfrýja málinu til næsthæsta embættismanns og í vissum tilvikum til sjálfs keisarans. Á tímum einveldis (dominatus) var dómskerfi háttað þannig: 1. stig héraðsstjóri (eða → iudex datus í hans umboði), 2. stig umdæmisstjóri (vicarius) eða hirðsstjóri keisarans (præfectus prætorio); 3. stig keisari (nema praefectus praetorio hefði dæmt á 2. stigi enda var hann álitinn staðgengill keisarans).

apud iudicem                     síðasti partur málaferlanna frammi fyrir dómara sem var óbreyttur borgari allt til tíma principatus; hann sat réttarhaldið á grundvelli þeirra staðreynda sem embættismaður hins opinbera hafði viðurkennt fyrr (→ litis contestatio).

cognitio extraordinaria         „óhefðbundin rannsókn“; eftir → legis actio og → formula tók réttarfar Rómaveldis á sig þessa mynd á tímum  principatus fyrst samhliða formula – réttarfari og síðan allt frá 342 e.Kr. sem eini háttur réttarhaldsins fyrir → iudicia privata og → iudicia publica. Cognitio einkennist af tvennu: 1) ríkisvæðing alls réttarfars í hendur embættismanns hins opinbera og þar með ekki lengur skipting á milli → in iure frammi fyrir embættismanni ríkisins og → apud iudicem hjá dómara úr röðum óbreyttra borgara; 2) en um leið og princeps tók málaferli í sínar hendur og annaðist stöku sinnum réttarhaldið í sinni eigin persónu fór það fram utan hins hefðbundna réttarhalds og var þess vegna kallað cognitio extra ordinem eða cognitio extraordinaria.

condemnatio                      sakfelling; í grundvallaratriðum var sakborningurinn  dæmdur til að borga sekt. Ef formúla gerði ráð fyrir mátti dómarinn bjóða honum til að skila því sem hann hafði undir hendi en sem var reyndar í eign ákærandans (→ rei vindicatio).

condictio                            málaferli in personam til að innheimta skuldina        (certa pecunia = ákveðin fjárupphæð).

confessio                           játning; hinn ákærði játar sig sekan þegar → in iure áður en farið er til dómarans og er þar með dæmdur (confessus pro iudicato habetur).

crimen (publicum)              afbrot, glæpur eða meiri háttar refsivert ásetningsbrot, oftast gegn almennum hegningarlögum og sætir opinberri ákæru (→ iudicia publica).

delictum (privatum)            (lög-)brot eða sú háttsemi sem er andstæð réttarreglum og gefur þeim sem verður fyrir því tækifæri til að leita réttar síns fyrir dómstólum (→ iudicia privata).

deportatio                          strangasti útlegðardómurinn; hinn dæmdi var lagður í fjötra, fluttur á ömurlegan stað og sviptur öllum eignum sínum.

episcopalis audientia          dómstóll biskups í málaferlum ef báðir deiluaðilarnir samþykktu það (aðeins → iudicium privatum!) allt frá tímum Konstantínusar keisara.

evocatio                             venjulega hófust málaferlin með því að annar málsaðilanna beggja leitaði réttar síns, en frá og með tímum principatus gat keisarinn sjálfur tekið frumkvæði, hafið málsrannsókn og kallað málaferlin öll til sín (= evocare) ef honum þótti vera mikið í húfi sem snerti hið opinbera eða hans eigin persónu (sjá einnig → cognitio extraordinaria). En úrskurðir keisarans urðu að fordæmi fyrir önnur og svipuð mál sem kunnu að gerast í framtíðinni.

exceptio doli                      málflutningur af hálfu varnaraðilans – heimilaður af praetor – sem staðfestir að hafa orðið fyrir blekkingum af hálfu ákærandans í samningaviðskiptum (t.d. → actio in personam).  

exceptio metus                  málflutningur af hálfu varnaraðilans – heimilaður af praetor – sem staðfestir að hafa gert samninginn bara af ótta við hótanir af hálfu ákærandans.

exilium                               mildara form útlegðar, því þá mátti hinn dæmdi lifa sem frjáls maður hvar sem honum þóknaðist utan Ítalíu.

formula / processum formulare         allt frá 150 f.Kr. var ekki lengur krafist tiltekinna orða og aðferða í málaferlum (→ legis actio), en málsaðilar og dómstjóri komu sér saman um það hvernig málið skyldi lagt fyrir dómarann (→ iudex). Síðan sendi dómstjóri dómaranum ritaða skýrslu um alla málavöxtu. Var þetta kallað að reka mál per formulam.

infamia                              “málleysi”; sum afbrot eins og þjófnaður og rán leiddu til þess að menn féllu í áliti innan þjóðfélagsins og máttu ekki lengur taka þátt í málaferlum eða láta annan gera það fyrir sína hönd.

in iure                                fyrsti partur málaferlanna frammi fyrir embættismanni ríkisins til að ganga úr skugga um hvort gildandi lög geri ráð fyrir beiðni umsækjandans; dómstjórinn metur hvort leyfa eigi að hefja → actio eða ekki.

interdictio aquae et ignis    „bann á notkun vatns og elds“; þegar hinn ákærði í → iudicia publica flúði áður en dómurinn var felldur var hann úrskurðaður útlægur og mátti ekki lengur njóta vistar meðal samborgaranna. Ef hann snéri heim í leyfisleysi mátti hver sem var drepa hann.

interdictum                         bann; eitt af „meðulum“ ráðherravalds pretors: áður en kom til málaferla eða til að forðast þau gat praetor skipað manni að gera eða hætta að gera eitthvað í garð annars manns.

iudex                                 dómari; í málaferlum einstaklinga á milli ekki embættismaður hins opinbera heldur óbreyttur borgari menntaður í lögfræði sem falið er að dæma allt fram á tíma einveldis (dominatus).

iudex datus (pedaneus)      frá og með tímum principatus tilnefndu ríkisstjórar héraðanna sem höfðu umsjón með réttarhöldum í sínum umdæmum lægra setta embættismenn til að gegna hlutverki dómara (sjá einnig → cognitio extraordinaria).

iudicatus                            sá sem hefur verið dæmdur sekur í málaferlum.

iudicia populi                      á fyrstu öldum lýðveldisins voru málaferli vegna ákveðinna afbrota og glæpa (→ crimen publicum) borin fram til atkvæða fyrir hundraðsdeildaþingi (→ comitia centuriata) eða sveitaþingi fólksins (→ comitia tributa) [sjá → saga Rómaveldis].

iudicia privata                    einkamál; mál sem einstaklingur eða lögpersóna höfðar gegn einstaklingi eða lögpersónu til úrlausnar á réttarágreiningi um réttindi þeirra eða skyldur.

iudicia publica                    sakamál; mál sem handhafar ákæruvalds eða einstaklingur sjálfur sem varð fyrir lögbroti annars aðila höfðar til refsingar lögum samkvæmt.

legis actio (sacramento)     málaferli á grundvelli ákveðinna laga í gildi frá tímum tólftaflnalaganna allt til endaloka lýðveldisins. Þessi málaferli fóru fram munnlega og krafist var að fara í einu og öllu eftir settum orðum enda gátu hin minnstu afbrigði ónýtt málið. Í legis actio sacramento sem var ein af fimm háttum þessara fornu málaferla fékk hvor deiluaðilanna dómstjóranum í hendur fjárhæð nokkra (sacramentum) og  rann framlag þess sem tapaði málinu til ríkistrúarinnar. Legis actio málaferli voru í gildi einnig á tímum málaferla → per formulam en formlega afnumin með leges Iuliae iudiciorum publicorum et privatorum á tímum Ágústusar.

litis contestatio                   „deiluyfirlýsing“; að loknum fyrsta áfanga í málaferlum (→ in iure) staðfesti embættismaður ríkisins það sem umdeilt var meðal beggja deiluaðilanna áður en haldið var áfram frammi fyrir dómaranum (→ apud iudicem).

missio in possessionem     eitt af þeim „meðulum“ sem praetor gat notað í processum formulare; í krafti ráðherravalds síns gat dómstjórinn veitt ákærandanum umsjón með eign (allri eigninni eða að hluta til) hins ákærða til að tryggja sæmilega framkomu þess í málaferlunum sjálfum.

parricidium                         ólöglegt dráp frjáls borgara (upphaflega foreldramorð eða dráp ættingja: parricidium = patrem caedere = að drepa föður).

perduellio                           landráð.

quaestiones extraordinariae                   dómstóll, frá og með 2. öld. f.Kr., reistur af gefnu tilefni til að rannsaka sérstaka (pólitíska) glæpi → crimen publicum.

quaestiones perpetuae       frá og með 149 f.Kr. fóru málaferli afbrota og glæpa (→ crimen publicum) fram fyrir kviðdómi undir forystu dómstjórans (praetor).

relegatio                            mildasta form útlegðar; hafði engan eignamissi í för með sér, en útlaginn varð að dveljast á tilteknum stað, venjulega langt frá Rómaborg.

restitutio in integrum          eitt af þeim „meðulum“ sem praetor gat notað í processum formulare; ef annar deiluaðilinn hafði tapað miklu í málaferlum stricti iuris og varð þar með fyrir óréttlæti (t.d. ef hann var óreyndur, of ungur) gat dómstjórinn skipað að endurnýja ástandið sem fyrr ríkti áður en málsaðilarnir gerðu samning sín á milli.

sententia                           dómur; annaðhvort condemno = ég sakfelli (hinn ákærða) eða absolvo = ég leysi (hinn ákærða).

stipulationes praetoriae      eitt af þeim „meðulum“ sem praetor gat notað í processum formulare; dómstjórinn gat neytt annan málsaðilanna beggja (eða báða) til að gera → stipulatio (sjá → eignarréttur) í þeim tilgangi að tryggja sæmilega framkomu hans / þeirra í málaferlunum sjálfum.

reus                                   hinn ákærði í sakamálum,  sakborningur; í einkamálum kallast oft pars conventa = sá sem er kallaður fyrir dómstól.

Local Democracy in the West-Nordic Countries

The geographical structure of people’s settlement in the three West Nordic countries, The Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland is in itself a considerable challenge for the provision of municipal services. It can be argued, therefore, that this can be a challenge for the democracy at the local level. The municipal structure varies in the three West Nordic countries and has changed in the past decades. Geographically the three countries are quite different although the similarities are more obvious when we look at the economic structure – fishing and fish processing are the mainstay of the economy. It can be argued that local communities in the West Nordic countries are facing a certain type of dilemma. On the one hand, decisions at local level need to be based on sound knowledge of local circumstances and conditions and taken in harmony with the local people, if they are to be sensible, successful and legitimate decisions. On the other hand, very small or “too” small local decision-making units often have problems mobilizing and providing the expertise needed to make rational decisions – something that can be called a capacity problem. The problem, or question, on the optimal size of a municipality – or should we rather say optimal smallness – is a relevant and emerging question in, for example, the four larger Nordic countries. But the difference between the West Nordic and the East Nordic (Scandinavian) situation in this sense is that the countries and the municipalities in the west are historically much more smaller in population.

In 2012, the research project West Nordic municipal structure. Challenges to local democracy, efficient service provision and adaptive capacity was granted money from the Arctic Co-operation Programme 2012-2014. The overall aim of the project was to collect knowledge on the local level in the three West Nordic countries; the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland by mapping the situation and development in the municipal sectors, focusing primarily on four aspects. The first was; the municipal structure. The second was; the democratic aspect – that is, which consequences the structural development has had for local democracy – to identify the main challenges to democracy, caused by the structural developments. The third; to map the service production capacity and effectiveness of the municipalities, and the fourth; to try to map the municipalities’ capacity to manage the development processes which often accompany municipal amalgamations. An overall research question was: What consequences have developments in municipal structure in the three countries had for democracy, local self-government and autonomy, as well as the ability to manage the processes accompanying amalgamations? In September 2014 a report containing this analysis was submitted (Eythórsson, Gløersen and Karlsson 2014).

In a second phase of the project, the project team tried to develop and deepen the insight into these matters by undertaking a survey among all elected local politicians and chief administrators (mayors) in all of the municipalities in the three countries[1]. In the survey there were asked questions aimed at deepening our understanding of the problems and challenges facing the municipal level in the three countries, with a special focus on the findings of the earlier mentioned report from 2014. The survey contained among others some questions focused on local democracy as such as well as its development after amalgamations that have been taking place since year 2000 or so (Eythórsson, Gløersen and Karlsson 2015).

In this article I use the data from this survey to answer following main research questions:

  1. What is the general status of local democracy in the three countries?
  2. Is there a connection between size and democracy when we are looking at municipalities in a small scale size as is the case in the West Nordic countries?
  3. Does peripheral or central position in a municipality affect the attitudes towards democracy as measured in the survey reported?

The operationalization of local democracy is threefold: First, looking at the perception of power and influence by different territories in each municipality. Second, looking at the perceptions of access to the municipal administration. The third is by looking at the perception of ties and contacts to the local politicians.

 

1.             Municipal amalgamations and the impact on democracy

When taking territory into consideration; that is, in this case territory within municipal boundaries, there are different views on democratic aspects such as equality between parts of the municipality or neighbourhoods. The main idea is that citizens in more peripheral, with less population and/or more sparsely populated parts of the municipality are at a disadvantage for influencing decisions, making contact with the elected officials and, in general, find it more difficult to access the administration, compared with those living in, or close to, the central area of service and administration.

This general assumption is often linked to municipal amalgamations where two or more municipalities merge into one, despite different population structures, varying degrees of peripherality and different preconditions for acting as centres for administration and service. In these cases, there are winners and losers. The largest units usually attain a central role while the smaller ones and those more distant from the centre have to live with the fact that they are peripheral with a view to administration and services. Both Swedish and Icelandic studies have shown the fear or scepticism of people and local politicians in prospective peripheries facing amalgamations with this upcoming situation (Brantgärde 1974, Eythórsson 1998, Steiner et al. 2016). The expected power position of people’s current municipality within the proposed new one has clearly shown to be the strongest explanatory factor for attitudes towards amalgamations, both in the Swedish and the Icelandic case. Those residing in the expected administrative and service centre of a new municipality are likely to be much more positive than those residing in the municipalities that are not going to occupy that role. People in the administrative and service peripheries are clearly less interested in amalgamating with the big brother who is expected to consolidate power and use that to its own advantage. This resistance is strongest in the bigger peripheries, often municipalities who have had their own administrative structure, which has not always been the case in many of the small rural municipalities in Iceland. In that way, the big ‘losers’ have more to lose and thus manifest more resistance in many cases. This means that the correlation between municipal size and attitudes to amalgamations is not always linear: the relationship is more complicated since the possibilities of being the centre have more to do with proportional rather than absolute size.

An evaluation study in Iceland by Eythórsson and Jóhannesson (2002) in 37 municipalities which were amalgamated into 7 in the 1990s showed clear democratic deficits for the smaller and peripheral and gives support to the results from the former Icelandic and Swedish studies. There was considerably more discontent with democratic aspects and administrative structures among people and local leaders in the parts or neighbourhoods of municipalities that had now become the smaller and more peripheral neighbourhoods of a new amalgamated municipality. All the municipalities surveyed showed that people outside ‘central places’ defined as the proportionally biggest municipality, that became the centre of administration and services after the amalgamation – felt that they were now more distant from their political representatives than before and thereby their opportunities to influence and lobby decisions were much more limited. Furthermore, the majority of the people living in the periphery believed that political power was now concentrated in these ‘central places’ (See in Eythórsson 2009 and Eythórsson 2011).

In 2006, just before the great municipal reform in Denmark, Danish political scientists published the anthology Kommunalreformens konsekvenser (Blom-Hansen, Elklit and Serritzlew 2006). The results show a clear negative correlation between the size of a municipality and several indicators of democracy, such as trust, voting participation and attending political meetings (Juul-Madsen and Skou 2006).[2] In another study presented in this book Nørgaard-Petersen and Christensen did not find any correlation between municipal size and representation – that is, in bigger municipalities, voters in various social groups used their potential for participating in the democratic process (Nørgaard-Petersen and Christensen 2006). Lassen and Serritzlew (2011) conducted research on the correlation between jurisdiction size and local democracy. Using the Danish structural reform as a case they looked for evidence on internal political efficacy. By internal political efficacy they mean that citizens believe they are competent to understand and contribute to political decision making and by external political efficacy they mean that citizens feel government authorities are responsive to their demands so that participation is something worth struggling for. Among their findings was that in terms of population larger municipal units were necessary for economies of scale but at the same time larger size incurred cost with regard to the quality of democratic order (Lassen and Serritzlev, 2011).

These examples of research on democracy and the impact of structural reforms show that structural territorial reforming by enlarging municipal units is, at the same time, a question of the balance between economies of scale and local democracy – both when citizens and local politicians are asked. These studies have mostly shown us that too much emphasis on seeking economies of scale can have negative consequ­ences for the local democracy. This is in line with what was argued already in 1973 by Dahl and Tufte, that correlation between size and democracy exists.

However, looking at the research examples from Denmark we have to realize that in that case the question was about much larger municipal units than in the case of the West Nordic countries – this even though we are talking about the newly amalgamated Greenland municipalities.

 

2.             Municipal structure in the West Nordic countries – A short overview
2.1.        Faroe Islands

Already in the mid-twentieth century there were 49 municipalities in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of 18 islands with a population of less than 50,000. This structure of numerous small municipalities, with more than half of them having a population of less than 1000, stayed the same all the way into the beginning of the 21st century. The Faroese municipal geography during this period is summarized by Hovgaard et.al. (2004) as following:[3]

  • A capital with more than 40% of the population
  • Constantly improving conditions for commuting to the capital of Tórshavn have connected over 85% of the nation by road
  • A rather peripheral island of Sandøy in the south with a little over 1200 inhabitants and four municipalities
  • The even more peripheral Island of Suðuroy, 2:15 hours ferry trip from Torshavn. On Suðuroy there are 7 municipalities with a total population of around 4600
  • Geographically remote small islands (municipalities) with low population and difficult communications

Despite massive resistance against law-enforced reform, voluntary amal­gamations in the beginning of the 21st century reduced the number of municipalities from 49 in 2000 to 35 in 2005. Early in 2008 a new government came to power and the coalition paper contained clear statements on the municipal structure. “Regional development initiatives and changes in the municipal structure shall ensure fair and balanced opportunities for all areas of the Faroe Islands.” Furthermore, the coalition paper contained statements on deadlines by which municipalities should have grouped into suitable entities that were able to take over more tasks from the state government – and this would ensure even standards of services in the whole country (Aalbu et. al. 2008).

Prime Minister Jóannes Eidesgaard, said in his opening speech to the parliament (Løgtinget) in July 2008, where he said that the government had decided to reduce the number of municipalities to 7 during the mandate period. (Aalbu et. al. 2008). The government coalition broke up already in the autumn 2008 and these intentions have not yet become reality as other less interested parties have been in power since then.

The amalgamation issue was more or less put off in 2012 with a nationwide referendum on the people’s will to amalgamate, with the potential result that the number of municipalities might have gone down from 30 to 7. With only 33 percent voter turnout, this proposal did not receive majority support in any of the 30 municipalities.

Today the number of municipalities remains at 29 – the radical intentions of the 2008 government were never realised as the people of Faroe Islands refused. And people seem to think that this amalgamation wave of the first decade of the 20th century has come to an end. “The referendum stopped everything” and “The reform is dead” were the answers the authors of this report received from interviews with people from the federation of municipalities in the Faroe Islands. However, if we look at what has happened since year 2000 we see a reduction of municipalities by almost 40% – so the change is noticeable even though the municipal structure characteristics remain the same: Fewer very small and more rather small municipalities. Only one amalgamation has taken place since 2009 when Húsa amalgamated with Klaksvík in 2017.

 

2.2.        Greenland

When the home rule system was established in 1979 the 18 municipalities in Greenland acquired a more central role in the domestic welfare system taking care of social services, culture, education, housing, planning, fire brigades, water and electricity (Dahl, 1986; Bærenholdt, 2007). In 2007 the Greenland Parliament directed the Greenland Home Rule to implement a new municipal structure for Greenland. This decision led to radical structural change when 18 municipalities were amalgamated to only 4. New municipal councils were elected in spring 2008 and established from May 2008. The change was formally implemented 1st January 2009. The rationale behind this development was set by the Structural Committee (Strukturudvalget). The main purposes were:

  1. To make all municipalities large enough to be able to take over more tasks from the Home Rule.
  2. To ensure that the citizens in the municipalities received better and safer services.
  3. To gain effectiveness and economies of scale in the municipal service provision.[4]

The number of municipalities was reduced in 2009 from 18 to 4 municipalities but from 1 January 2018 the municipality of Qaasuitsup was split in two: Avannaata and Qegertalik. Therefore, the municipalities in Greenland are five, as we see in table 1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 1. Municipalities in Greenland 2019 and their population.[5]

 

 

With the largest municipality of over 20,000 inhabitants, two around 10,000 and the two smallest of around 6,500 the structure has changed dramatically.

In their report Administrative Reform – Arguments and Values, Aalbu, Böhme and Uhlin map and analyze the municipal structures, structural reforms and the arguments and values behind them, in all eight Nordic countries. They conclude that no clear public opposition to the reform process in Greenland emerged. Further, they conclude that the in the debate around the reform, the main focus was on efficiency, accessibility and quality in local administration. Thus they think the main emphasis in the Greenland case has been on effectiveness and improved services, just as in the cases of Sweden and Denmark.

 

2.3.        Iceland 

The main development pattern is that the number of municipalities in Iceland increased slowly until the middle of the 20th century, and then began to decrease, especially after 1990. The main reason for the increasing number of municipalities until the 1950s (229 at its peak) was the industrialization of fishing, leading people to move from the countryside to the coast in order to work where there were better hopes of earning a decent income. This meant that new fishing villages emerged, and new municipalities were established.[6]

A slow decrease was in the number of municipalities after the mid-twentieth century (204 in 1990) is mainly explained by two forces – a number of rural municipalities ceased to exist due to total depopulation; and some municipal amalgamations. The rapid changes since after 1990 were indirectly facilitated by two referenda on municipal amalgamations – one in 1993 and the second in 2005 – and their implications. The number was down in 124 in 1998 and is at present 72.

In November 1993, referenda were held in 185 municipalities out of 196. Had all the submitted proposals been accepted, they would have meant a drastic reduction in the number of municipalities, down to 43. However, every proposal except one was voted down in these referenda. Only 67 out of the 185 municipalities involved voted for amalgamations. This only caused an immediate reduction of municipalities by 3, but nevertheless the ball had been set rolling and an amalgamation trend never known before had started. By the time of the local government elections in spring 1994, several voluntary amalgamations among those that had voted ‘yes’ in the November 1993 referenda had already reduced the number of municipalities to 171. By the next elections in 1998, the number was reduced further to 124 and was as low as 105 in the local government elections in 2002. Thus, a process was initiated in 1993 which had led to a reduction of municipalities by as much as 47 percent in only 9 years (Eythórsson 2003. Eythórsson 2009, Eythórsson 2012).

In 2003, the Icelandic Ministry of Social Affairs launched a reform project on the strengthening of the municipal level, in cooperation with the Federation of Municipalities. The main objectives were to strengthen municipalities so they would be better able to pro­vide their current level of services and eventually some additional ones. Bringing about such a change would make it possible to move certain public services from the state to the local level. This required both a revised division of tasks between state and local level, as well as a revision of local govern­ment finances. The cornerstone of the project, however, was to strengthen the local level by amalgamating smaller municipalities. Even though the number of municipalities had been reduced by almost 50 percent since 1993 the project commission argued that this had not changed the characteristics of the municipal structure. Still there were far too many small municipalities lacking the capacity to take over more responsibilities from the state.

A referendum took place in 66 municipalities out of 97 in spring and autumn 2005. In these 66 municipalities, residents voted on a total of 17 merger proposals; so a ‘yes’ to all proposals would have meant a reduction of 49 in the number of municipalities. Referenda were held in April and October on 17 different amalgamation proposals. The 17 different proposals were voted down in 42 municipalities and accepted in only 25. This however led to immediate reduction of municipalities by 8.

No serious or extensive attempts to reform the municipal sector have been implemented in Iceland since 2005. Besides, interest in further amalgamation reforms seems to decline. Surveys among all elected local politicians in 2006, 2011 and 2015 show this. Interest and belief in amalgamations as a measure to strengthen the municipal level became significantly less than before. There is, as earlier, no majority support for law enforcement with regard to amalgamations.  Instead, local politicians showed increased interest in inter-municipal cooperation as the way to go further and take over more responsibilities from the state government (Eythórsson & Arnarson, 2012).

But in spite of all attempts to change, the main characteristic of the Icelandic system remains in the year 2019. More than half of the municipalities in the country have less than 1000 inhabitants and 1/3 has less than 500 (see Figure 1) – a trait which has been considered as the main problem through the decades; too many too small municipalities with limited capacity to provide modern services.

 

2.4.        The West Nordic municipal structure in sum

When attempting to sum up and compare the municipal structure in these three countries, the most striking fact is the dramatic development in Greenland, where the structure of local administration was changed after 2007 by amalgamating 18 municipalities to 4 (later 5). In this respect, the Greenland structure differs significantly from that of the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Now, Greenland has few and large communes, both measured in population and areal – at least in West Nordic terms. Even though bigger steps towards reforming the municipal structure have been taken in Iceland than in Faroe Islands, the characteristics are in principle the same. In both cases there are proportionally numerous very small municipalities with limited capacity to take over more welfare tasks and thereby provide modern services. In Iceland, however, there existed a will to strengthen the local level by other means than amalgamating after the referendums in 2005.

Figure 1 illustrates the municipal structure in the three countries at present:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1. Municipalities in the West Nordic countries in different size categories 2018.

 

 

It is clear that the share of small municipalities; that is, with a population of less than 1000, is similar in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, at 55 percent. At the same time municipalities of such limited size do not exist in Greenland anymore.

Table 2 provides an overview of some facts about the number of municipalities and their populations in the three West Nordic countries:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2. Municipalities and their population in the West Nordic countries in 2019.

 (Based on data from: www.stat.gl, www.hagstova.fo, www.hagstofa.is)

 

 

There are, for example, significant differences between the three countries in the average size of municipalities. While Greenland has about 11,000, Iceland has almost 5,000 and the Faroe Islands just under 1,800. However, the average for Iceland is strongly affected by the size of Reykjavík with its 129,000 inhabitants. Therefore, the median scores give a better picture with the Faroes at 675 and Iceland at 826.

 

3.             Local democracy in the three countries
3.1.        Local democracy in the Faroe Islands

The coalition paper published by the 2008 government in the Faroe Islands contained clear policy statements on enlargements of the municipalities in order to increase their service capacity and ensure even service standards in the whole country. This was emphasized by Prime Minister Eidesgaard in Parliament in summer 2008 where he announced that the goal was to reduce the number of municipalities to seven. He underlined the democratic aspect in his opening speech to Parliament on the 29th of July 2008:[7]

An important part of democracy lies in decisions being made as close to the citizens as possible, and this is one reason why more and more functions are being transferred to the municipalities. (Translation from Danish)

These arguments of attracting young people to the more peripheral regions by transferring challenging tasks to the municipalities from the state were central in his speech. By this, Eidesgaard was in fact saying that the municipalities were too many and too small and had too limited tasks. In other words, local democracy, even though formally present, lacked content to be effective. This kind of argumentation has, for example, been presented in this context by Dahl and Tufte (1973) as well as by Harald Baldersheim (1987) who stated that it could of course be claimed that municipal amalgamations, which reduced the number of municipalities and thereby the number of local politicians, appeared to be a centralization of power. But such arrangements could actually prove to be a way to decentralize power, since an increased capacity for service provision also made local units capable of taking over more tasks from state level.

The emphasis in local democracy in the Faroe Islands was, according to this, clearly to make the units bigger and through that give the democracy some content. At the same time further amalgamations can increase the distance between the people and the politicians and even the distance to the administration, for some of them at least.

 

3.2.        Local democracy in Greenland

In a report to the Greenland Structural Committee (Strukturudvalget) in 2005 the Danish political scientist Ulrik Kjær pointed out what the consequences of the reform would be for local democracy in Greenland. He raised a warning flag as to the form of geographical representation in the new extensive municipalities, not at least due to the many instances of very difficult communi­cations between regions, villages and towns. In such a situation small and isolated places would suffer democratic deficits as peripheries in more than one sense. Kjær argued that it was very important, from a democratic point of view and with consideration to welfare services in the new municipalities, that smaller neighbourhoods should not lose all power within the new enlarged municipality (Kjær, 2005). Binderkrantz and Jacobsen (2007) also raised similar questions about the democratic aspect. According to them, increased costs, due to more travel between neighbourhoods in the new municipalities was to be met with a law on the use of videoconferences between isolated villages and neighbourhoods.

In the Annual Report 2011 of The Greenland Federation of Municipalities (KANUKOKA), local democracy is discussed in a separate chapter. It is stated that local democracy was not discussed broadly before the great amalgamations in 2009 – warnings from the scientists did clearly not get through. But in the report it is further stated that 3 years after the reform it is time to go deeper into that discussion. In the beginning of 2009 each of the four new municipalities was to establish a “geographical mandate” for every one of the former 18 municipalities. However, this was only to apply for the first four year mandate period. The annual report refers to hearings on experiences of this, conducted by the Ministry of the Interior. The hearing showed clearly that the mandate had had different practical significance in the four municipalities and that it seems that the municipalities had understood the term “geographical mandate” very differently.

In a meeting of representatives held by the Greenland Federation of Municipalities (KANUKOKA) in June 2013 representatives from the municipalities formally expressed their evaluation of the impact of the 2009 structural reform, and there were some critical voices on both democracy and services:[8] For example Kelly Berthelsen from Kommune Kujalleq:

When discussing the impact of municipal amalgamation on us, it must be said that on the economic situation it has meant very negative experiences. The intended improvements for the population have been difficult to spot. Reductions in the service-level have been found to be necessary. Also because the conditions within the municipality have been different. Those who had the worst conditions before have noticed improvements. But those who had had better conditions before have experienced deterioration of the service level – e.g. prices for waste management have increased in some places. This is why the benefits of the amalgamation have been difficult to realize. Villages/towns that did not receive satisfactory representation in municipal councils last election period have felt a decline in their part in decision-making, and some settlements that did not get elected representatives in the new joint local councils have also felt the deterioration. This is still the case today. (translation from Danish).

And from the representative Asii Chemnitz Narup from  Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq:

In establishing the larger municipalities, like the towns of Nuuk, Paamiut, Tasiilaq and Ittoqqortoormiit their citizens noticed that the local democratic influence became somewhat weaker. There were fewer elected officials, and the municipal council members were now for the entire municipality. The smaller rural communities still have their own elected sub-councils. They are gathered annually for a meeting with the municipal council. But since the participation of the urban population seems to be weaker, we are now setting up local councils, which will serve as an external branch of the municipal council, which has now been reduced from 21 to 19 members. (translation from Danish).

These two examples taken from the resume of this meeting in June 2013 clearly show that there are problems with the representation of the small villages all over Greenland in their new democratic order.

 

3.3.        Local democracy in Iceland

The earlier mentioned evaluation study of seven amalgamations undertaken in Iceland in 1994 and 1998, where 37 municipalities were involved, showed evident signs of democratic deficits for the smaller and peripheral municipalities. Surveys among the citizens clearly indicated that people outside the central service and administration locations felt that they were now more distant from their politicians than before and thereby their opportunities to influence and lobby decisions were much more limited. Furthermore, the majority of the people living in the peripheral parts believed that political power was now concentrated in these ‘central places’ (Eythórsson & Jóhannesson, 2002). No other evaluation study has been done since and the results remain. There are some examples of discontent in former municipalities and attempts have been made to accomplish splits or breakouts. This has, for example, been done several times in Sweden since the municipal structural reform in the 1970s and seven such requests were accepted by the Swedish government between 1974 and 1985 (Erlingsson 2005). In the Icelandic case such attempts have always been rejected. The democratic consequences of amalgamations have not been high on the political agenda and can hardly be seen as an emerging problem. (Eythórsson & Jóhannesson, 2002; Eythórsson, 2009).

 

3.4.        West Nordic local democracy in sum

As we have seen, current municipal structure in these three countries is less similar than it used to be. After the great reform in Greenland the municipalities are not only largest in areal but also in population in the West Nordic comparative perspective. In table 2 above it is shown, however, that the Faroese and Icelandic municipal structures are quite similar compared with the situation in Greenland. The most emerging question about local democracy in Greenland is the geographical representation of small villages and neighbourhoods after the great reform. The concern, just before the amalgamations came into practice, was how these smaller and often very isolated neighbourhoods could be democratically included in the new municipalities and have something to say or decide about their matters. In the Faroe Islands the big issue seems to be mostly connected to the content of local democracy, since the numerous small municipalities have limited tasks. This is, however, not the standpoint of the smaller municipalities which run their own federation and claim that they are doing well as they are. But recently, the two municipal federations were merged into one, so the possibilities for the smaller municipalities to act as such are perhaps at risk. In the Icelandic case much of the discussion in the latest years on democracy on the municipal level is about direct citizen democracy versus the more traditional representative democracy and increased citizen participation in decision making between elections seems to be a key word nowadays. This concern was clearly emphasized in the Local Government Act of 2011. The connection between size and democracy seems to have vanished from the agenda with the latest attempt to reform the structure in 2005.

 

4.             The local leader’s perceptions of local democracy
4.1.        A West Nordic net-survey

The questionnaire sent out to the local politicians and administrators in the three countries was a net-survey (Eythórsson, Gløersen & Karlsson 2015).

In Iceland there are at present 504 elected representatives, in Greenland 305 (including neighbourhood councils – bygderåd) and in the Faroe Islands there are 208 elected delegates. Only those with accessible e-mail addresses could be included in the population in this research. In no case we were able to find the e-mails of all elected local politicians; In Iceland we found 454/504 politicians and additionally 41 top administrator. In the Faroe Islands we found 200/206 politicians and, in addition, 14 top administrators. In Greenland we had the toughest problems. Nevertheless, we found the e-mails of 103/305 elected representatives either in municipalities or in the sub municipal units (Bygderåd), as well as 34 administrators. This gave us a population of 495 in Iceland, 214 in the Faroe Islands and 137 in Greenland.

The questionnaire was sent out 21st April 2015 and closed 2nd June. The final response rate varied from something that could be expected in Iceland and Faroe Islands down to a very low rate in Greenland. In Iceland the response rate was 54.0%, in Faroe Islands 52.9%[9] and in Greenland we only received 38 answers which gave a rate of 29.2%. Greenland is problematic in this sense. Even though responses from 38 people can give us some valuable information, any generalization on the basis of such few answers is difficult. Therefore, we had to try to make the best possible use of answers to open-ended questions – especially from Greenland. Our results in the Greenland case have to be seen in this light and should perhaps rather be regarded as indications. Additionally, the survey was conducted at the time when municipalities in Greenland were four and not five as today.

 

4.2.        Democracy and the influence of territories: Status in the new context

In our survey we asked the question (as a statement): Small and peripheral neighbourhoods in the municipality have less influence. This was done in order to get the local leaders attitudes towards what in earlier research in Iceland and Sweden was evident and to what extent the attitudes existed in the two other West Nordic countries, since this had not been studies there.  In this case we do not only show an analysis by municipal size but also by the leaders’ perceived status of a former municipality after amalgamation – whether it was perceived as a central area or a periphery.

The Faroese case does not show strong support among the local leaders for this statement. What is anticipated is the lowest score among leaders from centrally placed municipalities (3.63) and the highest score among those from the peripheries (4.82) on our 1 – 7 scale where 4 is the mid value. Scores in size groups are more confusing. In smaller units, the leaders give the statement less support than in larger ones, which is against what earlier has been found in other countries! But we have to bear in mind how tight the scores are only ranging from 3.63 to 4.82, just a small part of the scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2. “Small and peripheral neighbourhoods in the municipality have less influence”. Mean scores on a scale 1-7 on the above statement (1=Completely disagree; 7=Completely agree). (N=91).

 

 

 

Faroese local leaders do not give much support to the statement that people in smaller and peripheral parts of municipalities are less influential. We see clear sign of Centre – Periphery dimension in the sense that leaders believe that the peripheral parts have less influence. In there is any correlation between this and municipal size it is more of that the ones in the smaller feel less loss of influence. Here we do not see any real difference between tiny and small.

The limited data we collected from Greenland has to be used with caution, since the response rates and number of responses do not allow any broad conclusions. We look instead at results as indicating trends or patterns. Our qualitative data collected also contributes to such an approach.

The scores in figure 3 below show that in peripheral communities and the bigger ones people believe more that the small and peripheral have less influence on decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3. “Small and peripheral neighbourhoods in the municipality have less influence”. Greenland. (N=31).

 

 

 

One respondent in a very small sub-municipal unit wrote a comment to support of the statement in the question:

Before the great amalgamation we had a common meeting in the ”bygde­­be­­styrelse” (sub-municipal board) together with the mayor (kommun­a­l­­­dir­ektøren) once a year, where we got information on what had been done or changed for the better in the services to the citizens. All this has now totally disappeared after the amalgamation in 2009. Since then the ”bygde­be­styrelse” no longer has any tasks or responsibilities. Other sub-units (bygder) that need more support for development than we do are now prioritized.

This supports our quantitative results – there seems to be some truth in the results provided. The small and peripheral communities in Greenland seem to have been undermined, while this can hardly be said in the Faroese case and not at all in the Icelandic case. This is according to information from local leaders.

Variations show up in Iceland, but support for the statement is clearly weaker than in the Faroes; only 3.10 in general compared with 4.01. However, leaders in peripheries in Iceland (as in the Faroes) demonstrate the strongest support (4.17) much more than their colleagues in the centres (3.32). Variations by municipal size are very small, with the exception that leaders in the 9 largest units strongly disagree with the statement (2.36) while others show scores just above 3. This loss of influence in the smaller and peripheral municipalities does not seem to be emerging in Iceland, presently after a decade since most of the amalgamations in the country already had taken place. Even here we find Centre – Periphery differences but when looking at size it has only to do with the 8 very biggest ones versus all the others. That tells us that there are differences here between tiny and small.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 4. “Small and peripheral neighbourhoods in the municipality have less influence”. Iceland.  (N=225).

 

 

4.3.        Accessibility to administration and ties to politicians

Good accessibility to the municipal administration is a part of good local democracy. In an earlier mentioned evaluation study by Eythórsson and Jóhannesson (2002), where seven amalgamations in Iceland in the 1990s were evaluated, clear signs were found, both among the general population and elected officials in the smaller and peripheral parts of the new municipalities, of experiencing increased distance from the administration – in other words reduced accessibility.

In this case the results are built on answers from local politicians and administrators and not from citizens. Whether this makes any difference for the results or not is not easy to say, but our results imply that this is hardly the case, at least not in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. One of the statements in the survey was: “People have good accessibility to the administration”.

In Faroe Islands this seems to be a general opinion among the local leaders. The mean scores are high in all categories (5.30 – 5.97 on our 1 – 7 scale) except in the capital (the only municipality with more than 5000) where the result is “neither or” (4,00). In this sense size seems to matter. A central-peripheral dimension also seems to be absent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 5. “People have good accessibility to the administration”. Faroe Islands. (N=100).

 

 

 

Not so surprisingly, the results from Greenland are different. The statement on good accessibility enjoys much less support- despite some variations between groups. The leaders in smaller units grade the accessibility much lower – the difference between centre and periphery is considerable. How to evaluate these results, with the few answers, low response rate and, last but not least the huge confidence gap, is however difficult to determine. However, a trend seems to be evident.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Figure 6.  “People have good accessibility to the administration”. Greenland. (N=30).

 

 

 

Open answers from the survey and letters from respondents help our understanding of the results. A letter from a sub-municipal bureaucrat, expressed severe criticism with regard to access to administration after the amalgamations in 2009:

The administration of the big municipality in X has now taken over all administrative tasks. The services to the citizens have been significantly reduced, with a long time waiting for an answer and in some cases the administration has not even answered. Services and those responsible for them have become invisible or have disappeared. All administration and tasks of the sub-municipal council have been transferred to the town. At the same time they have reduced personnel in the sub units and the result is less quality in the administration. Many people from different sub-units have complained about this situation but this has neither been responded to nor led to any changes. It is as if the person responsible has become the enemy of the village.

Another respondent who mailed to us wrote:

The amalgamation of municipality X, leading to very spread neighbourhoods and villages has not been good for the people compared with the situation before. The head administrative office has difficulties in understanding the issues brought up and has problems adapting to this new situation.

 

The survey results show varying attitudes towards accessibility to administration. The letter we received from the small sub municipal unit is however critical. We can at least presume that the views on this are mixed among the Greenland local leaders and negative as a whole.

In the case of Iceland, satisfaction with the accessibility among local leaders is even stronger than in the Faroes (figure 5). The scores are almost all around 6 on the 1-7 scale, which is high.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 7. “People have good accessibility to the administration”. Iceland. (N=245).

 

 

 

A second of our questions on perceptions of local democracy deals with closeness between citizens and politicians – the contact on a more personal level. Traditional theories on size and democracy tell us that these two are connected and we should expect closer ties in smaller units (Dahl and Tufte 1973). The evaluation study by Eythórsson and Jóhannesson in Iceland in 2002 found that citizens in smaller and more peripheral municipalities, after recent amalgamations, felt that the distance between them and their representatives had increased. In the survey, we brought up the statement “There are tight and close ties between the people and the local politicians”.

The results from the Faroe Islands show a correlation between perceived closeness between citizens and politicians on one hand and size of municipality on the other hand. Figure 8 below shows certain differences: Closeness decreases with increasing size, that is when it exceeds 5000. It also seems to be a little less in the periphery than in the centres. However, despite some differences, in general there seem to be rather close ties in the Faroes – according to the politicians and bureaucrats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Figure 8. “There are tight and close ties between the people and the local politicians”. Faroes.  (N=100).

 

 

 

The survey results from Greenland do not show as strong perception of closeness between citizens and politicians – as before Greenland differs from the other two countries. What we can single out here is what appears to be a difference between the smallest (1,000 and less) and the larger ones – the ties seem to be closer in the smaller context. The centre – periphery difference is even significant with looser ties in the peripheral municipalities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 9. “There are tight and close ties between the people and the local politicians”. Greenland. (N=29).

 

 

 

If we look at the results from the Icelandic case, we see evidence of closeness between the elected and the electorate. We only see a slight tendency for less ties with municipal size. Very little differences show up between centre and periphery as is the case in the Faroes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 10. “There are tight and close ties between the people and the local politicians”. Iceland. (N=242).

 

 

 

These three figures above do more or less support theories about the connection between closeness, accessibility and municipal population size (Dahl and Tufte 1973). In smaller units the ties are closer – however the differences are not great in Faroe Islands and especially not in Iceland. In these two countries, some signs of differences between centre and periphery appear. But let’s keep in mind that this is what politicians and administrators believe. We did not ask the citizens in this study. Greenland deviates significantly on all measured points, both on differences by size and between centre and periphery. The overall scores for Greenland are also lower than in the other two countries which indicates much lower content with these aspects of local democracy.

 

5.              Concluding discussion and summary

We cannot overlook the fact that small local government units have some considerable drawbacks while large ones have some advantages. In this article, I have studied these differences in democracy in three small and sparsely populated countries in the North Atlantic. Two of them have high share of small municipalities on an international scale.

It has appeared that territorial democratic deficits measured through the question on if smaller and peripheral neighbourhoods have less influence, are evident in all three countries. The differences by size are not as big as when between centre and peripheral parts. In all three countries the centre – periphery dimension is apparent and especially in Greenland. The size dimension is not as strong in the context – not at all in the Faroe Islands and weak in Iceland. In the case of Greenland it is very clear.

Looking at the other two dimensions, ‘Access to administration’ and ‘Ties between politicians and citizens’ there are not so clear patterns except that the difference between centre and periphery in Greenland seems to be existing. Differences by municipal size are not very evident in any of the countries, ranging from none to slight differences. To sum this up differences between centre and periphery are significant in all three countries when looking at the perceptions of territorial democratic deficits. This is less so if we look at municipal size, however with the differences strong in Greenland. Table 3 below shows a summary of this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table  3. Summary of the local leaders perceptions of three aspects of local democracy in the West Nordic countries.

Note: YES = Differences are significantly strong; yes = Differences exist; no = slight differences; NO = no differences at all.

 

With the overview from table 3 we see that territorial democratic deficits are existing in all cases except size differences in the Faroe Islands. Greenland stands out – local democracy seems to be of far more concern in Greenland than in the other two countries. Icelandic local leaders seem to be more or less content with the situation of access to administration and ties to politicians, while there seems to be more of a question about influence by territory or territorial democratic deficits. The same is for Faroe Islands.

The difference between Greenland on one hand and Iceland and Faroe Islands on the other is apparent and raises questions. Can the widespread discontent in Greenland have to do with how recently their amalgamation reform took place? There were only 5-6 years between the implementation of the reform and our survey. Would things have had to settle down and wounds to cure after this big in scale reform? Or was the reform too big in scale? A study on the consequences conducted for the government of Greenland “Kommunalt demokrati i Grønland” done by the Danish political scientist Ulrik Kjær showed that the discontent with the local democracy among citizens was high and that was even more evident in the peripheral municipalities (Kjær 2015). The pattern we found in Greenland in our West Nordic survey among local leaders is confirmed by the results in the study among the citizens.

 

6.             References

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Binderkrantz, A. & Jakobsen, M.L.F. (2007): Kommunreform i Nordatlanten. In: Administrativ Debat, nr. 2, 2007. (Municipal reform in the North-Atlantic)

Blom-Hansen, J., Elklit, J. and Serritzlew, S. (eds.) (2006): Kommunreformens konsekvenser. Århus. Academica. (The consequences of the municipal reform).

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Bærenholdt, J. O. (2007). Coping with distances. Producing Nordic Atlantic Societies. Berghahn Books.

Dahl, J. (1986): Arktisk selvstyre – historien bag og rammene for det grønlandske hjemmestyre. Copenhagen. Akademisk Forlag. (Arctic self-government – the history behind and the framework for Greenland homerule)

Dahl, R. A. and Tufte, E. R. (1973): Size and Democracy. Stanford. Stanford University Press.

Erlingsson, G. Ó. (2005): Modelling Secessions from Municipalities. In Scandinavian Political Studies, Vol. 28 – No. 2, 2005 (p. 141-159).

Eythórsson, G. T. (1998): Kommunindelningspolitik i Island. Staten, kommunerna och folket om kommunsammanslagningar. Göteborg. CEFOS. (The politics of amalgamations in Iceland)

Eythórsson, G. T. (2003). Af smáum sveitahreppum og stöndugum kaupstöðum. Um þróun sveitarstjórnarstigsins á Íslandi. In Afmæliskveðja til Háskóla Íslands. Akureyri: Hólar. (On the development of the municipal level in Iceland).

Eythórsson, G. T. (2009): Municipal amalgamations in Iceland. Past, present and future. In: Baldacchino, Greenwood & Felt (eds.): Remote Control. Governance Lessons for and from Small, Insular, and Remote Regions. St. John´s. Iser Books.

Eythórsson, G. T.  (2011): Kommunsammanslagningar på Island. In: Ivarsson, Andreas (ed.): Nordisk kommunforskning. En forskningsöversikt med 113 projekt. Göteborg. Förvaltningshögskolan. (p. 139-150). (Municipal amalgamations in Iceland).

Eythórsson, G. T. (2012). Efling íslenska sveitarstjórnarstigsins. Áherslur, hugmyndir og aðgerðir. (Reinforcing the municipal level in Iceland: Ideas, policies and implementations). Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla, 8(2), 431-450) http://www.irpa.is/article/view/1187

Eythórsson G. T. & Arnarsson S. (2012): Íslensk sveitarstjórnarmál í brennidepli. (Icelandic local politics in the spotlight). Akureyri. Háskólinn á Akureyri.

Eythórsson, G. T., Gløersen, E. & Karlsson, V. (2014): West Nordic municipal structure. Challenges to local democracy, efficient service provision and adaptive capacity.  Akureyri. University of Akureyri Research Centre. http://ssv.is/Files/Skra_0068629.pdf

Eythórsson, G. T., Gløersen, E. & Karlsson, V. (2015): Municipalities in the Arctic in Challenging times. West Nordic local politicians and administrators on municipal structure, local democracy, service provision and adaptive capacity in their municipalities. Akureyri. University of Akureyri.

Eythórsson, G. T. & Jóhannesson, H. (2002): Sameining sveitarfélaga. Áhrif og afleiðingar. Rannsókn á sjö sveitarfélögum. Akureyri. RHA. (Municipal amalgamations. Impact and consequences).

Grønlands Statistik – website of the Greenland statistical bureau (www.stat.gl)

Hagstova Føroya – website of the Faroe Islands statistical bureau (www.hagstova.fo)

Hagstofa Íslands – website of the Icelandic statistical bureau (www.hagstofa.is)

Hovgaard G., Eythórsson G. T. & Fellman K. (2004): Future challenges to small municipalities. The cases of Iceland, Faroe Islands and Åland Islands. Nordregio 2004:5

Juul-Madsen, L. and Skou, M. H. (2006): Kan man lægge kommuner sammen uden omkostninger for lokaldemokratiet? In: Blom-Hansen, Jens, Elklit, Jørgen and Serritzlew, Søren (eds.) (2006): Kommunareformens konsekvenser. Århus. Academica. (Is it possible to merge municipalities without costs for the local democracy?)

KANUKOKA. Årsberetning 2011. Retrieved from http://www.kanukoka.gl/dadk/media/3435/%C3%85rsberetning%202011.pdf

Kjær, U. (2005): Bilag 1: Kommunesammenlægninger i Grønland set i et lokaldemokratisk lys. In: Betænkning vedrørende en strukturreform af den offentlige sektor. Strukturudvalget, Grønland. (Municipal amalgamations in Greenland seen in the light of local democracy).

Kjær, U. (2015): Kommunalt demokrati i Grønland. Syddansk Universitet. (Local democracy in Greenland).

Lassen, David and Serritzlev, Søren (2011): Jurisdiction Size and Local Democracy: Evidence on Internal Political Efficacy from Large-scale Municipal Reform. In American Political Science Review. Vol. 105, No. 2 May 2011 (p. 238-258).

Nørgaard-Petersen, J. and Christensen, M. H. (2006): Repræsenteres vælgerne i de nye kommuner? In: Blom-Hansen, Jens, Elklit, Jørgen and Serritzlew, Søren (eds.) (2006): Kommunareformens konsekvenser. Århus. Academica. (Are the voters represented in the new municipalities?).

Referat fra Delegeretmøde i KANUKOKA 2013. Ordinært delegeretmøde i KANUKOKA, De grønlandske kommuners landsforening, den 13.-14. juni 2013. (http://www.kanukoka.gl/da-dk/media/3832/referat%202013.pdf).

Steiner, R., Kaiser, C., & Eythórsson, G. T. (2016). A Comparative Analysis of Amalgamation Reforms in Selected European Countries. In S. Kuhlmann & G. Bouckaert (Eds.), Local Public Sector Reforms in Times of Crisis. National trajectories and international comparisons. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

7.             Endnotes

[1] In Greenland sub-municipal units (Bygdebestyrelser) were even included.

[2] The authors of this chapter use three indicators for municipal size: population, area and urbanization degree. The discussion of size here is restricted to population numbers.

[3] Hovgaard et.al. 2004, pp. 18-20

[4] See the following document:

http://dk.nanoq.gl/Emner/Landsstyre/Departementer/Dep_for_indenrigsanliggender_Natur_og_Miljoe/Indenrigskontor/Til_kommunerne/Strukturreformen/Strukturudvalget.aspx. (Downloaded on 25th April 2013). Aalbu (et.al.) (2008).

[5] Statistics Greenland:

http://www.stat.gl/dialog/main.asp?lang=da&version=201904&sc=BE&subthemecode=O1&colcode=O

[6] Based on Eythórsson (1998).

[7] Aalbu et. al. 2008 p. 34.

[8] Referat. Delegeretmøde i KANUKOKA 2013.

[9] The response rate was similar in Iceland and the Faroes. In a survey among elected local politicians in Iceland in the autumn 2011 the response rate was 56.6% (Eythórsson and Arnarson 2012) and in a survey sent to mayors and administrative leaders in Iceland, the Faroes and Åland in 2004 the response rate was 61.2% in Iceland and 44.8% in the Faroe Islands (Hovgaard, Eythórsson and Fellman 2004).

Þorsteinn Helgason, The Corsairs’ Longest Voyage: The Turkish Raid in Iceland 1627. (Leiden: Brill, 2018)

Þorsteinn Helgason elaborates some of the materials from his 2013 Ph.D. dissertation in this book published in 2018 by the prestigious publisher Brill, in its ‘History of Warfare’ series. The Corsairs’ Longest Voyage focuses on all aspects of the kidnapping of about 400 people from Icelandic coastal settlements in 1627, one of the most traumatic historical events in Icelandic history. The events of which the so-called Turkish Raid is comprised took place in two separate raids perpetrated by corsairs based in Northern Africa on the southern and eastern coasts of Iceland and the Westman Islands during the summer of 1627. The unusual methodology and the breadth of academic interests the author marshals together is impressive and poignantly discussed. This unusually eclectic book, in fact, grew out of the historical research for a television documentary on the Turkish Raid (Tyrkjaránið in Icelandic, henceforth ‘TR’) by Dr. Þorsteinn Helgason himself, which in turn was sparked by his interest in Third World issues and the ties between Africa and Iceland. If all of these threads sometimes lead the reader in very different directions, the advantage is that the book has the gripping quality of fiction, at times. The Corsairs’ Longest Voyage, in fact, embraces a holistic view of history, seen as a result of all human endeavors and broadly defined political and sociocultural forces, where even the production of art, memory, folktales and their interpretation are brought to bear on past events just as much as chronicles and more traditional historical sources.

The book consists of 9 chapters, as well as an introduction and an epilogue. In the introduction and first chapter, the author assesses existing sources for the TR, and acknowledges the difficulty of analyzing an inherently complex event such as the TR. The events can be seen as the farthest reach of the Islamic expansion into Europe, carried out not through normal warfare, but through a corsairs’ attack. This in turn complicates issues of legality, since corsairs were ‘licensed’ pirates by their countries of origin, in this case the loose weft of city states on the Barbary Coast of Africa, which at times acted on behalf of the Ottoman empire or North African sovereigns, and more often than not, on their own behalf. On the cultural side, it was a clash of worlds: the Protestant and very homogenous Icelandic population coming into violent contact with the diverse population of Muslim Northern Africa. Coastal Europeans at the time were aware that North African ‘pirates’ could abduct them and force them into slavery, but Christians were also known to capture Muslim sailors. There is a curious admiration for Murat Reis, the leader of one of these attacks against Iceland, aka privateer Jan Janzsoon, and his ability to survive and reinvent himself as Muslim after conversion to the point of being in charge of the whole fleet of the city-state of Salé. The unorthodox flourish of imagining Murat Reis in front of the International Court of Justice at the Hague highlights the often subconscious tendency to interpret the past in light of the present, and how misconceived this can be.

Chapters 2-4 focus on Iceland, specifically 2 and 3 on the raid in the East Fjords, and 4 on the Westman Islands and south-western coast, with many detailed maps and an assessment of the trustworthiness of extant sources. It also moves the focus from ‘the “grand narrative” of national history’ (p. 60), highlighting the anonymous and collective (sailors, pirates, corsairs, Icelanders, victims), to the stories of the individuals that were participants in the events or chroniclers thereof. Þorsteinn delves into local folklore and raises the possibility that the exaggerated instances of heroism found in some folktales were meant to counteract the chroniclers such as Björn of Skarðsá that portrayed the Icelanders merely as victims (p. 86-7).

Chapter 5 on ‘Piracy and Defences’ raises another ‘anachronistic’ comparison: that between a defenseless Iceland at the time of the TR and the importance of its lack of a standing army and consequential neutrality in the modern era. The rift between pro/against positions among Icelanders has lasted ‘over the past 500 years’ Þorsteinn recognizes (p. 144). Both terms of the comparison have become an important part of Icelandic identity. Iceland’s defenselessness in 1627 has often been attributed to the Danes, at best absentee landlords, and in any case distracted while engaged in the last stages of the Thirty Years’ War. On the other hand, Iceland’s neutrality played an important role in some momentous historical events of the 20th century, although the ‘rift’ has opened again since the NATO base at Keflavík closed in 2006.

Chapter 6 and 7 take the readers away from modern indignation at the corsairs’ deeds and brings them back to the 17th century in justifying the killing, pillaging and enslavement of Icelanders as warfare and/or commercial enterprise, and the position of the Christian kingdoms (whether Protestant or Catholic) as hypocrisy at best, considering that the almost 200 years of transatlantic slavery were about to begin. Chapter 7 focuses on the efforts to ransom some of the captive Icelanders, whose situation was more akin to that of prisoners of war, and ransoms were an important part of the economy of the Barbary states. Only about 30 people returned to Iceland from Northern Africa in a period of ca. 10 years. From the historical and legal details of ransom, the author delves into the personal stories of some captives, those who came back (Tyrkja-Gudda, for instance, Hallgrímur Pétursson’s wife), as well as those that stayed (Anna Jasparsdóttir, who converted to Islam), as well as the personal history of Murat Reis himself.

Chapter 8 on ‘Cultural Memory’ looks at what the different accounts of the TR, the number of surviving manuscripts, and when they were copied most often, as well as how the subject is dealt with in modern history textbooks. The material history of the sources and the slant they show can tell us about how the Icelanders of different periods interpreted the events and how they fit them into their national identity.

Finally, chapter 9 focuses on several works of art in Iceland and abroad, their symbolism and their interpretation, including an altarpiece from the church at Kross farm that was never previously connected to the TR. Works of art, Þorsteinn argues, conjoin events and emotions and do not claim to be objective as the written chronicles. Art and landscapes give the community that views them the emotional significance necessary to turn the past into an element of collective memory and identity.

Dr. Þorsteinn Helgason acknowledges his debt to the theoretical approaches of Macro- and Microhistory, as well as of Memory Studies, which provide a structural connection between the interpretation of traditional historical sources, and the human experience of events. The author concludes that the TR should be considered as an example of warfare justifiable in terms of its historical background. However, the book’s most important contribution is perhaps its weaving of carefully detailed historical sources, artwork, folklore, and the personal stories of those involved in the Tyrkjaránið: its collective memory and trauma, embedded in place names, folktales, and history books, have shaped an important component of Icelandic national identity to this day.

Social Media – A Vehicle for Personalisation in Politics? Political communication before the 2017 parliamentary elections in Iceland

Politics are becoming increasingly personalized, the focus shifting from party policies to individual candidates. Throughout the world, social media plays a significant role in this transformation (Enjolras & Karlsen,2016; Garzia, 2011; Kruikemeier, et.al., 2016; Larsson, 2014; Small 2010; McAllister,2007; Meeks, 2017). The most common definition of the term personalisation phrases it simply as a dichotomous relationship between the importance placed on the candidate on the one hand and the party on the other (Chan, 2018).   Compared to other countries, Icelanders are very active on social media with 92% of the population owning a Facebook account, while 62% use Snapchat. Other social media are used less, Instagram 44% and Twitter 20% (Gallup, 2017). Electoral volatility has furthermore been on the rise in the last two decades with diminishing party loyalty and partisan dealignment (Harðarson, 2008, 2016).  Dealignment in turn creates a dynamic context for personalization and leadership focus vis-á-vis party attachments (Garzia, 2011; Garzia, et. al. 2018). This rising trend of dealignment, as Lobo (2018) has pointed out, correlates with the phenomenon of personalization (Lobo, 2018).

Precisely this tendency was felt in Iceland before the 2017 parliamentary elections, e.g. in the case of the now prime minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who had become more popular in the polls than her party (Jóhannsson, 2016. Magnússon, 2017).

Traditional media and their news values are partly responsible for keeping up the visibility of political leaders on the news agenda, as normally they are considered more newsworthy than ordinary MPs or candidates.  Thus, personalization is enhanced by the media, not only traditional media but social media as well. There are two cornerstones to all recent research into social media and politics: the Obama campaign of 2008 and the Trump campaign of 2016. These elections were not exclusively held nor won on social media but innovated its use to attract more attention and votes (Chadwick, 2017).

However, Scandinavian research has shown that in the fragmented hybrid media environment in European parliamentary democracies, social media have as well become a vehicle for non- leaders and newcomers who use these platforms proportionally more than their leaders (Blach-Örsten, et.al, 2016; Larson and Moe, 2014).

 The aim of this paper is to find out if politician´s usage of social media, not only of leaders, contributes to the personalization of the Icelandic political system, which has historically been party centred (Harðarson, 2008). This will be done through a content analysis of the posts on social media of top two candidates of every party in every constituency before the 2017 parliamentary elections and with post- election semi-standardized interviews with 5 party officials. We will explore whether social media is more party, or candidate centred, gaining insight into why that is and what we can expect to see in the future through the interviews. As no research exists on the effect of social media on personalization in Iceland, this will be the first attempt at such analysis.

 

Literature review

It should be noted at the outset that personalization of politics is not a new thing. It has been growing ever since the first televised debates, decades before the first social media emerged. However, electronic media have led to an accelerating pace of personalization (McAllister, 2007).

Social media does not determine who wins or loses an election, as the hybrid media system has led to all media being interconnected (Chadwick, 2013, 2017).  Indeed, people post stories from traditional media on social media and the traditional media covers posts from politicians on social media, the tweets of Donald Trump being an extreme case in point. Social media is, however, a very important tool in a system of hybrid media, where two different types of media logic, traditional media logic (one to many) and network media logic (many to many), interact and coexist in new and dynamic communication fora (Klinger & Svenson, 2014).  This is particularly important with respect to personalization as more votes are potentially available than   before because of the decline in partisan alignment which leads to more undecided voters (Garzia, 2011).

Drawing on the experience from many elections where social media has played a part, party officials and spin doctors have become more confident in the use of social media and less afraid to lose control of the conversation about their candidates on social media (Chadwick, 2017). The influence of individual candidates is based on their competence in social media and how well they can create a synergy between social media and the older, more traditional media. This is mostly up to the candidates themselves because in party centred democracies, professional help is mostly provided for party leaders (Enjolras and Karlsen, 2016).  However, as the Danish example suggests, one can expect politicians that are successful in this sense, “hybrid-media politicians”, to be younger than average, belong to different parities and come from a metropolitan area (Blanch-Östern et. al. 2017)

Research from Scandinavia has shown that use of social media by politicians is not high on a normal day, with spikes in usage mostly being connected to events in mainstream media and big political events. Usage will also pick up in the last few weeks before an election, especially when there is a political event in the mainstream media, reaching its peak on election day (Larsson, 2014). Politicians don’t seem to be using social media to keep in touch with their voters nor to get input. Their aim seems to be to preach to the masses when there is something they feel needs to be told, particularly when it pertains to gaining their vote (Larson, 2014).

When obtaining political information, social media is more important for younger voters whereas older voters use traditional media (Strandberg, 2013). The most influential users of Twitter do not consist of politicians holding top positions in their parties, but rather someone who is trying to make a name for themselves within the party. The average Twitter influential is male, young and rather centrally placed in his party (Enjolras and Karlsen, 2016). Social media has also been shown to be important in reaching citizens that are not exposed to campaign communication through other media as well as encouraging more voter participation in campaigns (Bor, 2014). Candidates do not only use social media to connect to voters but also to communicate to their own party in an attempt to gain more influence within it (Enjolras & Karlsen, 2016). Other research has shown that exposure to a Twitter account of a candidate results in higher political involvement, including greater voter participation, than only being exposed to an account of a party (Kruikemeier, et.al, 2016).

Most studies of the impact of social media on political communication and personalization are case studies and the trends found vary somewhat between countries and political systems.  Research in Germany suggests that social media has had little impact on already low levels of personalization (Schweitzer, 2008). In Canada, high levels of personalization were recorded in the use of Twitter by party leaders, mostly focusing on what they were doing or were going to do (Small, 2010). In Norway, social media was shown to be a mode for personalized political communication (Enjolras and Karlsen, 2016). Another research compared personalization between presidential and parliamentary systems, with personalization being higher in the presidential system but also found it to be increasing in the parliamentary systems (Garzia, 2011). This is because of the growing impact of public perception of party leaders on voting decisions and because the media now focuses more on individual candidates rather than issues, and when they do talk about issues they are normally tied to a candidate and depend on his popularity (Garzia, 2011; McAllister,2007).

It is however important to note that the degree and nature of personalisation does not only vary between countries and political systems but also within countries and between territories and constituencies. As Chan (2018) has convincingly demonstrated, territory matters and e.g. in large constituencies local or regional issues are likely to become prominent and result in personalised politics by candidates, that are not necessarily in line with the more central party line (Chan, 2018).

The social media revolution is not something which only new parties are using to get listened to by voters, old parties have taken in social media as one of their communication tools. Research on the Icelandic hybrid media condition has shown that the emergence of new media has not had a great empowering effect on new or disadvantaged parties in Iceland (Guðmundsson, 2016). This in turn supports the normalization hypothesis, which says that the more established parties will have an advantage on social media due to having more of the resources needed to be successful (Schweitzer, 2008 and 2011; Lilleker et.al., 2011; Larson and Svenson, 2014; Larson, 2014). The new parties also look at the old media as being just as important as new media, although there is a degree of variation between parties (Guðmundsson, 2016). Other research has shown that parties in Iceland mostly think of social media as an advertising medium. A way to tell people what is going on in the cheapest, most efficient way or to tell voters what they can do to help the campaign, not to interact with voters or allow them to influence policy (Bergsson, 2014; Guðmundsson, 2014). Also important is the finding that communication officials in Icelandic parties tended to think that too much politics on Facebook would discourage voters’ attention, the point of Facebook being to post pictures and tell people where meetings would happen (Guðmundsson, 2014).

 

The Icelandic context

Iceland is an island in the North Atlantic with just under 350.000 inhabitants. Over two thirds of the population lives in the Southwest of the country in the capital Reykjavík and surrounding area. The Icelandic parliament, “Alþingi”, is unicameral and has 63 representatives from 6 multi member constituencies, elected using two tier proportional representation (d’Hondt). Of those members, 54 are elected through proportional results in each constituency while the other nine are divided proportionally to parties, who reach the 5% threshold, to make up the national results (Harðarson, 2008). The party system has been characterized by a four-party domination with no party outside the traditional four ever being elected for more than four terms. The Pirate party, which has served three terms, is the longest serving current party outside of the established four. The established four parties have combined received more than 85% of the votes in most elections since the beginning of the current party system in 1931. That proportion has however been significantly less in the last few elections. The traditional four parties are the conservatives (Independence party), which has been the largest party in every election except in 2009, the agrarian/centre party (Progressive Party), which has historically most often been the second biggest, the social democratic party (currently Social Democratic Alliance) and the socialist party (currently Left Greens). The parties on the left have periodically been restructured but it has always led to the same four types of parties. The norm in Iceland is majority government with no formal blocks, neither on the left nor right and the big four parties have all participated in a majority at some point with each other (Harðarson, 2008). Turnout in Icelandic elections is high compared to other countries, only once going below 80%, and voter volatility has also been relatively high, most often over 10% since 1971. The Icelandic system is a party-oriented system with high party discipline (Harðarson, 2017).

The Icelandic media system did not break party ties until around 1990 with all papers before that time having a direct or indirect link to a specific political party. The current media have all been accused of having some party orientation or working for the interests of their owners. Iceland has, compared to other countries, liberal rules for the ownership of media (Guðmundsson, 2016). This is most likely because of how hard it is to have many media companies in such a small market (Harðarson, 2008). The biggest player in the market is the state run public broadcaster RÚV which operates two TV channels (RÚV, RÚV2), two radio stations (Rás1, Rás2) and a webpage (ruv.is). Other big players are telecommunication- and other private companies and include Vodafone, Síminn and Árvakur. All in all, there are more than 20 TV channels in Iceland, over 30 radio stations and 2 daily national newspaper and several others.

 

The 2017 elections

The election on the 28th of October 2017 was an early election that came one day short of a year after the last one. It was the third early election in Iceland since 2008 and the second in a row. The election was caused by the Bright Future Party leaving a government coalition with the Independence Party and centre-right Reform Party. This was due to an alleged breach of confidence that had to do with an application to restore an honour program for ex-convicts wanting to get their criminal records cleaned. Issues relating to the program had been a hot topic on the news in the months leading up to the fall of the government, with a former child-molester getting his “honour” restored and then going on to repeat his offences. The alleged breach came with news that the prime ministers father had in a different case in the past signed a recommendation letter for a convicted child molester, something the prime minister knew about for two months without telling his coalition partners (Harðarson & Önnudóttir, 2017). After the 2016 elections it took more than 2 months to form a government, so instead of trying to form a new majority, Prime Minister Benediktsson dissolved the parliament on the 18th of September and announced new elections in six weeks’ time (Harðarson, 2017). Despite the moral reasons behind the early election, the campaign was conventional, focusing on issues such as health care, economic stability, welfare and taxes (Harðarson & Önnudóttir, 2017). Turnout in the election was 81,2%, just higher than the record low of 79,2% from 2016. Eleven parties ran in the elections, 9 ran in all constituencies, and 8 of them got candidates elected into parliament. The outgoing majority parties all lost seats in the parliament, with the Bright Future dropping out of parliament with only 1,2% (-6% from the last election). This was the fourth consecutive majority to suffer a loss of more than 10%, with only 7 out of 22 coalitions since the 1931 elections gaining votes. The old big four parties only obtained 64,9% of the votes a slight improvement from the 62,1% they obtained in 2016 but still a historic low (Harðarson, 2017). The fact that the elections were held on such short notice may have impacted the focus on social media.

 

Research questions

The aim of this paper is to see if social media platforms are mainly a vehicle for personalized politics in Iceland, a historically party centred system. While news values of traditional media and their programming and editorial structure tends to put focus on party leaders and party spokesmen, the more fragmented and horizontal structure of network media logics of social media platforms gives space to individual candidates. Thus, the aim is to find out to what extent political communication in social media is party-political and to what extent is focuses on the candidates themselves. Clearly, in a hybrid media system, there is no definite criteria on the proportion of certain type of content to determine whether or not a platform is predominantly a tool for personalization, but it can be suggested that if one half or more of the content is of a personal nature, the platform can be considered a vehicle for personalized politics.  This research subject will be approached through posing four interrelated research questions that deal with the type of content in social media platforms before the 2017 parliamentary elections in Iceland. Also, the difference between candidates and parties as well as individual social media platforms will be explored.

RQ1. Are social media a platform for personalized politics in Iceland? This basic question aims to establish through measurements what kind of content is posted on social media platforms.

RQ2.  Is there a variance in the social media use of candidates?  It is unlikely that all parliamentary candidates use social media in the same way and it is of major importance to draw out the differences with respect to variables such as the party of candidates, geographical area, gender and whether a candidate was elected or not.

RQ3. Is there a difference between the ways in which major social media platforms are used?  This is an important question as while many studies have been done on the role and use of different social media all over the world, e.g. Twitter (Jungherr, 2016), very few if any have sought to establish the difference in use of individual social media platforms.

RQ4. Is social media use mainly orchestrated from central party organizations to boost party centred communication or a united party line?  Through this question an insight should be gained into the role of party organizations in the social media use of candidates.

 

Methods

The four research questions will be dealt with in two ways. Three of the four questions will mainly be answered by way of content analysis of the posts of parties and candidates on social media in the run-up to the elections. One question, the one on the relations between the central party organization and the autonomy of individual candidates will be explored through half – standardized interviews with party officials from five of the nine parties that ran in all six constituencies.

 

Content analysis

The content analysis was done in the last two weeks before the election on the 28th of October 2017 starting on the 14th and ending on the 27th of October. Only the 9 parties that ran in all 6 constituencies were followed, with 8 of them eventually being elected to parliament. The top two candidates on the party lists for each party in each constituency were followed, as well as the official social media accounts of the parties on Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. Each post was coded into one of three categories.

Category 1, non-political personal: the posts were non-political and mostly consisted of the candidates telling people where they had been or where they were going, as well as pictures and posts saying how lovely some place or people were.

Category 2, political personal:  consisted of posts where the candidate was defining his own policies, defined by phrases such as “I believe”, “my view is” and “if elected I will” etc.

Category 3, political non-personal: This category consisted of party policies, with statements such as “my party believes”, “our party wants to…”, and so forth.

To answer RQ2 the data was analysed in the light of 8 variables. These were: gender, constituency, leadership position, party, if a candidate was elected or not, if the candidate was from an old or a new party, how active candidates were on social media, and if the posts came from a party account or a candidate account.

Facebook was the dominant medium with 97% of candidates and all 9 parties posting on there at least once during the two weeks analysed. Snapchat was barely used, with only two parties and two candidates using the medium during the campaign. Twitter usage varied greatly between parties, ranging from candidates of the Bright Future Party posting on average 28 times per day to not a single tweet from a candidate from the Peoples- or Centre parties.

 

Interviews

The half-standardized interviews focused on party officials mainly responsible for the social media communication strategies of the respective parties. The purpose of the interviews was to deepen information acquired through the content analysis and in particular to establish the role of the central party organizations in the social media use of candidates and in dictating a party line. However, the interviews were only half- standardized and thus not confined to this topic, allowing the interviewees to initiate and offer points that they thought to be important.  The interviews were both conducted face to face and through telephone. They were taped, typed up, coded and analysed into themes.  All in all, there were five interviews with officials from five different parties that stood in all six constituencies.

 

Results

There now follows a discussion of the results, starting with results of the content analysis in light of the three relevant research questions, on the content and variation in use of different social media platforms. Then the interviews will be analysed to add understanding about the research question on the relations of central party organizations and candidates and the role of social media in the overall communication strategy of the parties.

 

Content analysis

The results from the content analysis are primarily based on Facebook data because of the lack of posts by politicians on Twitter and Snapchat. It should however be noted that 84,3% of the coded communication on Snapchat falls into the non-political personal category (category 1), but the significance of this is limited because of the lack of posts and posters (only 108 total posts). Twitter is also too small in the research to be convincingly important but a general comparison between Twitter and Facebook will however be introduced below.

Personalized vs. party accounts: Figure 1 provides a positive answer to the first research question, suggesting that social media (Facebook) are dominantly personalized tools in Icelandic political communication.  When the average of all posts posted on Facebook during the campaign is considered, we find that personal posts, both political personal and non-political personal posts constitute some two- thirds of the whole (63%).   The difference between the types of posts from parties on the one hand and candidates on the other is striking. Parties post to a much larger extent political posts (52%) than the candidates do (35%).  While communication by the candidates themselves can be said to be dominantly personalized this is not so for the official party communication although it is only just under the 50% mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1  The average communication on Facebook by parties, candidates and the general average.

 

Variance in social media use: Next, we turn to an examination of the variance in the use of social media platforms which was the subject of the second research question. Specifically, we shall look at the following variables: party leaders vs. other candidates; differences between parties; differences between constituencies; differences between metropolitan areas and the regions; differences between men and women; and finally difference in the posts of candidates that got elected and those that did not.

 Party leaders:  Figure 2 shows a comparison between the 9 party leaders and the 10 most active candidates on social media.  Personal posts from both groups are above the 50% mark, with both party leaders and the 10 most active candidates at 64%. Despite the amount of personal posts being similar for both these categories there are a lot of internal differences, the 10 most active candidates have similar amounts of communication from all categories, therefore they differ from the average by having more personal political and less personal non-political (category 2 and category 1). Active posters therefore seem to post more of their own political thoughts than the average candidate and less non-political material. Some 46% of the posts made by party leaders fell into category 1 (non-political personal communication) but at the same time they only have 18% from category 2, political personal communication. This can probably be explained by the leader representing the party and therefore the party´s policies are also personal policies. Furthermore, leaders receive more attention in traditional media and do not need to profile themselves politically on social media to the same extent as non-leaders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2 The average of the type of posts on Facebook from the party leaders and the most active candidates.

 

Party differences: The results regarding the difference between parties show quite a clear distinction between the new parties and the old traditional parties. Although the social media communication can be said to be dominantly personal (category 1+2) for all the parties, the established four had by far the highest number of personal posts, or an average of 76%, while the average of personal posts was 59% with new parties. Candidates from three of the four traditional parties, excluding the Social democrats, had more than 50% of their social media communication coded as non-political personal, while that average was only 32% for the new parties (Figures 3 and 4).

It can therefore be suggested that the newer parties look at social media as a platform to introduce their policies to voters and that their candidates look at these media more as a political tool than do the candidates from the big four. Both the parties that were running for the first time (Centre party and People’s party) had a very high proportion of party-political communication on social media. Only one other party, the Bright Future had more than 40% of its communication from the political non-personal category. The big parties use social media more to connect with voters in a personal way and show the human side of their candidates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3 The average of the type of posts from candidates by party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 4 A comparison of the type of posts by candidates of the big four parties and the new parties on Facebook.

 

 

Difference between constituencies

There is a big difference between the social media use of candidates from different constituencies. Candidates in all constituencies were found to have personalized posts, although there was some difference, especially between the capital area and the countryside constituencies. Comparing the 3 constituencies that make up the capital area (Reykjavík-North, Reykjavík-South and South-West) against the three that make up the regions (North-West, North-East and South) it can be seen that both are dominantly personalized. However, an interesting difference lies in how much more emphasis candidates from the regions seem to put on non-political personal communication versus their own politics and the politics of the party. The fact that they emphasise category 1 (non- political personal) communication more than candidates in the metropolitan constituencies is potentially due to the sheer size of their constituencies, the three constituencies outside of the metropolitan area cover vast territories. Here Chan´s (2018) point on the importance of territory probably kicks in. Purley practical reasons are also at play, as many posts are informing people where the candidates are or will be. The North-East clearly stands out with the value for category 1 by far the highest and party-political communication the lowest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 5 A comparison of candidate communication on Facebook depending on which constituency they are from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 6 The difference in social media communication between the capital area and the countryside constituencies, on Facebook.

 

Gender differences: Gender does not seem to be a significant variable in determining what candidates post on social media. Both males and females post dominantly personal posts. In all categories the difference seems only marginal. Neither men nor women being more dominant in one category than another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 7 Differences between the communication of female and male candidates’ communication on Facebook.

 

Elected candidates vs those who didn’t get elected: Finally, it is hard to draw conclusions from the posts of those who did get elected and the ones that did not. The nature of the Icelandic political system, with party lists and proportional representation as well as the different size and following of the parties call for a careful interpretation. But the results indicate that it is not necessarily good for politicians to be very political – at least not on social media!  Those who got elected are much more personalized and non-political than the candidates who did not get elected. The candidates who failed to get elected also had slightly more communication coded as political non-personal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 8 The difference between the Facebook communication of those candidates who did get elected and those who did not.

 

Facebook vs.Twitter: As mentioned above the results are based on the Facebook part of the research project because of the lack of activity on Twitter and Snapchat. RQ3 however asks about the difference between the ways in which the major social media platforms are used.  As pointed out earlier, Snapchat was not much used in the 2017 campaign and to the extent it was used its use fell into the category of non-political personal communication.  Twitter on the other hand, is a more popular platform with politicians and it is interesting to compare the results of Facebook to those of Twitter. Both gateways can be said to be personalized, although Twitter is only just over the one-half line, with 52% of posts on average coded as personal. Twitter is much more political than Facebook, and with 68% of the Twitter posts coded in two political categories, Twitter can be said to be dominantly political. But with only 42% of its posts coded as personal it is much less personalized than Facebook. Candidates use Twitter as a political medium much more so than Facebook, that is to say, those candidates who have a Twitter account in the first place and are actively using it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 9 There is a clear difference between the two social media platforms as Facebook is more personal than Twitter which has almost one-half of its posts “political non-personal”.

 

 

Interviews

When analysing the interviews, five main themes came up that were considered to have impact on how the parties and candidates acted on social media. The analyses are mostly based on Facebook which all interviewees perceived as the most important social medium for political communication in Iceland, because as one interviewee said, “that’s where the people are”. The themes are the following:

  1. Candidate freedom and external professional help: The extent to which the candidates control what they post on social media and how much help is available to them.
  2. The effects of the short run-up to the elections: How the fact that parties only had 6 weeks to plan for the election changed their focus on social media and the content that they posted there.
  3. Negative ads on YouTube: How did reacting to negative ads change the focus on social media?
  4. Targeting and voter data: The extent to which the parties tried targeting groups on social media and what voter data they used to inform those decisions.
  5. The perceived personalization of social media: What was, according to the party officials, the main theme of the party communication during the election.

Candidate freedom and external professional help: All interviewees said that there had been some professional help for candidates in how to use social media but that it had mostly been in teaching candidates how to use social media and explaining what kind of material worked best, without being directly instructed what to put on social media or how to present it. Although they all added that it was very important that everyone in the party was talking about the same thing, sometimes there was a need to intervene when someone was drifting too far off the party line.

The effects of the short run-up to the elections: The 2017 elections were held with only six weeks’ notice, although normally party officials have years to prepare for an election. The general agreement was that such a short notice made it harder to put out quality material and be ready for the social media conversation and they all would have wanted more time to work on the content. One interviewee said:

It had an impact as we didn’t have any material (to post on social media) and sometimes we didn’t have the time to create it which made things more difficult.”

There was also a general agreement that the role of social media had increased due to the lack of time for making material for other media, or to plan as many meetings as would have been in a normal election year. In the words of one official:

“The difference between the elections of 2016 and 2017 is enormous. All the power went into social media, much more than it would have been if we would have had a longer notice.”

Negative ads on YouTube: The 2017 elections were the first in Icelandic history to have a significant number of negative advertisements. These mainly came from anonymous sources or independent actors not directly or openly connected with a political party. There were ads against every party, but the Left-Greens and Social Democratic Alliance took most of the heat. The officials from both of those parties mentioned this as the biggest challenge they faced in the 2017 elections. They said a lot of work went into trying to answer those on social media, and both thought they had mostly failed in responding.

Targeting and voter data: The focus on how parties use voter data and how much they try to target voters through social media has been very prevalent in all social media research since the Obama election of 2008 (Chadwick, 2017). There was a wide range in how much parties tried to target the audience for their messages ranging from the Left-Greens only targeting by location in preparation for regional meetings to the Social Democrats, Reform party and Centre party saying they tried to target most things that was sent out in the name of the party. They all used some form of voter research in deciding what to put out and who to target, for example targeting labour workers for labour issues and women with equality measures.

The perceived personalization of social media: One theme that came up in the interviews was if the party had focused more on presenting political issues or candidates. The Social Democrats, Reform party and Centre       party all said they focused more on policy issues while the Independence party had focused more on interacting with voters. But the Left-Greens focused more on the candidates or as their official said:  “Our emphasis, although we always had policy in the bits, was on Katrín [Jakobsdóttir]. It (the focus) was on the candidates and mostly on Katrín.”

Themes summary: Viewing these five themes considering RQ4 it becomes evident that the candidates have considerable autonomy in their advocacy and in pursuing personalized political communication.  The interference of the central party in the electioneering of the ordinary candidates is mainly of a technical nature, providing training and skill in the operation of social media platforms and providing some targeting information, to help candidates to be more effective in their posts. Furthermore, the complaints that preparation time was short to produce material for the campaign, points to an important role of the central party organisations in providing stuff for candidates to post and share, with their own personal additions and comments. Other concerns that emerge in the interviews support the view that in European parliamentary systems the ordinary candidates are pretty much on their own while the central party organizations focus more on party leaders (Enjolras & Karlsen,2016; Blach-Örsten, et.al. 2017).

 

Discussion

The findings presented in this paper suggest that social media is indeed a vehicle for personalisation in politics in Iceland. This is an addition to other forces that have contributed to an increase in personalisation, such as the decline in partisan attachments and general political dealignment in Iceland in recent decades and the news value focus of traditional media on personalities.   In this sense it can be argued that Iceland is threading the same path as other parliamentary democracies. However, this might be of special consequence in Iceland because dealignment and distrust in the political system escalated after the financial meltdown in 2008 and the massive shock and sense of political corruption that followed and exploded in the “pots and pan” revolution (Bernburg, 2016). At the same time there is considerable distrust in traditional media and its professional integrity (Guðmundsson, 2016). This makes the influence of social media even greater than in neighbouring countries where traditional media is stronger and has a richer professional heritage. As the trustworthiness of institutions, parties and media has declined, the importance of the trustworthiness of personalities increases and these personalities express themselves largely through networked logic of social media platforms.  This expression can e.g. take the form of new parties or candidates offering their services, claiming to be more trustworthy than existing politicians. This expression can also appear within parties as a candidate in quest of more trust seeks to distance himself from a party which has lost trust, or at least to demonstrate some independence from it. This line of reasoning would indeed rhyme with party-splits and the increased number of parties standing in elections in Iceland since 2013.  Individual candidates seem to have considerable autonomy vis-á-vis the central party organisations in the way in which they use social media – with limits though – for their own personalised political campaigns.

 Another important element is highlighted in the findings connected to the relations between the central party structures on the one hand and the candidates on the other. It seems that elements of “presidentialism” which has been highlighted in the literature (e.g. Lobo, 2018) can be seen in the close cooperation between the central party organisations and the party leaders.  The similar nature of the posts by the party organisations and the party leaders suggests that the leaders might be controlling the agenda of the party rather than presenting it, which indeed is a form of personalisation. And the variance in the forms of personalisation and the rather slack central control is still furthered by the territorial difference which can be seen to be in line with findings elsewhere (Chan, 2018).

Earlier research on media use by candidates in Iceland suggested that new and small parties could not claim an advantage over older parties on the grounds of new media gateways such as social media, even though these media were readily available and inexpensive, simply because older and established parties also use these media (Guðmundsson, 2016). This study adds an important point to that discussion, namely that new and small parties seem to use social media in a different manner than the more established parties. While the established four tend to be more personalised on social media the new and small parties seek to use these platforms to spread political messages, possibly because of lack of other means of communication.

Thus, the findings in many ways compliment findings from elsewhere and the general literature, but the Icelandic case study also adds to and sharpens the understanding of personalisation in general. One last point should be mentioned as it is of major importance, not only for further study of social media and politics in Iceland but for such research in general. There is clearly an important difference between the ways in which politicians use social media platforms.  Personalised politics are clearly more practised on Facebook than Twitter. Indeed, Twitter is quite political, which needs not come as a surprise as it is in many ways an elite medium for politicians and journalists and has been widely studied as such (Jungherr, 2016). In light of the finding presented above is becomes precarious to talk of social media as a single entity with the same general characteristics. That would clearly be an oversimplification of the situation in Iceland and the role of Facebook on the one hand and Twitter on the other.

 

References

Bernburg, J. G. (2016). Economic Crisis and Mass Protest; The Pots and Pans Revolution in Iceland. Oxon: Routledge.

Bergsson, B. Th. (2014). Political parties and Facebook: A study of Icelandic political parties and their social media usage. Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla 10(2), 339-365. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2016.12.1.3

Blach-Ørsten, M.; Eberholst, M. K.; Burkal, R. (2017). From hybrid-media system to hybrid-media politicians: Danish politicians and their cross media presence in the 2015 national election campaign. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 14(4), 334-347. DOI: 10.1080/19331681.2017.1369917

Bor, S.E. (2014). Using social network sites to improve communication between political campaigns and citizens in the 2012 Election. In American Behavioral Scientist. 58(9), 1195–1213. DOI: 10.1177/0002764213490698

Chadwick, Andrew. (2013). The Hybrid Media System. Politics and Power. New York: Oxford University Press.

Chadwick, A. (2017). The hybrid media system. Politics and Power (Second Edition).  New York. Oxford University Press.

Chan, H.Y. (2018) The territoriality of personalization: New avenues for decentralized personalization in multi-level Western Europe.  Regional & Federal Studies. 28:2, 107-123, DOI: 10.1080/13597566.2017.1411906

Enjolras, B., & Karlsen, R. (2016). Styles of social media campaigning and influence in a hybrid political communication system: Linking candidate survey data with Twitter data. The International Journal of Press/Politics. 21(3) 338–357. Doi: 10.1177/1940161216645335

Gallup. (2017, 16th  of November). Samfélagsmiðlamæling Gallup. Retrieved from https://www.gallup.is/frettir/samfelagsmidlamaeling/

Garzia, D. (2011). The personalization of politics in Western democracies: Causes andconsequences on leader–follower relationships. The Leadership Quarterly. 2011 (22)697–709. Doi: /10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.05.010

Garzia, D., Ferreira da Silva, F., & De Angelis, A. (2018). Partisan Dealignment and the Personalization of Politics in West European Parliamentary Democracies, 1961-2016. UC Irvine: Center for the Study of Democracy. Retrieved from: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8r7500zq

Guðmundsson, B. (2014). New realities of political communications in Iceland and Norway. Nordicum – Mediterraneum 9 (1). Retrieved from http://www.nome.unak.is/nm- marzo-2012/ volume-9-no-1-2014/60-article/456-new-realities-of-political-communications- in-iceland-andnorway

Harðarson, O.Þ (2008). “Media and politics in Iceland“.In J.Strömbäck, M.Örsten, & T.Aalberg, (Ed.) Communication Politics: Political communication in the Nordic Countries. Gothenburg: Nordicom

Harðarson, Ó.Þ. (2016). Icelandic Althingi election 2017: One more government defeat – and a party system in a continuing flux.  Retrieved 15th of December 2017 from:  https://whogoverns.eu/iceland-2016-major-changes-but-not-a-revolution/

Harðarson, Ó.Þ., & Önnudóttir, E.H. (2017, 11th  of December). Iceland 2017: A new government from left to right. Retrieved from https://whogoverns.eu/iceland-2017-a-new- government-from-left-to-right/

Jóhannsson, J.P. (2016) 40 prósent vilja Katrínu Jakobsdóttur sem forsætisráðherra. Stundin. Retrieved 7th August 2018 from: https://stundin.is/frett/40-prosent-vilja-katrinu-sem-forsaetisradherra/

Jungherr, A. (2016). Twitter use in election campaigns: A systematic literature review. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 13(1), 72–91.

Klinger, U. and Svenson, J. (2014). “The emergence of network media logic in political communication: A theoretical approach”, New Media & Society.   Online first, February 19.  Available at: http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/18/1461444814522952

Klinger, U.; Svensson, J. (2018). The end of media logics? On algorithms and agency.  New Media & Society 1-18 Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1461444818779750

Kruikemeier, S., Noort, G.V., Vliegenthart, R., & Vreese, C.H. (2016). The relationship between online campaigning and political involvement. Online Information Review 40 (5), 673-694. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-11-2015-0346

Larsson, A.O. (2014). Online, all the time? A quantitative assessment of the permanent campaign on Facebook. New Media & Society. 18(2), 274–292. Doi:10.1177/1461444814538798

Larsson, A. O. and Svensson, J. (2014). “Politicians online – identifying current research opportunities”, First Monday, 19(4). Available at: http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4897/3874

Lilleker, D. G., Koc-Michalska, K., Schweitzer, E. J., Jacunski, M., Jackson, N., and Vedel, T. (2011). “Informing, engaging, mobilizing or interacting: Searching for a European model of web campaigning.” European Journal of Communication, 26(3), 195 – 213.

Larsson, A.O. & Moe, H. (2014). Triumph of the Underdogs? Comparing twitter use by political actors during two Norwegian election campaigns. Sage Open.  First Published December 8, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014559015

Lobo, M. (2018). Personality Goes a Long Way. Government and Opposition, 53(1), 159-179. doi:10.1017/gov.2017.15

Magnússon, H. D. (2016) Katrín nýtur stuðnings flestra. Morgunblaðið. Retrieved 7th of August 2018 from: https://www.mbl.is/frettir/kosning/2017/09/25/katrin_nytur_studnings_flestra/

Meeks, L. (2017). Getting personal: Effects of Twitter personalization on candidate evaluations. Politics & Gender. 13(1), 1–25. doi:10.1017/S1743923X16000696

McAllister, I. (2007). The personalization of politics. In Dalton and Klingemann (editors) Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior (571-588) Oxford: University press

Schweitzer, E.J. (2008). Innovation or Normalization in e-campaigning? a longitudinal content and structural analysis of German party websites in the 2002 and 2005 national elections. In European Journal of Communication 23(4) pp. 449 – 470. Doi: [10.1177/0267323108096994

Strandberg, K. (2013). A social media revolution or just a case of history repeating itself? The use of social media in the 2011 Finnish parliamentary elections. In new media & society 15(8) 1329–1347. Doi: 10.1177/1461444812470612

Small, T. A. (2010). Canadian politics in 140 characters: Party politics in the Twitterverse. In the Canadian parliamentary review. Retrieved from http://www.revparl.ca/33/3/33n3_10e_Small.pdf c

Statista. (2018, no date). Active social network penetration in selected countries as of January 2018. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/282846/regular-soial- networking-usage-penetration-worldwide-by-country/

Schweitzer, E. J. (2008). “Innovation or Normalization in E-campaigning? A longitudinal content and structural analysis of German party websites in the 2002 and 2005 national elections”, European Journal of Communication 23(4), 310 – 327.

Schweitzer, E. J. (2011). “Normalization 2.0: A longitudinal analysis of German online campaigns in national elections 2002–9”, European Journal of Communication 26(4), 449-470.

Hilmar Þór Hilmarsson, The Economic Crisis and its Aftermath in the Nordic and Baltic Countries: Do As We Say and Not As We Do (London: Routledge, 2019)

This is a timely book written by a macroeconomic expert with a broad theoretical and institutional knowledge of the region under consideration. The pivot question to be answered in this book concerns how small northern European countries came through the economic crisis, and what prospects they may experience should a new crisis hit them. From the very beginning, it becomes clear that a ‘small economy’ is not necessarily a well-defined analytical concept. In economic terms the so-called Continental Nordic countries are large compared to the three Baltic States and Iceland, approximately in the proportion 10:1, although in size of population the disproportion (except for Iceland) is somewhat smaller.

The author quite quickly reduces his analysis to focus on how the ‘small’ small economies managed the crisis. He is undertaking a rather broad-ranging scrutiny of the economic development of the Baltic States compared to Iceland and, to a much lesser extent, the bigger Nordic economies as well as transitory economies in central Europe (Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic). He wants to figure out why the Baltic States had the worst macroeconomic record of all these countries with regard to getting through the aftermath of the financial collapse of 2008/09. These three countries had the steepest fall in GDP, the highest rise in unemployment, the highest rate of inequality and, without any comparison, experienced a large emigration rate (close to 10 percent of population) of mainly young people.

Chapter by chapter the author goes through the likely economic explanations of this poor performance. One overall conclusion is the lack of economic and political autonomy and the very Anglo-Saxon inspired welfare regimes of all three Baltic states, which is a striking difference when comparison to the economic development in Iceland is analyzed.

The relatively weak automatic budget-stabilizers made GDP and employment plunge dramatically, causing a kind of exodus of mainly young (educated) people to leave these countries. Furthermore, the political elite felt themselves very committed to make the countries become a full member of the euro-zone as soon as possible. This political ambition made a fixed exchange rate policy an indisputable request from the EU. Hereby, a re-start of an economic up-swing by a strategic devaluation of the currency was blocked, even though the IMF recommended, at least in the Latvian case, such a policy.

The author is also pointing at the dominant position of foreign, especially Swedish, banks. In practice, the Baltics had no financial autonomy. The private sector had to borrow at subsidiaries of foreign banks. Credit policy was decided in Stockholm rather than in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. All three countries ran heavy balance-of-payments deficits in the boom leading up to 2008 – foreign loans were seemingly without limit. When the credit turn-around suddenly came, governments had to ‘do as we say’ (part of the book’s subtitle), meaning that the foreign banks had a large word to say in economic policy (i.e. fixed exchange rate and austerity) and requested a (partial) bail-out of some insolvent banks – causing public debt to rise. The parallel to Southern Europe (see Jespersen 2016) is striking, whilst the contrast to Iceland is revealing: dramatic devaluation, limited and socially balanced austerity, and no bailing out of private banks.

The content of this thought-provoking book, I think, can be summarized by a quote (found in the book, p. 14) by Joseph Stiglitz: “This book is about economics and economic ideologies and their interactions with politics: it is a case study of how, even the best intentions, when new institutions and policies are created on the basis of oversimplified views of how economies function, the results can be not only disappointing, but even disastrous” (Stiglitz, 2016, p.7, emphasis added).

The over-arching hypothesis is vindicated: that the Baltic States came through the economic crisis more poorly than neighboring states due to an inadequate economic policy dictated by their political elite and foreign stakeholders (i.e. the EU and the Swedish banks). But, and this is an important “but” which the author stresses several times, their specific history and the present somewhat tense security situation along the Russian border (in relation to a significant Russian-speaking minority in Estonia and Latvia) called for a tight political integration to Western Europe (economics) and the US (defense).

Having emphasized this extraordinary political challenge and the limited sovereignty of the governments, the author is still rather critical when it comes to social policy. It is, according to him, mainly a national prerogative to decide on how the burden of public expenditures and the economic crisis is shared among people. The Baltics are the most unequal societies in the Northern region, and here the governments could take lessons from the more mature Nordic welfare states, where the burden is much more equally shared. The Anglo-Saxon welfare model only works (if at all) in countries with a high degree of fiscal and monetary autonomy, like the US (and perhaps also the UK). It is in this light that the somewhat subtle subtitle of the book, “Do as we say and not as we do”, can be understood. The author is hereby making an accusation against the external advisers (especially representatives from Sweden and Finland) that they recommended/required a fixed exchange rate and austerity policies of the Baltic governments; but when they were in a similar situation, in the early 1990s, these two countries devaluated the currency strongly and kept their welfare system intact. The word of ‘hypocrisy’ is written between the lines, whereas Iceland stands out as a strong counter-example.

The book is to be recommended to anyone who takes a serious interest into the economics of the Baltic States and wants to go beyond prejudice and conventional wisdom.

 

References

Jespersen, J. (2016). The Euro – Why it failed, London: Pivot-Book, Palgrave/Macmillan.

Stiglitz, J.E. (2016). The Euro – How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe, New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company.

G. Baruchello et al. (eds.), No One Is An Island: An Icelandic Perspective (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018)

No One Is An Island: An Icelandic Perspective explores how Iceland’s behaviour is influenced by the country’s small size and is a timely contribution to Icelandic studies and small states studies in general. This interdisciplinary edited collection came as a result of “No one is an island: Iceland and the International Community”, a conference held at the University of Akureyri in March 2016. The book provides an extensive overview of the subject at hand as it brings together works by Icelandic scholars, mainly from the field of social sciences.  As Frímannsson points out in the epilogue, the overall aim of this book is to reflect on Iceland’s and Icelanders’ attitudes and relation to the outside world (135) as the country gradually and dramatically changed over the course of the last century. Comprising of six unique articles divided into two sections, this short book in size but not in content will be of help to scholars and students alike interested in small states, microstates and everyone wishing to know more about Iceland’s position and future in the international community.

The first section explores Iceland’s representation through non-Icelandic academic research, within the Icelandic media and through the experience of people who chose to migrate to Iceland. In Chapter One, Giorgio Baruchello reflects on his twelve years as the editor of Nordicum-Mediterraneum (NoMe). As editor of NoMe Baruchello has been dealing with and reading many articles by non-Icelandic, mainly Italian, scholars who have intellectually explored the island from various viewpoints. Baruchello identifies four recurrent themes: Iceland as “the land of the Vikings”, Iceland as a Nordic State, Iceland as an Arctic State, and Iceland as a dimension of the spirit. Fully aware that it would be a difficult task to assess how representative these four themes are of both the stereotypes and the commonplaces in the collective consciousness about Iceland, Baruchello concludes by assessing how well they fit with Icelanders’ self-representation and presentation of their culture to foreigners. Iceland as an Arctic nation might be the fastest-growing identity. In the last decades or so, the Arctic has managed to carve itself a space in the Icelandic consciousness and within Icelandic politics. The majestic, almost spiritual character of the Icelandic landscape and geography will not surprise anyone – it is how Icelandic touring companies have advertise the island since the tourist boom of the last few years. Nonetheless, Baruchello’s conclusion is that although Icelanders still partially enjoy their country in the same way their ancestors did, urbanisation and high living standards have also had an impact on how Icelanders perceive their country’s own identity as they sometimes tend to agree with how the country is regarded abroad rather than on their own perceptions.

Birgir Guðmundsson then shifts the focus to media in a microstate. Using Iceland as a case study, Guðmundsson posits the media system in Iceland is in many way similar to its Scandinavian counterparts, more specifically regarding the extent to which cultural and historical factors play a role in the literacy development and the universality of communication and media (36). Guðmundsson also pinpoints several differences that make the media landscape in Iceland unique, such as a lower trust in internal political pluralism and less developed journalistic professionalism. The latter is due to the cumulative effect of a distrust in political pluralism within different media outlets as well as competition within a small media market. Comparatively, Guðmundsson concludes that changes seen in other Nordic/Northern European countries are also being seen in Iceland. Global-level trends and technological changes have had an impact on the way the Icelandic media now handle the news.

Chapter Three “Migrating to the High North” (Stéphanie Barillé and Markus Meckl) is based on interviews with people who have immigrated to Akureyri, Iceland. Beside the wealth of information about how migrants might feel when moving to Akureyri and how they have adapted to their new life, this chapter is truly of interest because it conveys a positive narrative about migration studies. In researching on migrants’ well-being and happiness – an under-researched topic in migration studies – studies like this shift the focus to the positive impact of migrating onto the host country.

The second section tries to make sense of Iceland’s role and interests within the international community. Of particular interest in this section is Chapter Four and Chapter Five. The former (Rachael Lorna Johnstone and Hjalti Ómar Ágústsson) focuses on Iceland’s role in Arctic governance. This chapter offers a thorough overview of Iceland’s geopolitical and legal interests in the North as it explores Iceland’s multilateral approach to Arctic relations and how Iceland has managed to frame itself as the only “full Arctic” state. Trying to make sense of Iceland’s priorities in the Arctic, the authors show that multilateral cooperation is key to Iceland’s strategic position in the region. From its Arctic policy documents to fisheries management to Iceland’s exclusion from the “Arctic Five” table, the country is shown as promoting cooperation with Arctic and Non-Arctic stakeholders through the Arctic Council, a forum where a small state has as much say in the decision-making process as “big Arctic players” such as Russia or the United States. Toward the end, the chapter also briefly touches on Iceland’s role within the emerging West-Nordic cooperation. Albeit brief, this last part provides readers with a platform to the next chapter in which Grétar Thór Eythórsson and Gestur Hovgaard consider the West-Nordic Region and the Arctic. A republic since 1944, Iceland is the bigger player in this newly emerging cooperation nexus in the North Atlantic. Building on previous research and contributions, the authors examine the unique relation between Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland as this relation intricately evolves between the West-Nordic region and the Arctic. Contrasting each country’s interests as well as Danish interests, the authors find common grounds and challenges for the West Nordic region. West Nordic cooperation needs to challenge the status quo and find innovative ways and structures to have a real impact as a geopolitical subregion.

“Iceland and Foreign Aid” (Gunnlaugsson et al.) depicts Iceland’s path from a poor country under Danish rule in the 19th century to a recipient of foreign aid in the post-WWII period to a donor country in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Iceland’s transformation, often credited to applying free market logic and policies, is mostly due to a combination of several factors within different economic contexts. Its geographic position and military importance during the Cold War meant that Iceland received generous development assistance through the Marshall plan, PL480 and the UN Development Program and beneficial loans from the World Bank. As pointed out in this chapter, this meant that Iceland could lay the foundation for its own development aid agency while still receiving foreign aid. Using Malawi and district (local) cooperation as a case study, the researchers also show how Iceland has shifted its focus in development aid from fisheries only cooperation towards including more social sector initiatives such as health, water and sanitation and education alongside fisheries.

In the epilogue, Guðmundur Heiðar Frímannsson provides some personal reflections on the previous chapter as well as on the small size of Iceland’s society and its effect on Icelandic life as a whole. With the eye and the insight of an Icelandic philosopher, Frímannsson offers what could be deemed as a concluding comment in which he wraps up the contributions to this volume. His final analysis is that the book contributes to a deeper understanding of Iceland’s smallness. One can indeed only agree with such a concluding remark,  overall No One Is An Island is a superb addition to the field of small states, regional and Icelandic studies. Baruchello, Kristjánsson, Jóhannsdóttir and Ingimarson have managed to compile high-quality articles in a readable, small format that will suit even those who lack time for academic readings – the book can be read in one evening. The book’s only drawback might be its price. Coming up at £58.99 on Cambridge Scholars Publishing’s website, this concise book might not be in everyone’s budget but its in-depth and thorough overview of the subject at hand is well worth the read and would make an excellent addition to university libraries’ collections.

Religious Belief, Human Rights, and Social Democracy: Catholic Reflections on Abortion in Iceland

In a secular world, religion is an antidote to dogmatism. Like religious societies before them, today’s secular societies take many things for granted. There are beliefs, even life-and-death ones, that hardly anybody challenges seriously or thinks through, if not even about. Such beliefs are secular dogmas.

In the Nordic countries, for example, abortion is as much a long-secured legal right as it is an obvious fact of life and daily practice for hospitals and their personnel. Academic debates on the ethical nature and status of abortion are, nomen omen, academic. Students do not get particularly excited about them, unlike what a philosophy teacher would experience in, say, North America or Great Britain. In these Anglophone parts of the world, instead, the debate can be so heated that it often degenerates in the opposite way: two factions scream aloud (“murder!”, “patriarchy!”) and nobody listens to any reason but their own–or better, they listen to prejudice that is supposed to count as reason. Yet, British champions of liberalism such as John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) or Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse (1864–1929) claimed that unchallenged belief, even if true, is worse than challenged belief, for which one must retrieve and think through solid reasons. Let contrary belief, even false belief, be heard, so that the human mind may not acquiesce into shared habit, prejudice, or de facto dogma.

Roman Catholicism, with its insistence on equating the destruction of embryos to the destruction of human life, serves as a token of contrary belief. Whilst heathen religions demanded life sacrifices and allowed infanticide, Christianity, at least in its declared intentions, stopped them, to the surprise of peoples that had been exposing children since time immemorial—Christ’s death on the cross being ideally the last human sacrifice to the heavens. Contra the conventional wisdom of civilised peoples such as the Egyptians and  the Romans,  the radical Jewish sect initiated by Jesus Christ (or Yeshua ben Yosef) became the unlikely ideological conqueror of the ancient world and ushered an age in which the parent-child relationship, which noted Jewish historian of early Christianity and bioethicist Hans Jonas (1903–1993) regards as the veritable archetype of all moral responsibility, acquires powerful ramifications.

In the Nordic countries, whenever I voice my doubts about the comprehensive and commonsensical ethical legitimacy of abortion, I am quickly dubbed an “Italian Roman Catholic”, as though that label could put an end to the issue. It does not, however. Uttering disqualifying predicates may be popular and even effective (e.g. “fascist”, “populist”, “communist”, “chauvinist”, etc.), but it is cheap rhetoric nevertheless. Generally, I am regarded on almost all issues as a die-hard leftist. Personally, I consider myself a feminist, or at least I have been happily married and co-working with one for many years. Whether I am a leftist, a feminist, an Italian Roman Catholic, an Icelandic one, a Greek Orthodox, Jew or Buddhist, though, my doubts must be countered first through proper critical analysis, not put aside without thoughtful consideration by uttering some sort of supposedly negative or self-explanatory label that, in the mind of the utterer, means that the brain can be switched off in good conscience. If not a classic token of ad hominem attack, the standard reply that I receive in the Nordic countries is a case of fallacy of relevance. Let me articulate my doubts, then, and engage active reason, not automated numbness.

First of all, whatever a fertilised egg may be—a person, a cluster of cells, a magmatic centre of biological energy, a monad—we can all be certain of one thing: all persons have been precisely that at some early stage of their biological development. One does not have to deploy the full force of Aristotelian or scholastic metaphysics to grasp this fact, even if the notions of “potency” and “actuality” may appeal to her. After all, they appeal to engineers and physicists when dealing with energy; or to sport coaches and teachers when gauging the likely achievements (or failures) of a young athlete or pupil. But they do not appeal to me. Infinite regress seems excessive for something as temporally confined as a person, whom we know to have a beginning and an end, however blurry those may be. Besides, my doubts do not start with the reproductive cells taken independently, but with the fertilised egg. Plenty of sperm cells and, fairly regularly, of eggs, are disposed of without ever becoming a person. Far fewer fertilised eggs do not evolve into a foetus, which later becomes, often, a person. In any case, no person has never been a fertilised egg.

Could then a fertilised egg be a person? I do not know for sure. Though I do know that it might. Hence abortion might be prenatal infanticide. As such, on merely prudential grounds, I am strongly inclined to suggest that we should be cautious with regard to how we treat a fertilised egg, for it might be the case that we are dealing with a person, and I myself as well as all of my Nordic interlocutors (I have yet to meet an inveterate sceptic, social Darwinist or sadist outside philosophy books) wish to treat persons respectfully. Annihilating them is, with rare and typically tragically painful exceptions, something that we do not wish to do.

Secondly, when I look back at my personal experiences, and especially at whether growing up in a largely Roman Catholic country did make any difference, I can clearly see two things. One: on the most counterfactual level imaginable, I would be most displeased if my parents or just my mother had decided to abort me; I would have been deprived of my existence and all the experiences, bad as well as good, that have made it worth living. Two: when debating the legalisation of abortion in Italy, one of the most frequently heard arguments from the pro-abortion side was that, as painful and possibly harmful as it could be, it would have saved nonetheless the lives of many women, who would have otherwise sought illegal abortions.

Like several advocates of legalised drugs or prostitution, many who have favoured State-sanctioned and operated abortion suggest a choice in the face of empirical inevitability between two evils—one greater, another lesser—rather than between an evil and a good. Saving life, rather than contributing to destroying it, is a paramount aim to be attained by allowing and regulating abortions, even when it is found profoundly unappealing. Thus, the question arises: were we to find a way to save life to a higher extent, could we try to reduce the frequency of abortion, or establish conditions that could lead to the same result?

Please note that I have stated nothing so far about women’s fundamental rights and liberties. I am not indifferent to them. Quite the reverse, they are so obviously paramount to me that I have not wasted any time debating them or their legitimacy. I do not wish to see them diminished, not least in the medical sphere. Rather, as with all cases of possible limitation of anyone’s liberty and self-direction, such as penal law and traffic regulations, one can only intervene if some serious harm could be the case if no intervention takes place. Given that the ontological nature of the fertilised egg might be that of a person, or be so closely related to being a person as to entail some serious moral consideration, how could one ever intervene with all the authority, impersonality, clumsiness and yet inevitable necessity of State regulation in such an intimate sphere as a woman’s control over herself, her body, her earthly existence?

Certainly, since I have not ascertained with much certainty that fertilised eggs are real persons and, at the same time, I do know that all reasonable human beings would avoid harming persons as far as plausibly possible, whilst granting them as much freedom as possible, I cannot allow the State, in principle as well as in practice, to be heavy-handed. While it can be hypothesised academically that legal abortion is a modern woman’s equivalent of the ancient Roman pater familias’ having ius vitae necisque over all living beings that happened to be sub mano, the State’s ability for murderous power is far more empirically certain and we are reminded of it by each and every war that occurs on our planet.

The solution that I propose is therefore a fairly indirect and, in the lack of certainty, prudential one, which is bound to prove dissatisfactory to many pro-life advocates. It is partly the result of the theoretical considerations spelled out above, as tentative and imperfect as they may be. And it is partly the result of personal and, if one wishes to be a little more ‘scientific’, socio-cultural observations that I have made in different European countries over many years of professional and personal life.

These observations can be summarised fairly quickly: in Iceland, compared to the United Kingdom, there is a similar abortion rate and at least as easy an access to lawful abortion, coupled with a high rate of unplanned pregnancies, especially among young women. Overall, however, more children are born in Iceland of younger mothers, even in comparison with the other Nordic countries. Emblematically, while I never had young students with children when I was teaching in England, that has been a most commonplace experience in my long professional life in Iceland. Why?

Several factors are at play, all of which are relevant, though I cannot say which ones carry more weight than the others. To begin with, the social stigma attached in Britain to unwanted and teenage pregnancies is almost non-existent in Iceland. Secondly, Icelandic women can continue to study or work without fear of dismissal, for the existing legal provisions protect them; besides, such provisions might actually facilitate the commencement of a young, double- or single-parent family via tax credits, free public childcare, maternity leaves, and affordable education for children up to adult age. Also, many young Icelandic women seem to regard motherhood as a fundamental step in their personal growth, self-realisation and long-term well-being, whether there will be a father available or just the State qua surrogate parent. Finally, Icelandic families, as mixed and crisscrossing as they may be, tend to be willing to help young parents and many generations come together to raise the new baby.

Given this picture of the situation, my suggestion is as follows: let the United Kingdom and any other nation on Earth be more like Iceland, for the welfare State is actually pro-life. While changing local cultures may be complicated, changing taxation, labour law, access to education and healthcare provision is a fairly common practice, at least as the history of the past hundred years or so has shown across the globe. Moreover, the financial resources needed for these changes are undeniably available. It is enough to consider the vast amounts of tax-avoiding money that have been siphoned for years into well-known tax havens or that Central Banks have “injected” into the world’s economies over the past decade in order to keep failed private banks afloat. Whenever any talk of limited funds are heard, one should recall the exemplary and staggering 700-billion USD bailout package passed under George W. Bush’s administration in October 2008.

If only a tiny fraction of that huge monetary mass were created to support family policies along Icelandic lines, then the worries about budgets could be easily overcome (I do not discuss here the details of the funding process, for they would obscure the simple fact of the actual availability of funds, given a positive political will). If Iceland managed to achieve all of this, despite being one of the poorest countries in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, it is bizarre to think that at least all other high- and middle-income countries could not do the same. The Roman Catholic can thus conclude, in a spirit of hope: give us more Icelandic-style, or for that matter, Scandinavian-style social democracy in family policies, love thy children and thy nation’s children, and more births should occur. That, in turn, can translate into fewer abortions though, I must admit, it is no strict guarantee of it. After all, we do live in a secular world, in which career considerations or Down-syndrome diagnoses do routinely lead to terminating pregnancies. Nonetheless, better conditions for life-enablement can certainly be established, granting personal liberty and free conscience more room as to whether make full use of them or not, consistently with constitutional human-rights provisions. The imperfect knowledge of imperfect humankind can only usher imperfect solutions, but different degrees of imperfection matter as well and can well make a difference.

 

References

Alþingi, Lög 25/1975.

Duvander, Ann-Zofie et al., “Gender Equality Family Policy and Continued Childbearing in Iceland, Norway and Sweden“, Stockholm Research Reports in Demography, #2, 2016.

CESCR, General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12), ref. E/C.12/2000/4, 2000.

Hobhouse, Leonard Trelawny, Liberalism, NDA (originally published in 1911).

Hognert, Helena et al., “High birth rates despite easy access to contraception and abortion: a cross-sectional study”, Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 96(12)/2017: 1414-22.  

John Paul II, Pope, Evangelium Vitae, 1995.

Jonas, Hans, Das Prinzip Verantwortung: Versuch einer Ethik für die Technologische Zivilisation, 1979.

Mill, John Stuart, On Liberty, 1993 (Collier & Son 1909 edition; originally published in 1859).

OECD, “A Progress Report on the Jurisdictions Surveyed by the OECD Global Forum in Implementing the Internationally Agreed Tax Standard“, 2009.

Sedgh, Gilda et al., “Adolescent Pregnancy, Birth and Abortion rates Across Countries: Levels and Recent Trends“, Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(2)/2015: 223-30.

US Senate, H.R. 1424, ref. AYO08C32, 2008 (as made available in The Wall Street Journal).

 

Underemployment of Immigrant Women in Iceland – A case study

The number of immigrants living in Iceland has been steadily on the rise for the last decade; between 2007 and 2017, the percentage of immigrants living in Iceland has increased from 7.6 % to 11.9% (Statistics Iceland, 2017a, 2017b). Akureyri, the largest town in the North of Iceland with considerable industry and service, has seen its immigrant population double in the last decade, and is now home to 931 immigrants for a total of 18 488 inhabitants (Statistics Iceland, 2017a, 2017c). New research from the University of Akureyri[1]shows that immigrant women are the most vulnerable people in the labour market in Iceland. Many occupy positions that do not fit with their level of education; despite having received higher education than men. For example, in the survey conducted 30% of immigrant women in Akureyri answered that they are in employment that does not suit their background, compared to the same answer by only 8% of Icelandic women. This difference has a direct impact on the income: just 11% of immigrant women answered that they earn 300 000 ISK or more per month, compared to 37% for Icelandic women and 22% for immigrant men.

We begin the discussion by reviewing the literature on migration, labour market and gender, with an emphasis on the Icelandic context. Then, we introduce the context for this study and describe the participants and the methodology, before we explore the immigrant women’s thoughts on their employment situation.

Migration, gender and the labour market in Icelandic and international research

 

From 2000 onwards, increased job opportunities in construction and the opening of the labour market to citizens of the new member-states of the European Union were the main reasons behind the increase of immigrants working in Iceland. However, migrants coming to work in Iceland were not seen as active participants in the long-term economic prosperity of the country but rather as a temporary labour force. Support for the integration of immigrants by the government was scarce, the issue was mostly left to private initiatives and a policy was constructed only in 2007 (Skaptadóttir & Loftsdóttir, 2016).

At the peak of the Icelandic economic boom in 2008, the Directorate of Labour reported that 9% of the Icelandic workforce was composed of immigrants (Skaptadóttir, 2014). Data from 2010 shows that the immigrant unemployment rate was 14.5%, which was twice as high as the rate for Icelandic citizens, as immigrants were often employed in the boom-bust sectors (ibid.). The chance of obtaining a new job after the crisis decreased for immigrants, as their previous work experience abroad was not always recognized. Before the crisis, the lack of knowledge of the local language was not seen as a big issue for securing a job in Iceland, but afterwards it proved to be an important problem. Funding for language courses became scarce (ibid.).

A survey among immigrants showed that three-quarters of the respondents thought it would be difficult to get a job in Iceland: 71% named the lack of fluency in Icelandic as a reason, 62% assumed that employers were not eager to hire foreign workers, and 41% indicated that they felt they were not well connected within Icelandic society (Wojtynska et al., 2011). There were a growing number of immigrants seeking aid after the crisis; a study showed that a third of those who received help from charities were foreign citizens, and the most were unemployed immigrants from Poland. However, most of them had lower income but more education than the Icelanders receiving aid (Dofradóttir & Jónsdóttir, 2010). It is suggested that accomplishments and achievements are the predicators of immigrants’ personal self-esteem (Nesdale & Mak, 2003).

Immigrants are mostly invisible in regional development policy and application (Júlíusdóttir, 2010). Even though migrant workers are a growing group in all regions of Iceland, they are presented as a simple labour force, not as a source for economic prosperity (ibid.). They are absent from the discussion on entrepreneurship, despite research showing that 26% of immigrants are interested in starting their own businesses and 51% having graduated from a university (Jónsdóttir et al., 2009).

There is hardly any research on the relationship between immigration, gender equality and the labour market in Iceland, however it is a topic that has been looked at extensively at the international level. In the literature on migration and gender, female employment displays the most negative associations in host countries (Fortin, 2005) and the gender gap between men and women, as well as between natives and immigrants, is widely recognized (Brekke & Mastekaasa, 2008). Immigrant women experience “double earnings penalty” (Hayfron, 2010) from their status as immigrants and as women, and a Norwegian study suggests that gender has more effect than ethnicity on inequality and disadvantage within the labour market (ibid.).

Regardless of Iceland’s stereotypical portrait as a gender equality nation, the persistence of a gender-segregated labour market remains (Júlíusdóttir et al., 2013). Women have less access to the labour market, are under-represented in most companies, do not often hold management positions and earn less than their male counterparts (Jafnréttistofa, 2012); the opportunities for immigrant women in the labour market are even worse (Júlíusdóttir et al., 2013).

So far social scientists have not combined the issues of gender equality and immigration in Iceland as one, when they need to be tackled together to address the issue of equality. It is argued that the discourse on equality in Iceland “has primarily emphasized gender and class, and needs to be reformulated pertaining to the multiple inequalities linked with recent immigration” (Skaptadóttir, 2015).

The consequences are that often immigrants are not incorporated in the (gender) equality discourse. In the Nordic countries there is a division between the “we—the Nordic” and the “gender-unequal immigrants” (Þorvaldsdóttir, 2011). Even though the Nordic countries are represented as being in a leading position regarding matters of equality, negative stereotypes of both immigrant men and women hold a strong position (ibid.). In the last two decades, there has been a shift in research from gender equality to equality for all (Þorvaldsdóttir, 2010), but social scientists and policy-makers are still hesitant in exploring this concept, as they fear that it will push the gender equality issue behind the scenes (ibid.).

Methodology and participants

This study uses a narrative methodology (Coffey, A. & Atkinson, 1996). The authors realized interviews with immigrant women and thereafter analysed them by using discourse analysis. Data were gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews in which eight immigrant women recollected their employment experiences in Iceland. The participants were recruited on a voluntary basis as long as they suited our criteria, which were to live in Akureyri, to consider oneself an immigrant woman, to have formal education and to be in employment that did not reflect your education. Alþjóðastofa Akureyrar helped with the recruitment of participants from various countries of origin and occupations. Women came from various backgrounds, their age varied from 25 years old to 56 years old and seven of them were married or in a relationship. Half of the participants were highly educated: four of the women held a M.A degree. The interviews mostly took place in their home, although a few participants preferred to be interviewed in a café. The interviews were conducted in English, and one interview was conducted in Latvian; the interviews were recorded and accurately transcribed, and the interview in Latvian was translated into English. The interviews lasted on average an hour. Participants were asked about their background, their education, their migration stories, and their experiences of employment in Iceland. All the interviews were conducted by the authors; the names used in this article have been anonymised to preserve confidentiality.

The challenge of recognizing foreign education in Iceland

One of the key problems immigrant women face is the difficulties relating to the recognition of foreign education. Most of the participants reported using the support available from Alþjóðastofa Akureyrar, the Intercultural Centre of Akureyri, where they received guidance and help regarding the recognition of their education. Several received help from the staff at Símey, a lifelong learning centre and umbrella organisation promoting adult education in the Akureyri region. Neither of these two organisations is directly responsible for the recognition of education. Four participants considered taking courses at the University of Akureyri in order to either gain new knowledge or to take extra courses to get their past education recognised or supplemented. One participant with a nursing degree joined the nursing program at the University of Akureyri, but could not complete it, owing to the fact that her proficiency in Icelandic was limited.

I was talking to someone at Símey to recognize my qualification and I stopped somewhere in the middle… because of the time… […] this paper stuff… I just left it behind for the moment. […] I am not sure how it is working here, with my job and my qualification. (Interview 7)

The geographical location of Akureyri can also be an impairment for practical matters related to the recognition of education, as all the important institutions are in the capital. It is particularly problematic for immigrants who do not possess very good Icelandic or English language skills. Several of the participants commented on the long and fastidious process of getting their education recognised, arguing that the Icelandic administration was being slow and over particular, always requesting new documents or being selective regarding the words employed in the translations. One of them has been in the process to get her nurse diploma recognised for six years and has even employed a lawyer to help her, but still hasn’t succeeded. Another woman, also with a nursing diploma, seems to be unaware of all the procedures needed in order to become a practising nurse in Iceland, as there is no systematic guidance provided to skilled immigrants to help them secure a position matching their qualifications in the labour market.

 

We sent it [the diploma] to Reykjavik, [The employee from Alþjóðastofa Akureyrar] called but they said: “It is not enough, you need many more documents with you.” (Interview 6)

 

Here is my diploma, it’s looking like that. And the first time [I tried to have it recognized in Iceland] they told me, because in [my native language] they wrote here I was declared a nurse in assistant social and pedagogy, and they say: “No, you are not a nurse, you are a social worker.” And I said: “No, it’s how they translated, because I am a nurse!” […] The problem is, on my papers, there isn’t [mention of] this law, and it has to be exactly like this. It doesn’t matter what I can bring, it doesn’t matter, they want this. […] I must have this law on the paper. (Interview 2)

In general, individuals who have studied abroad have the possibility to have their education recognized in Iceland. If the purpose of recognition is to prepare for further studies or to compare qualification levels, an application can be sent to the relevant education institution or to the Naric/Enic network[2] in Iceland. If the purpose of recognition is to acquire rights to work within a regulated profession in Iceland, the applicant must apply to the appropriate competent authority in this country (Recognition of Professional Qualifications, n.d.). Different Icelandic government ministries administer the recognition of credentials that refer to their various jurisdictions; for example, certification of teaching degrees, for teachers of pre-school, compulsory, and upper secondary classes are handled by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, and regulations for nurses are enforced by the Ministry of Health in Iceland through the Icelandic Nurses’ Association.

In order to have foreign education recognized in Iceland, three main policies are in force:

  • Act on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications no. 26/2010
  • Regulation on the recognition of professional qualifications for working in Iceland no. 879/2010
  • Regulation on the recognition of qualifications for working in regulated trades in Iceland no. 585/2011 (ibid.)

In general, for foreign education to be recognised in Iceland, an application must be submitted together with a copy of the diploma from the home country along with a translation in Icelandic, English or a Nordic language. The applicant must provide official confirmation and information about his experience working in the profession he intends to practice (Assessment and recognition of vocational qualifications, n.d.).

There are various institutions and organizations in Iceland that create and use assessment tools in order to validate education and experience, especially in technical jobs. In 2001, the Education and Training Service Centre (ETSC, in Icelandic Fræðslumiðstöð atvinnulífsins) was set up for this purpose. The Centre funds education and training courses, offers counselling, and validates diplomas; it developed methods for validation of non-formal and informal learning. The role of the ETSC is to ensure quality and guarantee that the approved methodology is implemented in various work sectors, as well as to manage the implementation of the validation process in new sectors (The Education and Training Service Centre, n.d.). This organization has been a forerunner in initiating and implementing work assessment programs for technical jobs (Renner, 2010).

Nurses have often been needed on the Icelandic work force so provisions regarding recognition and certification are in place (ibid.); there are various regulations that one has to comply with before receiving certification. Two participants in the research, one from the EEA (European Economic Area) and one from outside the EEA, were nurses who had not yet gained recognition for their education. In order to work as a nurse in Iceland one is required to have an Icelandic nursing license. The main requirements for getting a nursing license in Iceland are:

  1. To provide certified proof of your citizenship in an EEA country/ a certified copy of your permanent address. A certified copy of your passport is sufficient.
  2. To provide a certified copy of your diploma or nursing degree showing that you are registered as a nurse in your home country.
  3. To provide a certified copy of your nursing license. This certificate must not be older than three months to ensure its up-to-date validity. (Icelandic nursing licence, n.d.)

To recognise nursing diplomas, requirements differ between member and non-member states of the EEA. Nurses that are citizens of a state member of the EEA are requested to submit a letter of good standing, which includes a statement that their training for basic qualifications comply with the training standards laid down by EEA; they are also requested to provide proof that they have a valid nursing licence in their home country. Nurses that are citizens of a state that is not part of the EEA must submit a certified copy with full details of the programme and content of the nursing studies. The Directorate of Health also asks the prospective holders of Icelandic nursing license to be able to speak Icelandic (ibid.).

Supporting immigrant women with their carrier goals

 

The interviews reveal that due to current work and family situations, not all of the participants are very flexible. If their current life situation allowed more flexibility, especially concerning economic aspects, they would have more possibilities to increase their skills, knowledge, and experience. One of the participants had applied to university to obtain education in a different field that would provide her with a new career, but was then offered paid employment; her financial circumstances constrained her from pursuing new education in favour of the offered work position. Another example shows that one of the participants had an opportunity to have an internship related to her education, but she could not take it because having a paid position was essential for her, although there was a strong gap between her education and the aforementioned position.

She told me that if I wanted to I could stay [at this government institution for an internship], because it is, for example, the type of job I could do. […] But then I got a job, so I don’t have time anymore. (Interview 1)

With the support from the current employer, there is a greater probability for immigrant women to get their education recognised at a fast pace. One of the participant’s boss contacted the adequate institutions to have her credentials recognised, so she could benefit from having a wage equivalent to her education. Another participant implied that she could be promoted to work as a nurse, for which she has education from her home country, instead of working as a carer. Both her career and financial situation would improve if she could be in a position more suitable to her education. Her employer seemed interested in changing her position, however, she wasn’t provided with any help. Another participant noted that she had an idea of what she would like to do and it would suit her education but this employment wouldn’t provide her with enough income to support herself and her family due to unavailability of full-time positions during winter season. Two participants mentioned that they wouldn’t like to have employment that would involve work outside the “regular” workday hours as that would interfere with having quality time with their children.

 

Because I made this one here [because I volunteered], they accepted me. It was very difficult to go inside this care system. (Interview 2)

The capital area, which is home to large number of immigrants, is the place where most institutions and support organisations are located. Nevertheless, there are some institutions available for support of immigrants in Akureyri. Five of the participants mentioned the University of Akureyri in connection with education related opportunities. Only one of them had tried to pursue further education there, however without success. Many had taken language classes or planned to enrol in future courses in Símey. Moreover, some had received help there regarding the recognition of their credentials. The Intercultural Centre of Akureyri was named as an important institution to receive support relating to education recognition, future career planning, social support and activities (organising cultural events etc.). The Directorate of labour was also noted, but with the least significance; some of the participants didn’t believe they could obtain valuable support there.

I went to the Vinnumálastofnun [job centre] and I told that I was looking for a job. They did nothing. […] So I asked: “Do you have some plan how to help us [immigrants who are looking for jobs according to their education]?” He said: “No. […] We have some plans but nothing in general in Akureyri.” (Interview 8)

Some of the women noted the importance of social networks in connection to employment opportunities. As the length of time spent in Iceland varied between them, it influenced the size and nature of the networks. Sometimes it was clear that the participants have networks of different quantity and quality available, even when length of stay was similar.

There is probably some jobs available, but I just don’t know about them. (Interview 1, in Iceland for 7 years)

 

I think friends can help you most to find a job. (Interview 8)

Creating networks in the new country of residence is crucial for integration as it may help provide basic requirements for the life in the new environment (Ryan et al., 2008). However, some networks may put migrants into specific ethnic sections, thus resulting in migrants remaining within bonds of trusted family and friends from the country of origin (ibid.).The ability to speak the local language and to communicate with people from a wide spectrum is important not only in improving employment opportunities but also in gaining a fuller understanding of the new society (ibid.). It is suggested that despite the length of time since the migration, it is apparent that the dynamics of networks can vary (ibid.).

 “I wasn’t feeling that my Icelandic is that good”: the language problem

Upon their arrival in Iceland, all of the participants used English for communication. Several participants also noted that they had had to improve their English knowledge when they arrived or are still trying to improve. However, for many of them, English is still widely used as a means of communication in everyday life. This may be the result of better language skills in English rather than in Icelandic, and most of the participants seemed more confident to speak in English, rather than Icelandic.

The participants feel that being accepted into the Icelandic community is no easy task, but it is uncertain whether the barriers are set up by the native population or by the immigrants themselves. In immigration contexts, language is extremely important both as a medium for everyday communication and to secure a position in the new labour market (Esser, 2006). Language and accent are symbols of “belonging and foreignness” (ibid.). One of the participants believed that it takes five to six years to adjust to a new society and become part of the group; she had been in Iceland for seven years, however, when asked about whether she felt accepted, she answered ambiguously:

The others [co-workers] are complaining that we don’t speak the language good, we don’t know exactly the culture and how they are doing, and what…           [I’ve been here] seven years. I know the culture… […] If they are thinking “she is a foreigner, she doesn’t speak good Icelandic”, it’s the energy they are transmitting me… (Interview 2)

Four participants explicitly expressed the issue of not having high proficiency in Icelandic. Two of them declared that there is a lack of opportunities to practise the language. However, at least five of eight women had taken part in at least one Icelandic language course and showed interest in participation in more courses. Moreover, four of the participants enthusiastically expressed willingness to improve their skills and knowledge of Icelandic.

I will take a course and at home I need to learn one, two words. [..] I’m learning. I like it. (Interview 6)

 

Three women mentioned the need or the wish to speak Icelandic “perfectly”. They made an unreasonable comparison between the native speakers and the non-native speakers of Icelandic. Maladaptive perfectionism characterizes people who experience exaggerated concerns about making errors, doubt their actions, and feel anxious; adjustment is negatively influenced by this psychological trait and emotional difficulties are also created (Rice et al., 1998). Maladaptive perfectionism can also be associated with low self-esteem (ibid.).

There are enough Icelanders to work there who speak perfect Icelandic. (Interview 6)

Language learners generally feel that anxiety is a major obstacle to be overcome in learning to speak another language; language learning itself is an unsettling psychological experience as it threatens a person’s self-concept and worldview (Horwitz et al., 1986). If the women experience low self-esteem, are they in a position to evaluate their language skills adequately? Negative self-image could make them underestimate their competence.

There is clear evidence that immigrant women lack confidence in utilizing their current level language skills. One participant mentioned a past event where her lack of knowledge caused a small incident at work, while another woman admitted that her co-workers expressed dissatisfaction with her language skills, although she also had other types of disagreement with them. However, they were not the women who communicated most negatively about their language competency. As there were only two concrete examples of problems caused by lack of language skills, low self-esteem seems as big of a problem as the actual lack of proficiency in Icelandic. Many of the women interviewed showed fear of rejection caused by low self-esteem rather than real examples of rejection.

I don’t think I could do it [a job I saw advertised] because I don’t have so good Icelandic to talk with Icelanders if there is some problem or something…I was stressed about it and he [my partner] is angry with me because he thinks I have enough knowledge of Icelandic to do that, but I am still… I didn’t feel comfortable. […] I think they will prefer some Icelander, I honestly think they will prefer someone who is Icelandic. (Interview 1)

Fluency in the local language facilitates integration to a new environment (Esser, 2006). Therefore, it is important to be given the opportunity to learn the language. The primary institution in Akureyri to learn the Icelandic language is Símey. There are three levels available; however, two of the participants mentioned that courses they had applied for had not taken place due to an insufficient number of participants for the course. One participant mentioned the cost of the course as the main reason for not taking part. However, it wasn’t clear whether this participant was aware of the possibility to get partial reimbursement of expenses for Icelandic courses from her trade union. There are additional options to learn Icelandic in Akureyri: Alþjóðastofa Akureyrar, the Intercultural Centre of Akureyri, offers support to find volunteers keen to assist immigrants practice Icelandic; there are teachers who offer private lessons, however the prices for them are usually very high; there are websites to improve your knowledge of Icelandic.

Over recent years there has been different activities for immigrants to learn Icelandic in Akureyri. For example, Zonta’s International Education Fund funded a language course for immigrant women with children; the Salvation Army in Akureyri offers support to learn Icelandic; there is an Icelandic chat group at the municipality library of Akureyri; reading and homework assistance is available for primary school pupils (attending first and second grade) at the municipal library. In 2015 and 2016, there were two workshops entitled Icelandic through artistic expression, in which immigrants expressed their experience of living in Iceland.

Self-confidence or how immigrant women doubt their capabilities

Six out of eight participants are experiencing issues that are possibly caused by low self-esteem. These participants were overly critical not only about their language skills but also about their capabilities in general, overall showing lack of self-worth. Some of the participants were aware of their lack of self-confidence, but there were also examples where women didn’t see the connection between high self-esteem and ability to forward in their lives and careers.

When people see that you are very quiet, you are not sure of yourself, they can’t or don’t want to accept you to work. Maybe this is the main problem. (Interview 5)

 

I think that I am not that confident also…you have to be very strong if you want to have a business. (Interview 7)

 

I think there are people who don’t speak Icelandic but have better jobs, but I don’t know where the key is, I didn’t find out… (Interview 1)

Some of the participants are unable to see or doubt the existence of possibilities that would help them to improve their career prospects. The relative long time spent under-employed in Iceland can make immigrant women look negatively towards the future. Our past experiences influence our present actions; we know our competences and capacities based on past experiences (Strandell, 2016). ‘‘Previously I tried being X by doing Y, which failed, making me feel ashamed. It is unlikely that I will succeed in doing X today, either.’’ (ibid: 6).

Honestly, I think I won’t make more money than what I am on now. (Interview 1)

 

I don’t think I can find a job [according to my education]. (Interview 4)

For some lack of confidence has influenced their career advancement, which has caused tension at home. The partners feel unhappy as their help and support is not sufficient to improve the women’s self-confidence. Some women even mentioned disagreements with their partners caused by this. Most of the women expressed willingness to have employment rather than being at home, as with their jobs they contribute to the family’s economy, meet new people, develop skills and gain work experience.

[I] start to fight with my husband, crying, not meeting anybody it’s not good for me, I want to do something… (Interview 2)

 

[My husband] says: “You put your head down, [but] you must look in the eyes!” (Interview 5)

The interviews revealed that several women are influenced greatly by what others suggest and say about them. Social factors can have an important role in valuating oneself. Recognition of others is important because it verifies the successful depiction of one’s identity (ibid.). Therefore, it is sometimes helpful to receive encouragement and support to pursue a goal that is not easily achieved. However, self-esteem can be deteriorated by discouragement.

 

I just never think that someone could do something to give me a job. I have to do it myself, […] I need someone to push me, my husband did but that wasn’t enough. (Interview 4)

 

I was very nervous [..] I didn’t believe in myself too much. It look like I lost hope in myself […] And my size maybe, [..] in the bakery they say they need someone strong… (Interview 5)

 

 I was like: “Let’s do it!”… but then I spoke with the woman who organise this course and she was like: “Maybe it is hard for you.” (Interview  4)

Several women of this study compared themselves to others in similar situations. They were under the impression that if someone had done something alike, they were their “role models” and therefore they themselves couldn’t do things in a different way or even be better than others. Therefore, they have made negative evaluations from upward comparison. Social comparison is a part of the construction of our self-esteem (Stangor, 2011). When we compare ourselves favourably with others, we feel good about ourselves; however when the comparison suggests that others are superior, the self-esteem will most likely be influenced negatively (ibid.). There are two main types of social comparison: upward comparison and downward comparison. In the former, people compare themselves to others who are better than they are; in the latter, people compare themselves to those who are less accomplished than they are (ibid.). It is suggested that exposure to someone who is superior to oneself can lead to positive or negative evaluations. Such circumstances suggest that either one is relatively disadvantaged or that one could improve (Suls et al., 2002). Unfortunately, the women interviewed mostly saw further faults in themselves.

I was working there until eight months of pregnancy […] My other colleague, she was pregnant as well, […] she quit one week before she gave birth, so I was feeling a little bit like… at the end, out of power but I felt so stupid to say I’m done here because she was so full of energy all the time and she’s a rough woman… I was feeling stupid to tell them I was seven months pregnant and leaving. [Interview 1]

 

X did this course last time and […] I thought if it was hard for him then [I cannot do it]. (Interview 4)

Some participants believe they are in worse circumstances than they actually are, or presume something is a disadvantage while it actually not necessarily like that. People’s general sense of self-worth is regulated by three main factors: their positive and negative feelings about themselves, their beliefs about themselves, and the way that they create these beliefs (Pelham & Swann, 1989).

I had a breakdown there [at the language course], I said I shouldn’t be there because you have to know a lot. (Interview 7)

 

I still have an accent. There is nothing [you can do about it]. I have an accent and to teach [with an accent is a bad idea]… (Interview 6)

 

Maybe people are not interested in what I am doing, maybe they don’t like it. (Interview 7)

Lack of self-confidence has hindered several women from taking opportunities that could improve their work situation and satisfaction. Self-esteem works in motivating in two directions: pushing or pulling, thereby influencing an individual’s behaviour (Strandell, 2016).

I never tried [to find employment related to my education] because I thought that language is really important in that. I was offer [to take part in my education related project] but I was not sure if I could handle it. [..] I think I was afraid, I am a kind of chicken. (Interview 1)

 

I was thinking about taking some course, but I don’t know if they ask you to have some more [education than I have]. (Interview 7)

 

I somehow… I couldn’t… I would be happy to do it one hand [take a cooking   course], but on the other I am afraid… but there is no point to be afraid. (Interview 6)

Self-esteem can be defined as a degree to which one values oneself or a ratio between one’s competence and worth (Reber, 1995). Orth and Robins (2014) believe that there is an interconnection between self-esteem and development of important life outcomes; high self-esteem can often predict success and well-being in life domains such as relationships, work, and health. Research shows that high self-esteem is “a predictor, not a consequence of life success” (ibid: 384). However, “prior experiences of success, a perception of the environment as supportive and nurturing, and involvement in close encouraging professional relationships are identified as important antecedents to professional confidence” (Holland, 2012).

 

I’m still trying to find a job, but I’m not so positive about it anymore. […] Maybe I wasn’t lucky enough. (Interview 1)

It is not always the lack of opportunities that prevent women from taking small steps towards better career prospects, but negative evaluation of their abilities. Therefore, they should be provided with experiences that would improve their self-esteem and consequently provide them with the confidence to improve their language skills and advance their careers in suitable employment.

 

Conclusion

When trying to determine the causes of underemployment of immigrant women, it was necessary to look in detail at four main issues: recognition of foreign education, availability of support, Icelandic language, and self-confidence. The findings of this research unveils the tedious process of credential recognition in Iceland. Although, there are guidelines of what should be done, in reality the process is not always clear and takes extremely long time. Even though there is some support available in Akureyri for the recognition of foreign education, the examples clearly show that they are not sufficient. As the recognition process takes place in institutions that are located in the capital, the procedure is complicated for people living in other parts of the country. There is scarcity of support from institutions and current employers. This situation should be improved as not all of the immigrants have vast social networks to rely on. Most of the women believe that their current Icelandic language level is not sufficient for both everyday life and employment opportunities, and are therefore willing to make improvements. Immigrants should be provided with more classes free of charge for language learning. Although language is important for integration, many experience issues due to fear of rejection, striving for perfection, and low self-esteem. In our analysis, poor self-confidence is not necessarily conscious in the immigrant women’s mind, but low self-esteem builds negative social comparisons and creates negative self-image and discouragement. The negative influence of low self-esteem not only hinders advancement in the labour market, language learning and use, but also has an impact on family life.

Even though it would be greatly beneficial to have more support for foreign education recognition, language learning opportunities, and help with forwarding their careers, it seems that the most fruitful action should be to address women’s self-esteem first. The fact that many of them have tried unsuccessfully to obtain their education related employment for several years have contributed to poor self-confidence and loss of hope for change. Self-esteem improvement workshops should be provided, as well as internships that would provide the women with experience of success and new, supportive environment.

 

 

 


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[1] Funded by Jafnréttissjóður Íslands in 2015

[2] ENIC-NARIC Network purpose is to help interested organisations and individuals find information on procedures for the recognition of foreign qualifications.

North and South – And a Traveler from In-Between

Instead of an Introduction (Starting from the Middle)

The Balkans is an especially unique place on Earth. It is really a difficult task to compare it with any other part of our world, but I would take the risk of comparing it with the Caucasus. The Balkans comprise dozens of linguistically related and non-related nations sprinkled in a seemingly random manner all over the mostly mountainous peninsula. In reality, nothing is random or spontaneous about that. Their placement in space (and not only space) is a result of thousands of years of warfare, power games, ideological and religious indoctrination, violence, and, to a great extent, trade, cooperation and intermarrying. All these nations and their respective languages are crowded between the high mountains, powerful rivers, deep lakes and crushing seas; all of them representing their own national truth, all of them carrying their own type of hatred and love. That is the reason why in this land many hilltops are crowned with castles. Each castle has displayed dozens of different flags, depending who the master was at the moment. Each castle wall has seen thousands of deaths by wounds, disease or hunger, and some of the walls contain the bodily remains of the enemy. What for? So that we would have history books filled with national history. So that we could rename places and call them differently in our own language. Furthermore, castles are great for tourism – they are money machines, and tourists love them. Romantic selfies taken upon a meter or so of soil which covers tons of bones and still rotting blood.

But the key questions among the nations of the Balkans is surely the following:

‘Who was here first?’

Because someone was. Some nations are sure that their forefathers were the aborigines of the peninsula. Some claim that they came later but the land was already empty due to evil Romans. And then some claim that we are all descendants of the aborigines, just to varying degrees. I would not be surprised if all of them were mostly wrong, and all of them just a bit right. One fact is for sure: The Balkans was populated even before humans by Neanderthals. So, arrows have been flying through these woods for a long time. And just like Americans, Spaniards in South America, Canadians, Australians, etc., most of the nations of the Balkans have that complex of getting there too late and seizing other people’s land. That complex is manifested in hundreds of different ways, some of them even being incorporated into the notion of national pride. In that respect, Rhaeto-Romans (in all variations), Albanians, and Greeks are a bit different because they undoubtedly regard themselves as the original peoples of the Balkans, and they rather take on the role of the historical victim than that of a historical conqueror.

Although modern genetics is telling a different story, the majority of the people of the Balkans remain firmly anchored in their traditional postulates: We are all nationally pure and homogeneous, we all righteous, we are all brave conquerors/tragic victims, we are all better than the others. We will sooner or later receive our justice. In reality, all of the people of the Balkans have spent the vast majority of their history as slaves to other white people. Some nations reached short term independence, mostly when big powers got bored and tired of killing them and investing in high mountain wars. It was only in the 20th century that the nations of the Balkans started on the path of independence, and on a long and successful mission of becoming Europe’s poorest and most backward region. The inflamed appendix of Europe. The Balkans, the abused child of Europe enters puberty. People who have experienced suffering in long lasting, devastating slavery in the 20th century started practicing their sovereignty in the most unlikely of ways. People so complicated in their profound experience, and so simple in their utter stupidity.

If you are a person from the Balkans and you are visiting Iceland for the first time, absolutely nothing can prepare you for the culture shock. That is only understandable. It was by a great coincidence that just a few months after Iceland I had a chance to visit a culture in the southern extreme of the Mediterranean – Lebanon. Although being strikingly different from the Balkans, Lebanon nevertheless seemed to be culturally and historically closer to me than Iceland. And the distance between Iceland and Lebanon seemed as a never-ending journey. I am extremely grateful for being able to compare the North, the South, and the thing in the middle.

Allow me to share a part of my vastly subjective experience.

The Battle of Iceland

It was plus +45° C on my Mediterranean terrace as I read the email sent by the organizers of a scientific conference (on Canadian culture) in Akureyri, Iceland. In the email they strictly warned the conference participants, including me, to take warm jackets, although it was summer in Akureyri. I read that sentence twenty times while big drops of sweat kept falling down my forehead. It was just one day before departure. In my typically self-confident but, nevertheless, superficial Balkan manner I thought: ‘A jacket takes a lot of space in the bag. And summer is summer everywhere. It can’t be that cold. I’ll take only one warm pullover. I mean, it is in Europe.’

A decision I regretted instantly upon arrival.

Cold or not, the scenery was breathtaking. The black colors of lava, and those specifically Icelandic shades of green and brown, which collided with the blackness above and beneath the waterfalls, kept my face stuck to the bus window. I was sleepy and exhausted but had no intention of missing even a second of the Icelandic landscape. And I watched. No castles. No wide, boasting roads. No dramatic highway bridges built on IMF loans, and so typical of the poorest European countries. No visible attempts to subordinate nature with large chunks of reinforced concrete. Just timid, mostly wooden, beautifully painted houses (with large SUVs parked in front of them, some of these cars being as big as the houses; I learned later that these cars are a result of sheer necessity in Iceland, and the shovel attached to the rear is not a matter of tuning but rather good sense). Great roads but just wide enough to serve the everyday needs of inhabitants. And virgin nature around, untouched, proud and content. I had a feeling that the Icelanders and their nature constantly cuddle each other. That’s all they do, they cuddle. And both the people and nature know when is the right moment to safely pull back the hand, stop cuddling, and let mutual respect do the rest.

Somewhere above Skagarfjörður the bus stopped and I got out. The first time I’d experienced the Icelandic wind. I was told this wind was far from its maximum galore, although it was already stronger than anything I’ve ever experienced in Europe, including our infamous eastern Mediterranean bura (or bora) and the brisk northern winds of the Baltic Sea. And, yes, I was frozen again, but happy to discover one interesting thing: You can eat Icelandic air. It has a wonderful smell and the taste of Earth’s untouched north and breathing it is close to the experience of eating skyr for the first time. I could see a fjord, and a dark sea. Icelandic horses on the field far away. There were black peaks of mountains that looked like the teeth of a dragon sleeping on his back with his mouth wide opened. There was me eating the air. I suddenly realized how really wonderfully different Iceland was.

I arrived in Akureyri around midnight. The bus stopped at the central bus station in front of the Hof. I got out of the bus and right away I was frozen. The bus driver asked me where my hotel was. I told him the street, it was some 400 meters away. The bus driver told me: “Hop in, you’ll freeze”. He started the bus and drove me a few streets further at the beginning of the Hafnarstæti. Mind you, and official Icelandic transport bus. I couldn’t believe it. I started thanking him and then I noticed he was a bit annoyed. Later I realized that you don’t need to thank too much in Iceland, you don’t even have to ask. People just help when they feel that help is needed.

I realized right away that Icelanders don’t fall for empty words, phrases and formal courtesy. They just do what they feel is right. And their feeling of righteousness is deeply rooted in them through their culture, tradition and history. I was never a fan of traditionalism in the continental sense of the word, but in Iceland the air is different, and so is tradition. Because of the rough climate and isolation, the core of any tradition in Iceland is based on mutual help. In other words, without any fallacy of politeness, a traveller constantly feels as though surrounded with members of loving and caring family. You don’t have to know a word of the language.

I got to know about the hostel on Hafnarstæti through an Icelandic friend of mine I met via the Internet. Owners of the hostel, who were my friend’s relatives, greeted me in a way that would not be considered whole-hearted in the Balkans, but they right away gave me a big discount, helped me to settle in, and started treating me as one of their own. After a few days there, I felt like a part of the team. As if I was a part of the family or, at least, employed by the hostel. Following my friend’s tip, I went to the Icelandic Red Cross center and purchased a wonderful traditional Icelandic wool jacket. I paid three times less than what I would have paid in the center. I was proud but instantly bothered by that fact. In a conversation with the hostel owners and employees, I tried to express that in a self-justifying joke. I said: ‘Hah, I’m a real Balkan opportunist: a day in Iceland and I already raided the Red Cross’. No one laughed, and there was a long moment of confusion. Then, as if he felt my Eastern European mentality infected with all sorts of inferiority complexes, the owner of the hostel told me: ‘Relax. We are all relaxed here. And we all buy cheaper when we can. We are not crazy to do any different’.

Relax. Indeed, a key word in Iceland. I saw nervous people; I heard people raise their voices. But it would all soon pass, and life continued without any drama. It was just like the Icelandic wind; it came unexpectedly kicking up dust and stones, and then it would disappear even faster leaving the scenery equally beautiful.

The other thing I noticed about Icelanders right away was their deep, unscrupulous and opened self-criticism. Where I come from, we generally still feel like we have to prove to Western Europe that we too are Europeans. We very often hide our weak sides and consider them shameful. One big part of our existence is occupied by gluing tons of cultural make-up on the face of our intellectual decay and especially the burlesque inefficiency of our economy and deeply corrupted society. On the other hand, Icelanders, a nation incomparably richer and more developed than mine, were entirely comfortable claiming that they were an unhappy nation of utter weekend (and not just weekend) alcoholics, adulterers and villains, led by a weak and corrupted government. Nothing could have surprised me more. I listened to what they had to say about themselves. What I concluded is that Icelanders on average really do not look “violently happy”, as Björk would have it, but their sadness is perfectly softened by all of the great aspects of life in Iceland, and these aspects are numerous. They seemed to me more down-to-Earth than depressed. There is a problem with drinking in Iceland, although the extent of that problem could not be compared with anything we have on the continent. From Scandinavia and Iberia all the way to the Balkans and the Caucasus, alcohol consummation is a huge problem. Most Icelanders are at least decent enough to typically drink Friday evening and over weekends in designated bars. And yes, some of them drink until they fall off their seats, and then they are carried home. But I never saw groups of young people lying drunken and unconscious in a park, for example. Not to mention tons of heroin syringes covering public spaces like pointy flowers – you can’t see that in Iceland. As far as their marital and extramarital practices are concerned, coming from a culture terribly suppressed by a mostly false and hypocritical understanding and practice of faith, I found their way of life much more original, straightforward and morally acceptable. I never met villains in Iceland in any possible sense of the word. While I am sure that corruption exists everywhere, in Iceland as well, I will not lose time or energy on even trying to compare the level of institutional corruption in Iceland and continental Europe, not to mention Eastern Europe.

I did not try to contradict them because I noticed one thing: Their open self-criticism is an efficient way of coping with their problems, and, more importantly, an important tool in repairing the damage and keeping their social problems under control. Successful self-correction through unbiased self-criticism: this is a complex personal skill and an essential social virtue, which even some developed continental European societies still have to adopt and/or perfect.

One thing drew my attention, an apparent lack of ill-tempered nationalism. Icelanders do not seem to compare themselves to anyone. Not in the way we do that on the continent at least. Around them is the sea. Furthermore, they have accepted an enormous number of foreign workers (for the most part from Poland), and I saw quite a few Icelanders walking in the streets with spouses from different countries, races and religions. I spoke with some of the foreigners, Poles and Croats to be precise, and they told me only good things about Icelanders and their attitude towards foreigners. One Croatian immigrant I met in the hostel told me the following: ‘No one asks you where you came from, they just want to see what you can do. If you work fairly, you will have everything. If you break the rules, you have nothing to look for here. This is a different world.’

While people of the Balkans quite often insist on their national purity, Icelanders will openly and proudly tell you that the Vikings formed only one half of their national genetic pool. Apparently, the Vikings, on their way to Iceland, stopped in Scotland and Ireland to borrow a certain number of females. These Celtic women provided the other half of modern Icelandic cultural identity. Hence, the amusing idea of mountain trolls seems to be much more important for the Icelandic cultural identity than an idealized image of a Viking warrior. You can quite often see troll dolls in shop windows, on streets, in souvenir shops, and in the windowpanes of private homes. Vikings seem to reside mostly in museums, books and in the names of several bars (this is, at least, what I experienced in Akureyri). I can easily imagine that, if the people of the Balkans inhabited Iceland, they would be ashamed of traditions connected to trolls, but they would have streets named after Vikings, with large Viking monuments on every square. These Vikings would be fierce warriors with swords, cutting off the heads of every possible enemy. Especially heads of the Danes, the ex-colonists, disregarding the fact that Danish rulers and Vikings were separated by at least nine centuries. But Iceland is not such a society.

Another thing about Iceland impressed me, and that is the absence of the national flag. You can buy it in all souvenir shops, but you can rarely see it on buildings, even governmental ones. I bought an Icelandic flag, and looking at it in the evenings, I wondered how many Icelandic flags remain on the island, and how many travel with tourists around the globe. My guess was that only one small portion of the flags stays in the country. In the end, I had no idea where the urge to buy the flag came from in the first place.

On my way back from Akureyri to Reykjavik, I took a tourist bus that takes travelers on a longer road through the center of Iceland. In the bus, stuck over the driver’s head, I saw a small Danish flag. That really intrigued me; this kind of behavior would spark debates in the Balkans. I mean, the flag of the ex-colonist! So, I approached the driver and asked why the Danish flag was waving over his head. He got confused, he stared at the flag for a moment. Then he asked: ‘This is a Danish flag? I didn’t know that. I am from Poland. I just drive the bus’.

The feature of Icelandic society that has utterly won my heart is their trust in basic human goodness. We have all watched documentaries about desolate parts of the world, untouched by human civilization. In these parts of the world animals are not afraid of people, but they often approach them out of curiosity. I had the same feeling when observing young Icelanders and children. Children would approach foreigners without fear, and they seemed so confident in their surroundings. My Icelandic friend had arranged that I meet with her son, which I did (although at the moment she was at the other end of the country). We went rowing shortly in a boat in the middle of the fjord. Then we ate an ice cream. Her son was everything that a child of his age should be, a curious little prankster, but every now and then he would turn into a serious and extremely well informed interlocutor in English. I was amazed by this balance of childish carefreeness and responsibility and maturity of a grown up. The same happened when I spoke with the son of my colleague whom I met at the conference in Akureyri. His son, a boy of nine years, who is, just to mention, multilingual, told me about the games and sports he likes, and then he told me about his job as a porter in a hotel. In Iceland, children can have grown up jobs, and they are paid fairly for that. Listening to his childish laughter interrupted by his briskly sharp and serious thoughts of a responsible member of society, I couldn’t help wondering how they achieve that in Iceland. And I thought that this is how children must have been, at least a little bit, in my country some hundred years ago, not because of excellent education and responsible upbringing but rather out of necessity that arose from poverty and hardship.

Children in Iceland are real children, mischievous and playful, but at the same time they are responsible, and in every way efficient parts of the society. How come a twelve-year-old boy goes rowing alone in the fjord with a stranger, engages in an interesting two-hour conversation, and then hurries home because his job is waiting in the morning? I compared that with the upbringing we have back home. First of all, we are over protective parents, and the first thing we teach our children is not to trust strangers, actually, not to trust anyone (although I cannot blame the parents for that). An important part of that is implanting in them utter doubt about the society and the establishment as such (and I don’t blame parents for that neither). Secondly, our schooling system molds them in a way that suppresses their creativity, critical and independent thinking. Growing up in our society basically comes down to surviving and learning to cope with numerous forms of open and tacit types of humiliation imposed by people, by peers, by bureaucracy, by the establishment, etc. Your success is measured according to the level of your acquired resistance to humiliation. We insist that children stay childish as long as they can, and responsibility… We are never taught how exactly to take on or cope with any responsibility. In my country it is not rare that children stay with their parents until the age of 40. Of course, this is closely connected with the state of our economy, but still, so much could be improved.

Reflecting on my Icelandic experience, the way Icelandic children are brought up was maybe one of the most impressive things I saw in that country. Icelandic children are fully integrated into their society at an early age. They feel absolutely safe in the society, hence their childish joy of living, but on the other hand, they very early learn how to contribute to society through meaningful and useful work. Ever since I visited Iceland, I’m thinking that this is a societal experience and upbringing I would wish for my children.

To summarize the most striking features of life in Iceland, I will make a very personal claim that Icelandic society displays that wonderful streak of an intuitive society. Intuitive society in the sense of a group of people with a developed higher sense of societal responsibility, the appreciation of justice, humanity and natural surroundings, actually, to the point where most of the forms of the repressive apparatus become redundant. Social proofs to this claim are abundant, and in the political sense, the strikingly clear sign of highly developed social intuition in is the Icelandic Pirate Party (a movement for direct democracy which is intrinsically related to intuitive societies) which at one point in 2016 won more than 14% of votes in the general elections.

I remember how, upon the news that the Pirate Party won enough votes to send representatives to parliament, the reaction in my country varied from disbelief to mockery. I myself could not believe how that could have happened, and I thought that the rise of the Pirate Party had to be mainly preconditioned and sparked by the shocking experience of the collapse of banking and the economy from 2008 to 2011. While that might be partially true, only after visiting Iceland have I gotten the full picture. The fact is that Icelandic society already is a partially intuitive society, a society so complex and well balanced that every freedom and justice movement finds fertile soil there. In that respect, it is enough just to look at the Icelandic attitude towards female rights. The truth is that Icelandic society is decades ahead of any other European society. The size of the society and their relative isolation have surely been factors which Icelanders were able to turn to their benefit. I believe it will take decades for other European societies to grasp the level of the intuitive society now existing in Iceland, and even more decades to implement it.

I would add here that I spent ten days in Iceland, and I never saw a police officer. In 2018.

Meanwhile, people of the Balkans still vote mostly for their serious parties falsely divided into the so called left and right. They continue giving their support to people they do not trust but they consider them less harmful than some other people. They continue living in the fog of empty nationalist rhetoric that gives full license for the political opportunists to continue spreading their web of crime and corruption. Meanwhile, more and more potential immigrants from the Balkans dream about finding their future in the west and north. I understand them fully.

People I met in Iceland asked me: ‘How does it feel to live in a country surrounded with hostile neighbors, squeezed behind the land borders that are so often visited by the demon of war?’ I did not try to fully explain the hate and bad blood that flow through every creek in the Balkans, in every pit, under every stone, and forms waterfalls over every elevation in the Balkans, just like volcanic and glacial waters do in Iceland. I couldn’t explain it fully, even if I wanted to. Especially not to Icelanders. Icelanders took over an uninhabited island. They did not cause a genocide of any other nation upon their final settlement. From the very beginning they were blessed with a clean start. And then, although colonized by Denmark, they were left out of all the carnages that Europe produced and went through. Furthermore, when the British army took over the island during WWII, Icelanders largely profited from that moment in history as well. And today Iceland is one of the most developed and richest nations in the world. What I told my Icelandic friends basically comes down to following:

You are lucky to be surrounded by the sea. So lucky.

History has spared you.’

There is a history museum in Akureyri. It is situated in a vast modernist villa which, with its symmetry and sharp edges, somehow sticks out from its surroundings (and, of course, reflects the architectural outlines set by Mies van der Rohe in his Villa Tugendhat in Brno). I read that the villa was built in the first half of the 20th century by a German family, obviously in favor of the modern building style and the Icelandic landscape (which is interesting and somehow contradictory; while the general public in Germany in those times largely idolized Iceland and its culture, they were quite negative towards modern architecture and art in general). Taking into consideration that the family is no longer there, and that the house is a museum, I gather that’s a way that Icelanders successfully closed that monstrous chapter in Europe’s history on their soil (while, let’s be fair, a large portion of the European continent still lives in the year of 1945).

I was thinking how a history museum so far north could possibly look like (just under or barely in the Polar circle, depends which claims stated by Wikipedia you accept as true) and what can it offer here in this history-free land? I came to the museum just at closing time. However, a young curator of the museum (she herself being a child) decided to keep the museum open for another half an hour just for me. And that half an hour changed everything.

I soon learned that the Vikings tried to inhabit the island three times but the island kept on killing them. After the final successful colonization of land, the remaining population was several times almost annihilated by the climate, diseases, and hunger. Icelanders lived in horrible poverty for centuries, constantly under the threat of freezing, hunger, and, strangely enough, fire (the city of Akureyri was hit by devastating fires several times, and most of them seem to have started in bakeries). According to the data revealed in the museum, at the beginning of the 20th century Iceland was one of the poorest countries in the world. All the way up to WWII a large portion of the people lived in dugouts, dwellings dug in the dark Icelandic turf. During WWII, when the British arrived, and later the Americans, Icelanders started trading with them, they learned the English language (almost all Icelanders are fluent in English), they got rid of the Danish rule entirely (only in 1944), and that has sparked a speedy development of the economy. The rest of the century Icelanders dedicated to successfully becoming one of the richest nations in the world.

I realized that my country was actually much more developed, much richer and better off than Iceland probably all the way until the fifties of the 20th century. And since then, Iceland has gone further, and my country became one of the poorest in the EU. All this new information shocked me. I was speechless, just staring at a photograph of children taken during carnival. I was pulled out from my thoughts by the young curator who now politely warned me that the half an hour had passed a long time ago. I realized I was totally and absolutely wrong: Iceland was not spared by history. Not at all. Their entire history was, and still is, a battle. I realized now that the battle of Iceland was one of the fiercest in the history of Europe. It was the battle against the elements and nature, the only battle people can never entirely win.

Iceland also had to be fought for, and its conquest claimed more people (compared with the overall population) than in any other nation in Europe. And houses dug in the soil, warm springs, tiny horses, and most of all, strong expanded families, these were Icelandic castles.

The enemy of Icelanders were not others who brought death, but rather death itself.

I continued my walk up the slope behind the Museum. Being an almost typical Croatian, I wanted to take a walk in the city graveyard, because here we believe that this is the final and the crucial step in getting to know a place. A visit to the field of death. The oldest part of the graveyard followed the pattern of other European graveyards – at the beginning were old, dignified but totally solemn monuments marking the remains of Danish rule.  Even if they bore Icelandic names, their promise to rest in peace was written in Danish, or, at least, in Danish orthography. And then a great surprise:  I saw, in the newer part of the graveyard, Icelandic flags everywhere. Almost all of the graves were marked by one small national flag stuck in the ground. The graveyard looked like a field of flags, a field full of blue, red and white flowers (I did see a few Danish, Norwegian, and one Finnish flag as well). A nation which rarely uses their national flag among the living, uses these symbols of colorful cloth to mark what was left of their dead. It all became clear to me.

There is no land that hasn’t been fought for, by sword, by word, or by central heating of some sort. And this wonderful land, Iceland, was one of the rare places on Earth morally and practically worth fighting for.

Lebanon Refuses (to) Disappoint(ment)

First I saw it from the air. It was night, the lights disclosed the shape of the coastline. As the airplane approached the city, even from the high altitude I could feel the luxury and grandeur of Beirut. Before the war they used to call it ‘Paris of the Middle East’. They also dubbed Budapest ‘Paris on the Danube’. I could never really understand why should anyone compare other cities, especially those in the East, to Paris in the first place. This is how the world works, I guess, in constant collaboration of the feelings of superiority and fear. By naming an alien place after something you consider yours and supreme, the fear is reduced and superiority is set to thrive. Beirut looked nothing like Paris to me. It was Beirut.

I was overwhelmed with joy upon the news that the second part of the Saudi crime serial, in which I had a role of an American mafia guy, would take place on set in Lebanon. When I told the people close to me that I would travel there, they became anxious and their faces darkened under a shade of worry. They told me that this part of the world is not safe, if nothing else, because it was too close to the war-torn Syria. That made me even more determined to go there.

I saw armed people at the Frankfurt airport upon boarding the airplane. Special forces, all covered and wrapped up. I could not help noticing that the soldiers were present only at the gate where the passengers for Beirut were boarding. They checked us all thoroughly. Passengers bound to other destinations were strolling down the corridor behind our backs and observing in astonishment. When they saw the word ‘Beirut’ on the display, I saw their face expressions change into a large Aha! sign. Travelers to Beirut have to be checked, naturally.

I saw soldiers again in the airport in Beirut. They were armed lightly and seemed utterly uninterested about what was going on. It was much warmer than in Frankfurt. The young woman at the customs asked me about the hotel where I was staying. I told her I didn’t know the hotel’s name. She told me that in that case I could not enter the country. I hastily connected to the airport Wi-Fi and called the assistant director. He said: ‘Just give them this name’. I gave them the name of a hotel I eventually never visited. The young woman smiled and I was in.

At the exit there was a guy waiting with my name written on a piece of paper. I approached him, and, without many words, I found myself in a black van. Behind the windshield, there was a paper with the Arabic inscription saying ‘Ehktiraq’ or, translated in English, ‘Infiltration’, which is the title of the crime serial we were shooting. In this instance as well, a familiar name has cured some discomfort. I was the only passenger in the van.

We passed by some crumpled looking palm trees, then through an underpass made of massive concrete blocks, and then the astonishing beauty of night time Beirut struck me as a sudden light after darkness. Although it was late, the traffic was quite thick, and that gave me the time to observe the wonderful buildings and squares were passed by. The driver was silent. He lit the second cigarette even before we reached the center.

Again, I pushed my face against the window. The center of Beirut seemed as an otherworldly mixture of traditional and modern architecture. And, what surprised me a bit, streets were riddled with sacral objects belonging to a variety of different religions. If I would fall into a temptation of comparing Beirut with other places, I would say it looked to me like a mixture of Athens, Rome, and Tunis, but then again, it looked nothing like any of these places.

Once we passed the strict center, I first saw buildings whose facades bore the scars of the civil war. I remembered growing up in the 80’ and watching this terrible war on the TV. In those times Beirut was a synonym for death and destruction, and its Holiday Inn the symbol of the war. Little did I know that I would live through in many ways a similar conflict in my own country just a few years later. Splinter holes in walls look the same all around the world.

The traffic got even thicker on the half-highway that connects all the Lebanese coastal towns. I noticed right away that the quality of the road could not support the bravery of some drivers. The traffic looked like a deadly mixture of chaos and speed. The driver was getting more and more nervous, I heard bitter words coming out of his mouth together with the cigarette smoke. I thought it was a right time to start a conversation in my broken Arabic and a bit of gesticulation. ‘Is it always like this?’, I asked. To put it short, the driver told me that road safety and the death toll are one of the burning issues in the country. Every day people die on Lebanese roads, good people that would otherwise build the future of this land.

‘Roads have killed more people in Lebanon than any war.’

And just when that thought was about to sink in, we saw a large shadow over the opposite side of the highway, a few hundred meters further from us, a shadow that quickly disappeared, and then produced a loud crash. On the road where people drive up to 150 km/h with a half a meter distance between vehicles, only luck will prevent chain crashes when someone suddenly kicks the brake. And that’s exactly what happened; the driver pushed the brake violently, I grasped the seat in front of me. We stopped. Sounds of honks, and very soon sirens. After waiting for about twenty minutes, we started moving slowly towards the place where the accident had happened. It took us a half an hour to make that few hundred meters. The driver opened his window and looked left. There was a sight of total destruction on the opposite side of the highway. It seems that one of the cars hit the rear part of the other car in high speed, which propelled that car into the air. The flying car then fell on another moving car and then bounced over to our side of the highway.  The driver shook his head in disbelief and lit another cigarette.

It was a horrible scene. However, just like holes in walls, all car accidents look more or less the same. But one thing I will never forget; there was an older woman standing in middle of the highway, trembling, crying, and shrieking. She was constantly calling the name of God, which in Arabic translates as Allah (Arabs of all religions have only one name for God, and that’s Allah, and it can be found in the Arabic version of the Bible as well. Contrary to the western media, there is no need to get paranoid just upon hearing the word uttered by any Arab). I think she was the one who caused the crash, the driver of the flying car. She stood there and shrieked. In one moment, a younger man left the group of men he was standing with near another crashed car, and he approached the woman. She cried once more: ‘Allah!’ In that moment he hugged her and tapped her on the back.

I was shocked. Absolutely shocked. Coming from a place where even parking disputes can result in shootings and dead people, I was shocked to see that one of the afflicted people hugged the culprit. It was me who now said: ‘God, are they hugging now?’ The driver of our van continued nodding his head. He then muttered: ‘Crazy people’. He threw the cigarette butt out of the window, and we slowly left the scene of the accident. The sounds of sirens became more silent; it was all behind us now. The driver looked at me in the mirror and said: ‘Welcome to Lebanon.’

Due to some technical issues, the shooting was postponed for a couple of days. I didn’t mind at all. I stayed in a wonderful hotel built right on the beach in the center of the city of Jbeil, also known as by its ancient Phoenician name Byblos. I took long walks in this ancient city. I saw the ruins of the Phoenician town and the port, I visited old Christian basilicas, mosques and the bazaar with narrow streets full of life. It struck me as a place where people live in peace and harmony. A lot of people, because Lebanon is a very small country with a population of over 6.8 million. More than a million of them refugees.

I’ve noticed right away the freedom of movement and expression. No one stared at no one, no one asked questions. I could walk freely everywhere, even in the shabby part of the town, and I never felt unsafe or even unpleasant. At one point I got hungry and I decided to go far further from the center to find a traditional Lebanese restaurant, not a touristic place such as those displayed in the center. After a longer walking I didn’t find any restaurant, so I asked an old man sitting in front of his thin but high house (in this way builders win space on a crowded land) to help me. ‘Are there any restaurants here?’, I asked showing with my hand towards the East and the mountain slopes. He nodded his head in a bit worried manner. ‘Yes, well… yes’, he replied and also pointed towards the East with his hand. I walked further and crossed the highway on a pedestrian overpass (practically the only and definitely the safest way to cross roads in Lebanon because zebra crossings are almost inexistent and very dangerous) and got uphill to the eastern suburbs. I asked another man about a restaurant. He said he didn’t know of any. I’ve noticed a large shopping mall a hundred meters away, and asked him if there was a restaurant in the mall. He said: ‘Yes… yes, it has to be.’ I asked for the reconfirmation: ‘In the shopping mall?’ The man looked towards the ground and said in a hesitant way: ‘Yes… on the second floor. Or somewhere.’

So, I went to the mall just to learn that it had no second floor. The security guy laughed at me for ten minutes. I asked him if there was a restaurant nearby. He answered in French: ‘Not that I know of, but there has to be at least one somewhere.’ I walked further, more and more uphill. I thought, ‘if I continue like this, I would very soon have my lunch in Syria’. And then I gave it the last try. An old woman. I asked her about a restaurant. She told me: ‘Go to the center. It’s full of restaurants.’  I told her: ‘I want something not so touristic.’ The woman replied: ‘But I also eat there, in the center.’ I shrugged my shoulders. One last try. ‘Do you know of any traditional, family-type, smaller restaurants around here?’ The woman asked: ‘Here?’ and she looked uphill towards the place where the last houses were slowly disappearing in the Mediterranean macchia and rocks. She sighted, looked to the ground, and she said: ‘Yes… there has to be. Somewhere…’. And she left. By that time, I knew there were no restaurants around at all. All the restaurants were in the center. I enjoyed the view of the city that I had from the hill slope, and then I returned to the hotel.

I made friends with all the people working in the reception. It wasn’t hard, they were wonderful young people. I helped them decorate the Christmas tree because it was that time of the year. By the way, the biggest Christmas tree in the world is erected in Jbeil, and it is made of high metal construction covered with empty green water bottles. After three hours of unsuccessful search for a restaurant, I returned to the hotel and grabbed a bottle of water at the reception desk, took a long sip and asked the young woman who worked there: ‘Why is everybody here lying?’ She was shocked. ‘Who’s lying?’ and then I told her my restaurant story. She smiled, although she obviously felt a bit unpleasant. She told me: ‘They are not lying. In Lebanon there is Yes and Yes. One means No. This is so because nobody wants to disappoint you.’

You have to know which yes is no. It’s not hard if you’re not a silly tourist trying to implement your logic on the clarity of an ancient place with a troublesome history like Jbail. The young woman at the reception also told me: ‘You can eat in the center. These are real Lebanese restaurants, and no one will cheat on you. And anyway, you can eat anything and anytime in the hotel restaurant because the film production had already payed for everything.’ Was I walking in vain. Not quite. It was a great experience on so many levels.

It was almost Christmas, and just a few days before the Independence Day. The sea was still warm and the beach full of swimmers. I took a long swim and then some selfies in the sea just to make my friends freezing back home a bit jealous. There were both men and women on the beach, and surprisingly enough (or not?) one day there was a Polish Catholic priest on the beach. He was talking to some young people. Trainer aircrafts of the Lebanese Air force were constantly flying over us in various formations preparing for the Independence Day celebration. I observed them lying on the beach and sunbathing.

One day I was on the beach, and I entered the sea. But just when I was about to start swimming, I heard that horrible sound. The sound that you hear once and never forget it. It was coming from far away, but I had no doubt these were explosions. I thought maybe there was a military practice somewhere in the hills. I haven’t heard these hellish sounds since the war in the nineties. It really messed up my day at the beach. I returned to the hotel earlier than planned and opened the Internet. The news spoke about a strong bombing of Aleppo that had happened earlier that day. I asked at the reception if it was possible to hear explosions on the beach in Jbail. ‘Of course’, they told me, ‘We hear that almost every day. The sounds of bombs from Damask, Aleppo, all the other Syrian cities in a hundred kilometers range from the border.’ I felt bad about the fact that people were dying a few hundred kilometers away while I was swimming in the sea and sunbathing.

Lebanon is crowded. It is crowded for the last 6000 years or so. There is no place in Lebanon, except maybe on the high Lebanon Mountains, where you can dig in the ground and not find the traces of ancient buildings (which is partially true for some parts of the Balkans as well). Pieces of ancient ceramics and brick are everywhere; people have lived here continuously for so long that you can hardly start building and be the first on that spot. As far as culture and history is concerned, this is heaven, ground zero of what we call the western civilization. As far as ecology is concerned, the early settlement and development of the area had one very sad result: The coastline from the Sinai Peninsula all the way to Hatay is built up. That means that you could walk along the seaside from Egypt to Southern Turkey without ever stepping off concrete (of course, that could be possible only if the politics in the region would be different). In Lebanon I came to a horrifying realization that the entire Eastern-most part of the Mediterranean is one long concrete pathway. In Lebanon there are smaller patches of original coastal vegetation between the cities, but these parts are minuscule. 6000 years of history and 6.8 million people had taken their toll. Even the symbol of Lebanon, the cedar tree, now grows only in some parts of the highest mountains.

Just for the comparison, Lebanon has the area of 10.452 km², while Iceland covers the area of 102.775 km², making Iceland almost exactly ten times larger. But the population of Iceland is 360.000 people compared to Lebanon’s 6.8 million (just for reference; Croatia: 56.594 km² and the population of about 3.9 million). Such a small country like Lebanon boosts three main religions divided into numerous subgroups. Actually, roots of both Judaism, and especially Christianity can be found in Lebanon. Bible was allegedly named after Byblos, today’s Jbail. From here Christianity spread in the region and to Armenia. It was here where the Romans got infected with Christianity which they then took to Europe in a very changed, in a way, simplified form. Today Christianity is usually regarded a true European faith, actually, that has been the credo of many rightist movements in the ‘old’ continent. But the truth is that the Middle East is much older, and that all the three monotheist religions were established by the forefathers of the local people that today live from Egypt to Turkey, Iraq and Yemen. I spoke about that with some Lebanese Christians and I got the feeling that they feel a bit puzzled by Europe’s usurpation and modification of their faith, and they generally perceive Europe’s treatment of Syrian refugees as appalling (those who knew about that treatment; there seems to be a media blockage regarding the information on the fate of Syrian refugees in Europe). However, they are proud of their alliance with the Pope of Vatican, and they practice various polite and unobtrusive ways to show that. The Muslims I spoke with in Jbail had only good words for their neighbors of other faiths, and whole Muslim families were delighted to make photos with the giant Christmas tree. I also had a chance to meet several Druze men who told me, with a large smile on their faces, that they were ‘a little bit of everything.’

Besides the Arabs, there is a large Armenian minority, and various smaller ethnic groups in Lebanon. I have witnessed that many of the workers at the construction sites were from the Philippines and other countries of South-East Asia.  I wondered how did an extremely bloody civil war happen in a such a society like the Lebanese one? People were generally reluctant to talk about the Civil War, but those that did speak about it emphasized the fact that most of the war was instrumented from outside of Lebanon, particularly from Israel and Syria. I could feel a bit of bitterness when they spoke about the role of Syria in that war, nevertheless, they were more than opened to help the Syrian people who are today afflicted by a somehow similar conflict. Lebanon learns and forgives.

One of the people I met on set in Lebanon told me an interesting story. During the war there was an unusual number of Lebanese soldiers killed by Israelis in one particular part of Beirut. These killings were done with amazing accuracy and from far away, as if the Israelis knew the exact movement of Lebanese forces (belonging to some of the ideological/religious fractions). It was later discovered that the Israelis had a spy in the street. Literally in the street. It was a local beggar that Israel had installed in one busy street long before the war. The man who told me the story laughed as he asked:

‘And who sees better than the beggar?’

The Independence Day was an extremely well balanced and tasteful celebration. There was very little cheap national pathos so prominent for such manifestations in the Eastern Europe. In the port of Jbail they made a water wall (pumped out of the sea) on which they projected a film about the national history. It struck me how little was shown of wars. People watching the projection on the water wall hugged each other, families and friends, sometimes chanting and singing. I felt the love that they had for the place where they lived in, and I experienced absolutely no negative or destructive feelings. I, and other foreigners, were constantly cheered by the smiles of the local people. There were no us and no them. In such an atmosphere I was taken over by the good vibes and I felt proud and satisfied to be a part of this celebration.

A lot of the interesting cultural input came from the stuff of the hotel. They were mostly young people, half of them refugees from Syria. Most of them had a burning wish to escape from Lebanon, and those who did not dream of leaving Lebanon (or at least returning to Syria) expressed their worries about the future. These young people were painfully aware of the deepest problem of modern Lebanon, and that is corruption. They were quite opened and articulated about it, and they believed that changes were on the way (at the time I revised this text, the Lebanese Revolution of 2019 had already happened, and the corrupted government has fallen giving place to unstable coalitions and partially the military). What amazed me is the fact that the Syrian refugees had an idea that they were genuinely welcome in Europe, and that Europe was easily reachable. I told them about the human traffickers which rob people on their way, I told them about boats full of people that capsize in the sea, about fences along borders, about refugee camps and violent police forces. They were mostly ignorant of all this. ‘But why would they do that to us?’ one of them asked me in utter disbelief.

I will remember my stay in Lebanon for yet another thing. This was when I, for first time in my life, experienced the power of fake news. One day, it was before the Independence Day, I came down to the lobby and found some actors from Serbia standing there (there were quite a few actors from Serbia and the whole of Balkans because we shot one part of the project in Belgrade). They were visibly agitated and afraid, and some of them were fully packed to leave. I asked them what was the problem. They told me the war had started, and that Israel had crossed the southern border in the morning.

‘This is a small country; they will be here in a few hours, just like the last time!’

I can’t say I wasn’t afraid. I asked them to show me the news, and they opened some Serbian on-line portal. And really, it showed the right date, and it said that Lebanon had been invaded. My first thought was to somehow get to Cyprus over the sea. Then we heard the airplanes. There was a silence. But I recognized the sound. I came out to the terrace and saw Lebanese trainer aircrafts. I looked down on the beach, there were swimmers there. Why would they train for the celebration and even swim in the sea if the war had started? Are they so calm about the whole thing? Actually, that would not surprise me.

I went to the reception and asked the young woman there if we were in war. She was confused, then she started laughing. Then, in a bit worried manner, she checked Lebanese news online. Then she called home. ‘No, no war today,’ she said.

In that moment, the assistant director appeared in the hotel lobby. They asked him about the invasion. He nodded his head and said: ‘Impossible. It is Summer. Never in history have they attacked in Summer. We make wars in Winter only.’ It turned out that the news was totally fake and launched as a decoy in Serbia on a day when the country faced some political instability.

Summer or not, we were happy that there was no war. The hotel stuff was laughing at us and our naivety. In order to amuse them even more, we decided to give them an improvised performance. One Serbian actress took on a role of the invading Israeli army, while I, a Croat, acted the Lebanese forces. In a macabre parody that resembled fencing in Bollywood productions, I was victorious, and I forced the Israelis out to the hotel’s terrace. There we were served coffee and fresh fruit salad.

Lebanon refuses to disappoint.

The Icesave Dispute: A Case Study into the Crisis of Diplomacy during the Credit Crunch

Introduction* 

The legal and political dispute Iceland fought with the UK and Dutch governments over responsibilities of deposits in the fallen cross-border Icesave Bank in wake of the international financial crisis – which hit Iceland severely hard in autumn 2008 when its three oversized international banks fell – not only revealed inhered weakness of the European financial system but also led to profound crisis of diplomacy during the Credit Crunch. The legal ambiguity of responsibilities was testing understandings and interpretations of international law in cross-border finance. Not fitting squarely within EU- diplomatic- or financial law it can be argued that the case in its process illustrates contested and hybrid construction of legality as here is explored. Rajkovic et al, (2016) understand international legality as interrelated processes of social and interpretive contestation in the construction of what is understood as (legal) rule in the world. In this regard the Icesave dispute illustrates how larger and more powerful countries were politically able to pressure a much smaller state in time of crisis into abiding to their own interpretation of law and in doing so rallying behind them support of international organizations like the EU and the IMF.

The Icesave dispute was thus not only a matter of international law, but rather also a case of contestation between cross border actors over determination of authority during the crisis. By empirically studying the Icesave dispute this paper discusses a profound crisis of diplomacy and the political processes of international legality of the financial sector during the Credit Crunch. This can be coined as case of perfect legal storm in international relations; a crisis of public international law, diplomatic law, EU law and finance law. This case study traces the dynamics of how international legality is produced and remade during the course of this particular inter-state crisis and in doing so thus contributes to analysis of political construction of international legality.

The study deals with interpretive contest in international relations on what is considered legal, in this particular instance dispute of responsibility over guarantying deposits of a fallen cross border bank. In this case intersecting practices and expertise were to revolve in a struggle over cross border insolvency law. By pressuring the Icelandic government into accepting responsibility of the fallen bank in UK and the Netherlands this was an international push towards sovereign socialization of private debt through twists of circumstances and practise.

At its core, perhaps, this is a study of struggle over who decides authoritative interpretations, of what in this particular instance is understood as international legality, which is constructed, construed and contested through multi-actor and multi-level interaction of multi-national relations.

The Crisis

Iceland was the first victim of the of the global Credit Crunch when its three international banks came tumbling down in October 2008, amounting to one of the world’s greatest national financial crises. This was a financial tsunami without precedent. Glitnir Bank was the first to run into trouble when planned nationalization was announced on 29. September 2008. On the basis of emergency laws rushed through Parliament, Landsbanki was taken into administration On October 7th. The following day then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown invoked the UK Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (passed after ‘9/11’ in 2001) to freeze all Icelandic assets in the UK. Operating with little information and in a climate of confusion this was, he argued, to protect UK depositors in the bank. That act served as the final blow to Iceland’s last and largest bank still standing, Kaupthing. The vastly oversized Icelandic financial system was wiped out. Iceland is one of the smallest countries in the world and borders on being a microstate with just over 300,000 inhabitants. However, this experience ranks third in the history of the world’s greatest bankruptcies (Halldórsson & Zoega, 2010). Iceland also responded significantly differently to the troubles than most other states, allowing its financial system to default rather than throwing good money after bad.

Iceland had few good options. The IMF would not consider Iceland’s loan application until the dispute with the UK and Dutch governments over the Icesave deposits accounts was settled. The fallen Landsbanki had set up these deposit accounts in those countries, leaving many of their citizens without access to their money. Even though the Icelandic government steadfastly argued that it wasn’t legally at fault and that the state would fulfil all its legal obligations regarding Icesave, the IMF wouldn’t budge. Iceland was being pressured by the UK and Dutch governments, which were backed by the whole EU apparatus.

This was a staring contest Iceland could not afford to drag out as the state was running out of foreign currency. Early agreements in October and November 2008, first so-called Memorandum of Understanding with the Dutch government and then a more broad based Brussels Guidelines, which included EU involvement, were signed by Icelandic ministers in order for the IMF to be allowed to be brought in to stabilize the economy, not least through the introduction of capital controls and the co-funding of a loan package with the Nordic and Polish governments. By mid 2009, after change in government, these early agreements were abandoned for bilateral agreements with the finance ministries of the Netherlands and the UK, where Iceland accepted responsibilities for deposits of the fallen bank. In an extraordinary move the President, however, refused to sign the bills, referring them to referendums, in which they were rejected by large majority, spurring one of the greatest international disputes Iceland had ever fought.

Not only was Iceland denied any access to united efforts within Europe to bailout banks but the UK and the Netherlands were able use their position within the EU to pressure Iceland to accept their own interpretation of EU laws Iceland was to follow. Though ambiguity still remained as to who was legally liable for the loss, the UK government was using all means available to pressure Iceland to accept responsibility, as is documented later in this paper.

On 28 January 2013, the EFTA Court finally ruled on the case, concluding that no state guaranties were in place on the deposits and, thus, dismissing the claim of the British and Dutch authorities (Judgment of the Court, 2013). The ruling vindicated the Icelandic state of any wrongdoing. In early 2014 the Dutch and the Brits filed claim against only the privately held Icelandic Depositors Guaranty Fund before the District Court of Reykjavik.

A Systemic Flaw

The collapse of the Icelandic banks clearly revealed a serious weakness in the European banking passport system, a macroeconomic imbalance within the Single European Market. It was a weakness that some of the more established banking nations had warned against when the system was being constructed (for more, see Benediktsdottir, Danielsson, & Zoega, 2011). The main flaw lay in the fragmented nature of supervision on an otherwise common market – European-wide regulation but only state level supervision resulting in a tapestry of schemes and insurance levels across the EU. This had caused a mismatch between access to market and adequate supervision.

There was also an inhered flaw in the setup of Iceland’s link to the EU through the EEA agreement. Being in the Single European Market through the European Economic Area agreement (EEA) but outside the fence of EU institutions left Iceland without shelter when the crisis hit. This neither-in-nor-out arrangement – with one foot in the Single European Market, with all the obligations that entailed, and the other foot outside the EU institutions, and therefore without access to back-up from, for example, the European Central Bank – proved to be flawed when the country was faced with a crisis of this magnitude: The oversized Icelandic banks were operating in a market that included 500 million people but with a currency and a Central Bank that was backed up by only roughly 330,000 inhabitants. As a participant in the EU Single Market, Iceland was inside the European passport system so the banks were able to operate almost like domestic entities throughout the continent.

Landsbanki had in 2002 acquired the British Heritable Bank and in 2005 furthermore opened a separate subsidiary in London. However, when marketing the Icesave deposit accounts in October 2006 Landsbanki decided to bypass both and instead opened a branch from the Icelandic Landsbanki collecting the deposits. This was done to be able to transfer the money upstream to the mother company in Iceland (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 8), something the subsidiary system does not allow. Furthermore, branches were under general surveillance in the home country of the parent bank, while subsidiaries were subject to such monitoring in the host country. However, according to this setup, liquidity surveillance should have been in the hands of the British FSA, which also had authority to intervene in marketing of the deposit scheme in the UK. Interestingly, however, when setting up the accounts, Landsbanki had negotiated exemption from the FSA liquidity surveillance until 2011 – liquidity surveillance of Icesave was thus only in the hands of the mother company in Iceland.

At the time no one seemed to even contemplate the risk involved. Without any objections from either Icelandic or UK authorities, the bank quoted the EU/EEA Directive 94/19/EC on Depositors Guarantee Schemes, they insisted was in place in Iceland, which, they said, would protect all deposits up to €20,887. Then they referred to the British top up guaranty for the rest – British authorities were by then promising to cover up to 50.000 Pounds per account. This was however always very ambiguous.

Kaupthing opened a similar high-yielding Internet deposits scheme, named Kaupthing Edge. However, unlike Landsbanki with Icesave, Kaupthing used its subsidiary, Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, to host the deposits. Edge deposits therefore had to be kept in the UK and were under British banking regime surveillance. At the time, few noticed the difference, which after The Crash left those involved in the two cases a world apart.

Playing on an Icelandic symbol, Icesave was marketed to tap into the trust associated with Nordic economies. Soon attracting the favourable attention of the financial media, the scheme became an instant success. The Sunday Times, for example, wrote enthusiastically about the scheme under the headline: ‘Icesave looks like a hot deal’ (Hussain, 2006). Before the end, Icesave had attracted almost as many savers as there were inhabitants in Iceland. Landsbanki had for a while enjoyed better ratings than the other two because it was able to tap into the Icesave deposits to keep liquidity flowing. This was, however, a mixed blessing, as reliance on deposits leaves a bank much more vulnerable to bad news than if it is funded in the wholesale market. Even a minor issue can result in a run on a bank with avalanche of withdrawals if it is portrayed in the wrong light. Still, all three banks were passing the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authorities (FME) stress tests with flying colours. In theory, the banks were all doing well. Amongst those buying this story was the Financial Times, which as late as August 2008 wrote that ‘fears of a systemic financial crisis in Iceland have dissipated after the country’s three main banks announced second-quarter results showing that they are suffering amid the downturn – but not too badly’ (Ibson, 2008).

The Central Bank stretched itself to the limit to keep the banks liquid in domestic króna, for example accepting their own bonds as collateral – the so-called love letters. However, to back up the overinflated banking system in such dire straits it needed a sizable sum in foreign currency. The Central Bank thus went knocking on doors in the neighbouring countries asking to open similar swap lines as others were negotiating, that could be drawn on in time of need. This was meant to boost confidence in Iceland’s capacity to back up the financial system. To the surprise of the government, however, apart from earlier limited swap-lines with the Nordics, Iceland met with closed doors in most places. This was at a time when the neighbouring states were still upholding much more extensive currency swapping agreements.

Not only had the banks been pushed out of the international capital market, but the government had as well. For the international financial system tiny Iceland was as a state not thought to be too big to fail. Iceland first approached the Bank of England in March 2008 for a swap-line agreement. Initially, the request was positively received, but with a suggestion that the IMF would analyse the need. A month later, the climate had changed. It had become clear that the central banks of Europe, the US and the UK had collectively decided not to assist Iceland. Later it became known that the governor of the Bank of England, Mervin King, offered instead to co-ordinate a multinational effort to help scale down our financial system. His offer was instantly turned down by the leading governor of the Icelandic Central Bank, Mr. Davíð Oddsson (See for example, Wade & Sigurgeirsdottir, 2010.

UK Concerns

When Northern Rock was running into trouble in late 2007 and taken into receivership in February 2008 worries over further volatility in the banking system were spreading in the UK, raising concerns of health of many other banks. By 2008 Landsbanki had collected around 4 billion pounds through the Icesave scheme. With the International Financial Crisis now blazing and the apparent wide exposure of Iceland’s oversized banking system this was causing increasing concerns in the UK, especially because of the poor state of the Icelandic Depositors Guaranty Fund holding only around 1 per cent of the liabilities of the Icelandic banks now facing headwind (Jónsson, 2009). This caused an avalanche of negative reporting in the UK media on the Icelandic banks. On 5th February 2008 The Daily Telegraph for example asked in a headline: “Is Iceland headed for meltdown?”(“Is Iceland headed for meltdown?,” 2008). Subsequently increased withdrawals were almost amounting to a run on the bank, which the bank was barely able to withstand, before deposits started picking up again in April.

These events lead the British FSA to push for restructuring of the online branch, for example proposing revoking an exemption Icesave had negotiated from liquidity surveillance in the UK. This was raised in meetings between governors of the Icelandic Central Bank and the Bank of England on 3d March 2008 and again in meeting the FSA had with Landsbanki management on 14th March 2008. In these meetings the FSA furthermore proposed moving the deposits to Landsbanki’s Heritable subsidiary and thus entirely under jurisdiction of the British Financial Services Compensation Scheme  (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 12, 13). For this, however, demands were made that assets had to follow from the parent bank in Iceland to the UK, which Landsbanki had trouble meeting (Ibid). The liability amounted to half Iceland’s GDP. Additionally such transfer would have to be with depositors consent, though force majeure situation might justify a quicker move. This was the start of increased tension between Iceland and the UK over the Icesave deposits, ultimately resulting in the UK authorities seizing the bank in October 2008 when the parent bank was falling in Iceland.

The tension was heightening in frequent exchange of letters over the coming weeks and months. In a letter dated 29th May 2008 the FSA finally revoked the exemption from UK liquidity surveillance and subsequently demanded that the Icesave deposits be moved to subsidiary (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 16). The FSA had concerns that neither the Icelandic Guaranty Fund nor the Central Bank had ability to back up the bank in times of crisis. The FSA also asked that the Icesave deposits would be capped at 5 billion pounds level which they were now reaching close to and that interests would be set below featuring on best buy tables (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 17). Landsbanki replied on 15th July 2008 agreeing with the general aim of moving the deposits to subsidiary but refusing both capping the deposits and the request of setting interest below best buy level. In the meantime the issue had been reported widely in the UK, for example discussed in the House of Commons were MPs quoted report in The Times on 5th July stating that collectively the deposits of the Icelandic banks in the UK were amounting to 13,6 Pounds or “twice the country’s entire GDP”  (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 19).

On July 22nd 2008 the FSA wrote back saying that Landsbanki’s reply was worrying, that risk of run on the bank was increasing and that the FSA would be forced to consider applying its legal measures against the bank if its requests were not being met. That is; a solid cap, solid liquidity buffer and firm time tabled intention of subsidiarisation. (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 19). Though Landsbanki voiced willingness to comply in its letter to the FSA on 28th July it also explained why it might have difficulties in implementing what was being requested unless the FSA would agree on flexibility regarding some of its conditions in the transition period. On these conditions Landsbanki and the FSA were never able to agree on. While the FSA was operating in order to protect UK based depositors the Landsbanki management was rather concerned with saving the mother bank in Iceland. These aims proved contradictory and caused prolonged frictions (see SIC 2010, Vol 6.).

The FSA was not only applying its pressure in letters and meetings with Landsbanki but also in ongoing correspondence with the Icelandic FME and Central Bank. In a letter to Landbanki on August 5th 2008 the British FSA demanded Landsbanki to confirm within a week how the bank would comply with conditions set by the FSA in order to move the Icesave deposits to its subsidiary in London, otherwise it might be forced to apply its formal legal measures (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 23). This was the second time the FSA threatened in a letter to directly intervene in the bank’s operations.

The Icelandic Central Bank was now directly involved. Reportedly it considered openly defying the FSA but decided against that approach as it might risk the stability of the entire Icelandic financial system (SIC 2010, Vol 6). On 11th August 2008 the Icelandic FME wrote back to the FSA pleading on behalf of Landsbanki for flexibility while transferring Icesave to the Heritable Bank in London. The two surveillance authorities talked in a teleconference a week later where the FSA suggested that Landsbanki might sell Icesave. In the meantime, the FSA had written Landsbanki once more on 15th August 2008, demanding increasing reserves to 20 per cent of deposits. At the end of the letter the FSA threatened for the third time that it might apply its formal authoritative legal measures against the bank and stop deposit collection into Icesave accounts (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 25). The Icelandic actors, that is, the Landsbanki, the Icelandic FME and the Central Bank however believed that would only trigger liquidity crisis – not only for Landsbanki but for all Icelandic banks and indeed also the UK fragile banking system (SIC 2010, Vol 6).

It was now clear that the British FSA considered Landsbanki being in non-compliance with its conditions and that it was already failing. The Landsbanki management pleaded with the Icelandic Minister of Commerce to intervene, who with a team of officials met with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling in London on 2nd September 2008. Mr. Darling has since reported that he was disappointed with the Icelanders as he felt they did not appreciate the seriousness of the situation (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 31, 229). Following up on the meeting few days later, leading official in the British Treasury dealing with the Icelandic case, Clive Maxwell, called the Icelandic Ambassador in London, expressing the Chancellors concerns and explaining how politically difficult the relationship with Iceland had become in the UK. This was perhaps a warning that tougher measure might be taken against Iceland.

In a letter on 3d September 2008 the FSA once again wrote to Landsbanki saying it was considering applying its formal legal measures if the bank would not before 8th September 2008 explain how it would comply with the conditions. Before the deadline Landsbanki replied by again voicing willingness to comply but explaining why it might be difficult to meet all the requests. In wake of several subsequent meetings and correspondence between agencies in the two countries the FSA wrote back on 17th August 2008 announcing that it would apply its legal measures. It was now ordering the bank to fully comply with bringing assets to the UK to underpin withdrawals from Icesave accounts and in order for them being transferred into the British financial space (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 33). The state of the international financial system had by then gone from bad to worse when Lehman Brothers collapsed in the US on 15th September 2008.

In a desperate reply on 19th September 2008 Landsbanki indicated that it would comply before turning straight to the Icelandic FME asking for help. The two surveillance authorities were still in correspondence on the issue when further trouble arose for the Icelandic banks, which I turn to next.

Heightening Pressure

When a planned nationalization of one of the three banks, Glitnir, was announced in Reykjavik on Monday September 29th depositors were flocking to nearest branch and withdrawing their savings. When the news travelled abroad, many of the 300,000 Icesave depositors in the UK, also rushed online to withdraw their money from the Icesave accounts. Throughout the continent, central banks and governments were harmonizing their response to the crisis. The ECB and the Bank of England, for example, were providing massive liquidity to European banks, but despite a wide-ranging emergency plea, Iceland would not be allowed access to these funds. The same was also to become true in Washington. Iceland was flatly refused as neighbouring governments collectively opposed a bailout, referring it instead to the IMF. Being the first Western country in four decades to surrender to the IMF was seen as a humiliation and a defeat for the Icelandic postcolonial project (see Bergmann 2014b).

In the UK, worries over the poor state of the Icelandic banks had been growing for some time. Since May, unsuccessful negotiations had been under way to move the Icesave deposits to Landsbanki’s Heritable Bank and thus under the cover of the UK banking scheme. On Friday 3d October the FSA formally announced applying its legal measures against Landsbanki stipulated in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). The bank was already by Monday to install funds amounting 20 per cent of the Icesave deposits into the Bank of England, lower free access deposits to below 1 billion pounds by end of 2008 and cap total deposits at below 5 billion pounds (SIC 2010, Vol 6). The bank was also to bring its interest below best buy levels and halt all marketing of free access deposits. As Landsbanki did not at the time have funding available to comply this was in effect equal to killing of the bank.

In the evening Alistair Darling called his counterpart raising concerns that 600 million pounds were illegally being moved out of Kaupthing and back to Iceland. To this the Icelandic authorities had no answer. By close of market the same day The European Central Bank had placed a margin call of 400 million Euros on Landsbanki in Luxembourg, threatening to seize many of its assets. However, on Sunday evening the ESB revoked the call and by doing so releasing some of the tension (SIC 2010, Vol 6).

Thus, while Iceland was desperately trotting the globe shopping for money, the UK authorities and the ECB were not only refusing any funding but indeed pressing it for cash. The firm stand of the Bank of England, the ECB and the US Federal Reserve against Iceland also made the Scandinavian neighbours hesitant to help further (SIC 2010, Vol 6). To stem the bleeding of the Edge and Icesave accounts, both Kaupthing and Landsbanki were frantically selling off assets at rock bottom prices. With the rapidly increasing flow of negative reporting abroad, the run on Icesave in the UK grew stronger. On Saturday 4th October, depositors could no longer access their accounts online. On the website an explanatory note read that this was because of technical problems. Traffic had increased more than fivefold. Really, however, this was not least because the bank was already exhausted by the run; it could no longer honour the withdrawals. Out of the £4.7 billion the 300,000 or so depositors held, more than £300 million ran off the accounts on that day alone. Foreign reporters and government authorities responded by asking whether Iceland would provide the same protection to foreign depositors as it had already announced for domestic ones. Pressure rose when the government struggled to find a diplomatic answer (Jóhannesson, 2014).

Around dinnertime on Sunday 5th October British PM Gordon Brown called his Icelandic counterpart Geir Haarde, urging him to seek IMF assistance. They were old acquaintances, since both had served for years as finance ministers, meeting on several occasions. Brown also voiced concern that money amounting to more than one-and-a-half billion pounds was unlawfully being brought over to Reykjavik out of Kaupthing’s London subsidiary, Singer & Friedlander, which would not be tolerated. The amount had thus grown by billion pounds in only couple of days since the call from Darling (see SIC 2010, Vol 7).

This claim of illegal money transferring out of the UK, which was repeated by many UK officials over these dramatic days, later proved unfounded as was for example stated in report to the House of Commons Treasury committee (2009, April). The UK was in this regard already burned by Lehman Brothers, which prior to its default had sneaked back to the US eight billion dollars from the City of London, and would not allow the same thing to happen again. The call ended without a solution, with Brown all but begging Haarde to call in the IMF rescue team. The message from the UK side in frequent correspondence over the weekend was always the same: no bailout money would be available internationally for Iceland except through an IMF programme (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 20: 100).

The UK authorities were threating to seize Icesave already by Monday. To halt the blow the FSA demanded 200 million pounds immediately to underpin Icesave and further 53 million to stabilize the Heritable Bank (SIC 2010, Vol. 7, Ch. 20: 145). All attempts to shift the Icesave accounts into British banking space had thus failed. Negotiations with the British FSA to allow Landsbanki to move the deposits to its London Heritable Bank and thus under the UK banking regime were stuck. The British were asking for more money alongside it than either Landsbanki or indeed the Icelandic state could possibly raise. The Icelandic Central Bank could only bailout one of the three big Icelandic banks. All of them seemed to need around 500 million Euros for only short-term rescue. When it came clear that Kaupthing would win the lottery of which to bail out, as it was deemed to have the best chance of surviving, the light was finally out on Landsbanki.

God Bless Iceland!

When the markets opened on Monday October 6th, the FME had stopped trading the banks’ stocks and the banks themselves froze all fund transactions. To counter the almost inevitable avalanche of withdrawals, the government issued a blanket protection for all deposits within the country. The UK and Netherlands were issuing top-up guarantees for deposits above the €20,887 stipulated in Directive 94/19/EC up to €40,000 in the Netherlands and, by Wednesday, up to £50,000 in the UK. Many European states were also issuing complete guarantees, including Ireland, Germany, Denmark and Austria. Iceland was, however, only guaranteeing domestic deposits but could not explicitly state what would happen in foreign branches, apart from a vague general pledge to the effect that the banks’ Depositors and Investors Guarantee Fund would be ‘supported’. That promise was always very ambiguous and, furthermore, it was always clear that it might anyway be difficult uphold, as deposits in foreign branches of Icelandic banks, most of which were on Icesave accounts, amounted to around £8.5 billion, about 80 per cent of the country’s GDP, whereas the fund held only about 1 per cent of that total amount, which, though, was comparable to other countries. The ambiguity of the statements coming out of Reykjavik was thus worrying neighbours, especially government officials in Whitehall (see Jóhannesson, 2014).

It was clear that Landsbanki would already be defaulting the following day. This was a stark reversal of the bank’s situation from just a few months before, when it seemed to be well funded with a comfortable €800 million liquidity and strong inflow of foreign deposits. Furthermore, redemption of loans was low until late 2009. And even though it was exhausted of foreign cash by the run in the UK, the bank still had enough money in Icelandic króna to survive this storm; the problem was that the króna was no longer tradable for foreign currency. This was thus a double crisis – a banking crisis and a currency crisis – starting already in March (see Bergmann, 2014).

Around noon Monday 6 the UK embassy in Reykjavik reported to London on events over the weekend. Interestingly the ambassador mentioned the Icelandic governments guaranty of domestic deposits but then indicates that the government had sent similar statement to London because of Kaupthing and Landsbankis operations in the UK (Jóhannesson, 2014). This was a misunderstanding but it seems clear that the UK government believed that such a promise had been given, that the Icelandic government would at least protect the minimum of EUR 20.887 (ibid). This proved to be a wrong interpretation of what Icelandic officials meant when stating that the Icelandic Depositors Guaranty Fund would be ‘supported’ (ibid), but given the fact that Iceland officials at the time were avoiding contact with the British and only providing them with as vague responses as possible (ibid) one can understand that there was wide room for such misunderstandings.

In the afternoon on Monday 6 October the Icesave bank was being closed in the UK by formal issue of the FSA. Around the same time PM Geir Haarde was announcing that the Icelandic state would not have the means to bail out the banks. By trying so it ran a risk of being sucked with them into an economic abyss. (Haarde, 2008). An emergency legislation was rushed through parliament, allowing the government to split the banks into a domestic only good bank surviving and bad bank taken into receivership. This method was according to advice of a financial specialist, Marc Dobler, sent from the Bank of England to Reykjavik (SIC 2010, Vol. 7, Ch. 20: 120). The legislation also altered the order of payments of claims out of the fallen banks by moving depositor’s claims to the front. This was a force majeure situation. The government simultaneously wanted to protect domestic depositors in Iceland and the state from claims from abroad. The action was part of the defensive wall being raised around ordinary households. Foreign creditors would simply have to accept losing most of what they had loaned to the Icelandic banks.

This was a time of chaos. UK authorities were desperately trying to get information out of Iceland. It didn’t help when Alistair Darling could get through to neither the Icelandic PM nor the Finance Minister, who he was asked to contact again the following morning. The UK government’s frustration was reported in correspondence throughout the evening by the UK ambassador with Sturla Sigurjónsson of the Icelandic Prime Ministry. He reported a message from London: if convincing explanations would not come out of Reykjavik, that would be negatively interpreted in London and might have serious effect on the bilateral relationship between the two countries. (SIC 2010, Vol. 7, Ch. 20: 147).

Before opening of business on Tuesday morning, a board for a new Landsbanki had been appointed. Meanwhile, in the UK, the FSA issued a moratorium on Landsbanki’s London based Heritable Bank.

With all funding opportunities closed, the situation was growing bleaker by the hour. As planned Alistair Darling called on Tuesday morning to discuss these and other grave matters with Finance Minister Árni Mathiesen. When he could not get a clear state guarantee out of his Icelandic counterpart, an assurance that UK depositors would be protected, at least up to €20,887 according to Directive 94/19/EC, he stated that this would be ‘extremely damaging to Iceland in the future’ and then ended the call saying, ‘the reputation of your country is going to be terrible’ (“Samtal Árna og Darlings,” 2008). Mathiesen could not but agree, but he understood from their conversation that he would still have some time to work things out.[1]

Invoking Anti-Terrorist Act

Seen from the UK and the Netherlands, the situation was simply that Icesave depositors were left without access to their accounts. The website was inaccessible and no trace of the bank was left in the UK or the Netherlands. No one answered the phone and there was not even an address to go to. Depositors were in an intolerable position – the bank had disappeared without a trace from the face of the earth. This caused a seriously strained relationship Reykjavik had with London and The Hague. The British and the Dutch governments decided to compensate their depositors, even beyond the €20,887 mark guaranteed by Directive 94/19/EC. For this they demanded payback with interest from the Icelandic government.

In Whitehall, preparations had been under way for dealing with the Icelandic crisis. Icelanders would not get away with simply cutting off their foreign debt, shutting the doors and leaving British citizens out in the cold. It did not help that UK officials had learned of the message from governor of Iceland’s Central Bank on TV few days earlier, in which he stated that foreigners could only expect between 5 to 15 per cent of their claims. The plan was to be kicked into action. The British claimed that giving preference to depositors in domestic banks over those in foreign branches was a breach of European regulations, which Iceland subscribed to through the EEA.

In the early morning of Wednesday 8th October 2008 Alistair Darling appeared on BBC Radio 4 claiming that the Icelandic government was reneging on its responsibility to UK depositors, and that this would not be tolerated. Referring to his conversation with Iceland’s finance minister Mathiesen the day before he said: ‘The Icelandic government, believe it or not, told me yesterday they have no intention of honouring their obligations here’ (Darling, 2008). In a joint press conference at 9:15 Darling and Gordon Brown announced a massive bailout of UK-based banks, to the tune of £500 billion. As a result of pumping the money into the banks, the British state acquired a majority stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland and steered the merger of HBOS and Lloyds TSB, in which the state had acquired third of the shares. There was, however, not a penny for Icelandic-owned banks in the UK. On the contrary, Brown claimed that Iceland’s authorities must assume responsibility for the failed banks and announced that the UK government had taken ‘legal action against the Icelandic authorities to recover the money lost to people who deposited in UK branches of its banks’ (quoted in Balakrishnan, 2008). Director of the British FSA, Hector Sants, is reported to have told the management of Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander in the UK: ‘Those funds are not for you’ (SIC 2010, Vol. 7, Ch. 20: 171).

Earlier in the morning, the UK FSA had called Kaupthing demanding £300 million instantly be moved from Reykjavik to Singer & Friedlander to meet the run on Edge accounts, which with the Icesave website down also was blazing, and then a further £2 billion over ten days. This was an impossible demand for Kaupthing to meet, and it instead called the Deutsche Bank, asking it to sell off Kaupthing’s operations in the UK. Deutsche’s brokers thought that could be done within 24 hours (Jónsson, 2009).

The legal actions Brown had mentioned in his press brief, however, went much further. At 10:10 in the morning, deposits in Landsbanki’s Heritable Bank were moved to the Dutch internet bank ING Direct for free when the ‘Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008’ took effect (The Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008, 2008). The action was based on the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, which had been put in place after the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001. Not minding that around a hundred thousand people worked for Icelandic-held companies in Britain, the UK government invoked the Anti-Terrorism Act to freeze the assets of Landsbanki in the UK and for a while also all assets of the Icelandic state including the Icelandic government, the Icelandic Financial Surveillance Authority and the Icelandic Central Bank (SIC 2010, Vol. 6, Ch. 18: 40).

Later that day the FSA took control of the Heritable Bank and Landsbanki’s subsidiary in London. The Landsbanki Freezing Order was issued with an explanation reading:

The Icelandic authorities have announced that Landsbanki has been placed into receivership but has not given any indication as to how overseas creditors will be dealt with. The Icelandic Government has also announced a guarantee of all depositors in Icelandic branches. However, overseas depositors have not been covered by the guarantee. This exclusion on grounds of nationality is discriminatory and unlawful under the rules governing the European Economic Area. The UK government is taking action to ensure that Landsbanki assets are not transferred from the UK until the position of UK creditors becomes clearer. The UK authorities are seeking to work constructively with the Icelandic authorities to ensure speedy resolution.

Subsequently, Landsbanki and for a while also Iceland’s Central Bank and Ministry of Finance was listed on the Treasuries home page alongside other sanctioned terrorist regimes, including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Burma, Zimbabwe and North Korea.

While Kaupthing’s CEO, Sigurður Einarsson, was in his London office in the late morning discussing with Deutsche Bank over the phone the fastest way to liquidate its assets, he read a banner running on the TV screen saying that the FSA had already moved Kaupthing’s Edge accounts to ING Direct in the Netherlands. Their phone conversation quickly ended, as there was no longer anything to talk about. In the afternoon, the UK authorities issued a moratorium on Singer & Friedlander, showed its Icelandic CEO, Ármann Thorvaldsson, the door and sealed the offices (Thorvaldsson, 2009). This instantly prompted a flow of margin calls and a further run on the mother company. When the dark set in, Kaupthing Bank was itself taken into administration in Reykjavik. Thirty thousand shareholders lost all their investment. Interestingly, both the previously mentioned report to the House of Commons Treasury committee (2009, April) and also the British FSA later found out that no money had illegally been moved from Singer & Friedlander to Iceland (Júlíusson, 2009), which, however, had been one of the main justifications for the UK’s attack on Iceland.

On this same day, Thursday 9th October, Brown told BBC that the actions of the Icelandic government were effectively illegal and completely unacceptable. ‘They have failed not only the people of Iceland; they have failed people in Britain’ he said. Then he said his government was ‘freezing the assets of Icelandic companies in the United Kingdom where we can. We will take further action against the Icelandic authorities wherever that is necessary to recover money’ (quoted in “Brown condems,” 2008). Later that day, Brown told Sky News that Iceland, as a state, was bankrupt and that the ‘responsibility lies fairly and squarely with the Icelandic authorities, and they have a duty in my view to meet the obligations that they owe to citizens who have invested from Britain in Icelandic banks’ (“Brown Blasts Iceland Over Banks,” 2008). Iceland was being completely rebuffed. In fact, in the coming days Brown’s rhetoric against Iceland was only to harden.

With UK depositors holding a stake of £700 million in Icesave, including many charities’ funding, Brown stated that the Icelandic authorities were now responsible for the deposits. Even in the UK, many were stunned by Brown’s harsh response to the Icelandic crisis. Many claimed that by attacking Iceland, a foreign actor, Brown was attempting to divert attention from difficulties at home, perhaps much as Margaret Thatcher had done during the Falklands crisis (Murphy, 2008). Initially it did indeed work. On its front page the Daily Mail declared ‘Cold War’ (2008) on Iceland and the Daily Telegraph screamed across its front page: ‘Give us our money back’ (2008). And these were papers that did not even support Brown or his Labour Party.

With access to the estimated 7 billion pounds the Icelandic government and banks held in assets in the UK no longer being available, the wall finally came tumbling down. Invoking Anti-Terrorist legislation against a neighbouring state and fellow NATO and EEA member was virtually an act of war, as is indicated in the interviews conducted for this paper. This was an unprecedented move against a friendly state, which cost Iceland dearly, in both economic and political terms. Moody’s instantly downgraded Iceland by three full points, to A1. Money transactions to Iceland were stopped not only in the UK but as a result also widely in Europe, where many banks refused to trade with Iceland after it had been listed in the UK with terrorist actors. The payment and clearing system for foreign goods collapsed. In only two days, all trading in króna had ceased outside Iceland’s borders (SIC 2010, Vol. 7).

By Thursday 9 October 2008, almost the entire Icelandic financial system had collapsed in a dramatic chain of events, which later became known simply as The Crash. Ironically, this was a full week before Glitnir’s 15 October deadline – which had started the whole thing.

Explaining the UK Attack

In hindsight it seems clear that the UK authorities went in their actions much further than needed in protecting British interests. Invoking the Anti Terrorist Act was for example in stark contrast to responses elsewhere. Authorities in the Netherlands, for example, saw no reason to freeze assets and in Stockholm the Swedish Central Bank was still trading with Kaupthing’s Swedish branch. In this segment I attempt explaining some of the reasons behind the harsh response of the UK government against Iceland.

First thing to note is that this was a time of utter chaos, frustration and widespread political as well as economical upheaval. Perhaps part of the reason can be found in the fact that Iceland’s economic fragility turned the mirror on the UK and its own volatile financial situation. Economist Willem Buiter (2008) who had studied the state of the economy in both countries, saw the similarity and wrote that it was no great exaggeration to also describe the UK as a huge hedge fund.

From private off-the-record interviews I conducted for this paper in late 2013 and early 2014 with several leading UK officials, within for example the UK Treasury, Foreign Office and the Labour Party, who were at the heart of these events at the time, it seems clear that the UK government finally lost faith in not only the Icelandic banks but also the Icelandic government over the weekend from Friday 3d to Sunday 5th October, 2008. This conclusion is for example also supported in unpublished report Icelandic stakeholders commissioned a leading business investigation firm in London to conduct into the issue.[2] The report states that the UK government believed until October 3d 2008 that a ‘high level political deal’ was in place of fast-tracking Icesave deposits to British banking space. The alleged deal included stipulation of insurance premium to be paid by the Icelandic government, that the ‘Icelandic government [was] to transfer 200 million pounds to the UK’.

How the UK authorities came to believe this deal was in place is not clear as no such understanding is sheared amongst Icelandic officials at the forefront of these events at the time, who also were interviewed off the record for this paper in late 2013 and early 2014. Neither are there any public documents available to support such alleged ‘deal’ at ‘high political level’ as the report claims.

UK officials interviewed for this paper point out that this was a time of great uncertainty and misinformation. Long lasting still ongoing tension at the time between the British Foreign Office (FCO) and the Treasury had weakened British institutions. Under Gordon Browns premiership it is reported that the Treasury was leading all actions against Iceland and that the FCO was hardly involved. Still, the little information that was available on Icelandic politics within the UK government was kept at the FCO. It is furthermore reported in the interviews I conducted that there was a serious communication malfunction between the Treasury, the FSA and the Bank of England. This was unfortunate as reliable intelligence on the Icelandic banks was rather within FSA and the Bank of England than in the Treasury.

In addition to not understanding Iceland, the Treasury was overworked by challenges of the international financial crisis blazing at the time. It is furthermore reported that as relatively young and small ministry in the UK the Treasury was suffering from high staff turnover and thus lack of institutional memory. All of this combined meant that when dealing with little Iceland the Treasury neither had the means nor knowledge to properly contemplate the highly complex situation.

My interviewees concur in saying that when trouble arose Iceland was thus not in focus in the Treasury, in fact it was rather viewed as troubling black hole preventing the UK from dealing with the big picture. Unlike the Foreign Service the Treasury had no room to contemplate political implications cross borders, in dealing with Iceland this was just a financial issue like all others. ‘This was just nuts and bolts finance’ said one of this papers interviewees. While desk officers were of course analysing Icelandic banks like all others, higher-level officials were ignorant about the country.

One interviewee for this paper, senior official in the British Foreign Service said that this was in effect a failure of diplomacy. He said that on both sides there existed surprising lack of understanding between the two governments, that the Icelanders did not know British governance and the UK side was almost utterly ignorant about Iceland. He pointed out that even though Gordon Brown and Geir Haarde were on good terms and for example met at Number 10 after Brown took office, that friendship did not amount to much at time of crisis. ‘To think so was foolish’, he said.

Plan A and Plan B

British officials interviewed for this paper pointed out that repeated references in FSA letters to Landsbanki to its legal authority to interfere with the banks operation in the UK, discussed earlier in this paper, was nothing short of blatant threat of seizing the bank. This warning seems, however, not to have been taken equally seriously in Iceland. According to British officials interviewed for this paper a low level and at first rather vague plan to deal with Iceland was slowly starting to emerge since May 2008, developing in gradual steps until the very end when the UK government finally struck on October 8th 2008 with implementing of the Anti Terrorist Act. The plan consisted of two options. Plan A revolved around getting Icelandic authorities on board with moving Icesave to the UK, which was to include proper insurance premium funds coming with it. If however, that would not work out, plan B was quite simply unilaterally seizing the bank.

As mentioned before, until Friday October 3d, Treasury officials believed a deal was in place with Icelandic authorities. Over the weekend however the UK side lost faith in the Icelanders, resulting in Plan B being kicked into action. The above mentioned investigative report prepared for Icelandic stakeholders also indicates that the UK side feared that the government of Iceland was losing control over to Central Bank governor Davíð Oddson, the country’s previous long standing PM and that he was planning to ‘veto the scheme’ – that is, the alleged deal on moving Icesave against 200 million pound insurance premium. The report also noted an expectation existing in the UK that the nationalized Icelandic banks would be ordered to reclaim their funds from abroad following such an Oddson veto. Furthermore, hints of Russian rescue money flowing to Iceland caused further concerns of Iceland going rogue.

When coming to the conclusion of applying plan B, UK officials interviewed for this paper claim that when dealing with Iceland, Brown and Darling wanted to been seen as being tough on rouge bankers. They pointed out that Iceland was viewed to be small enough to be made an example off; that it might serve as stark warning to others. Thus, when the big bank bailout was announced on Wednesday October 8th 2008, being tough on Iceland set the right political tone domestically, i.e. being tough on bad bankers while also preventing the banking system from collapse. Thus, this was also a balancing act. Applying the Anti-terrorism Act against Iceland was thus purposely used by the UK government to send a strong message and in doing so preventing others from straying off from the right path.

UK officials interviewed for this paper agree that the UK government had no idea what implication their action would have on the Icelandic banking system, that they were not thinking about Iceland as such in their actions, that this was quite simply only about British politics in time of crisis and that they did for example not contemplate Kaupthing collapsing as a result.

This view of events is somewhat supported when examining conversation between Icelandic Finance Minister Mathisen and Lord Paul Myners, the British Financial Services Secretary, on 8th October 2008. Myners said that it had worried UK authorities not being able to get reliable information out of Iceland on whether British depositors would be compensated or not. Lord Myners said that the UK government had thus decided to take action in protecting British financial interests against Iceland (SIC 2010, Vol. 7, Ch. 20: 151). When discussing the issue in the House of Lords on 28th October 2008 Myners cited the same reasons for applying the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act, that is; lack of sufficient commitment from Iceland regarding deposits in the UK but also adding that the actions had been necessary because of volatility on the UK financial market. He said it had been necessary to act vigorously when Iceland seemed to be taking actions hurting British interests (SIC 2010, Vol. 7, Ch. 20: 154).

Quite clearly, we can conclude that these actions were a co-ordinated attack that had been in the making for days, if not weeks. Indeed, it was a bomb, which was to blow up the defensive wall that the Icelandic government was trying to build around domestic households.

When PM Haarde called in the morning on Thursday 9th October to complain about this brutal treatment, Brown did not even answer. Haarde was instead referred to Darling, who in their phone conversation justified the actions of the British authorities by referring to his talk with Icelandic Finance Minister Mathiesen two days earlier. Darling said that Mathisen had not been able to provide guaranty for the Icesave deposits and that he had indicated that obligations of the FME might not be honoured. Records of their 7th October conversation however do not support Darlings recollection from their talk (See SIC 2010, Vol. 7, Ch. 20: 152). Interestingly, when interviewed for this paper a senior UK Foreign Office official pointed out that Mathiesen had made a mistake when agreeing to talk on the phone with Darling that day, by doing so he had given Darling the excuse he needed to attack Iceland. The British official said that the phone call had made it easier for the UK to apply the legislation they had already for some time been preparing to use if the need presented itself.

From correspondence between the UK embassy in Iceland and the Treasury in the UK, now partly made available by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the UK authorities seem to have felt quite confident of success in their dealings with Iceland. On late October 11th the UK ambassador reported to London that Treasury officials were travelling back from Iceland and that a deal on Icesave was within reach. UK officials discussed imminent ‘quick wins’ in the dispute against Iceland and contemplated ‘lifeline’ to be handed to Iceland after securing their victory (See in Jóhannesson, 2014).

The Icelandic government only made weak attempts to protesting against these actions taken by the UK. On 13th February 2009 the UK Treasury finally provided explanations in a letter signed by Clive Maxwell, claiming that the actions were not taken on grounds of terrorist operations. The letter quoted instead protocol in the law saying that the Treasury can act against those whose actions are construed as being to the detriment of the United Kingdom’s economy. The letter maintained that the British Treasury had believed it to be likely that the Icelandic government was discriminating in favour of Icelandic depositors and against UK and other foreign creditors. The letter quoted the 7th October phone call between finance ministers Mathiesen and Darling, claiming that the Icelandic authorities had failed to issue credible protection to foreign depositors. The letter also stated that the Icelandic government had provided contradictory information and said that the Icelandic actions were threating financial stability in the UK and that there was real risk of contamination (SIC 2010, Vol. 7, Ch. 20: 155). This is somewhat different to the explanation Finance Minister Darling told PM Haarde in their phone call on 9th October 2008.

Forced Agreement

Though ambiguity remained over many legal aspects of this highly complex situation, the UK and Dutch governments were pressuring Iceland to accept full responsibility for the Icesave accounts. While also pressuring Iceland to turn to the IMF, these governments were, with the help of the EU apparatus, lobbying neighbouring capitals to refuse it any loans except through an IMF programme (See in Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund, 2014). Iceland’s government, however, was still afraid of the stigma of being the first Western state in four decades to surrender to the IMF (See for example, Mathiensen & Jósepsson, 2010)

Iceland gradually caved under the collective pressure and sought help from the fund. To Iceland’s surprise, the IMF board refused help unless, Iceland was made to understand, first clearing up the Icesave dispute with the British and the Dutch. Initially at the IMF yearly meeting in Washington already on October 11, Finance minister Mathiesen signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dutch where he agreed to an arbitrary court ruling on the issue. Only in its wake, on 22d October, was Landsbanki removed from the list of terrorist regimes on the UK Chancellor’s website. This agreement was however abandoned by the Icelandic government upon Mathiesen’s return in Reykjavik and in November it was replaced with a much more broadly based deal, what was called the Brussels Guidelines, which included EU involvement. The deal stipulated that Iceland would indeed accept responsibility, but that its European partners would help shouldering the cost. Holding out for not much more than a month, the government thus threw in the towel and under impossible pressure, accepted to guarantee deposits up to the minimum €20,887 stipulated by EU Directive 94/19/EC.

The EEA connection did not amount to much. IMF assistance was only made available after Iceland gave into the Dutch and the British. The government’s apparent weakness in responding to the UK attack added to the public’s frustration, especially when it had become clear that no money had illegally been moved out of the UK.

The initial forced Icesave agreements (The Memorandum of Understanding and the Brussels Guidelines) angered the public, which in wake of the Crash had taken to the streets in ever-greater numbers. After a series of protests, which later became known as the Pots and Pans Revolution (búsáhaldabyltinging), the grand coalition of the Independence Party (IP) and the Social Democratic Alliance (SDA) was ousted from power in late January 2009, paving the way for a new left-wing government – the first purely left-wing coalition in the history of the republic.

The severity of the currency crisis, which followed the banking collapse, can for example be seen in the fact that Iceland was the only country that had to revert to such extreme measures as implementing capital controls. The economy seemed paralysed. On Friday 10 October, the first of many popular protests started.

While the crisis was tightening its grip leading up to The Crash, Iceland’s neighbours had refused help unless it was through an IMF programme. After the collapse of the banks, the IMF gradually emerged as Iceland’s only viable option as it was still being isolated internationally. The British and Dutch governments had been successfully lobbying both the ECB and other European states not to aid Iceland independently, while at the same time pressuring Iceland to accept responsibility for the Icesave deposits. Iceland’s government, on the contrary, insisted that according to Directive 94/19/EC it was only obligated to ensure that a Depositors Guarantee Fund was in place and not explicitly responsible for foreign branch deposits (Blöndal & Stefánsson, 2008). Referring to a report written for the French Central Bank in 2000, Iceland argued that the Directive did not explicitly dictate that the state had to pick up the balance in the event of a systemic collapse (Banque de France, 2000).

This was, however, a difficult argument to get through in the crisis-ridden climate at the time. In order to prevent a further run on their own banks and to regain enough credibility to keep them afloat, the British, during these same days, led a coalition of G20 and EU states promoting collective international action emphasizing almost blanket depositors protection (see, for example, Pilkington, 2008). Allowing Iceland to leave depositors in foreign branches without such protection was seen as countering these efforts and indeed undermining the entire global financial system. In Whitehall, many feared that the Icelandic crisis was spreading to the UK, which also had approached the brink of widespread banking collapse. As a result, Iceland was being turned into an international villain. Iceland was trapped.

Though Iceland was still stubbornly hesitating, a joint economic programme was informally being negotiated that would include $2.1 billion from the IMF and a further $3 billion from the Central Banks of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in addition to a separate loan from Poland. Iceland’s resilience was however diminishing by the day. The pressure to accept responsibility for the Icesave deposits grew. According to some reports, Iceland was even threatened with being expelled from the European Economic Area (EEA), its economic lifeline to the outside world (Hálfdanardóttir, 2008). With dwindling foreign reserves and at risk of a serious shortage of, for example, medicine, food and other necessities from abroad, Iceland finally threw in the towel and applied to enter the IMF emergency program on 25 October.

IMF Blockade

Based on informal query the government expected that the IMF board would accept Iceland’s application on 3 November (Sveinsson, 2013). In the meantime, however, the British and Dutch governments, which previously had been pressuring Iceland to go to the IMF, were now lobbying behind the scenes against Iceland being allowed into the program unless first accepting responsibility for the Icesave accounts (Duncan, 2008). The NRC Handelsblad in the Netherlands reported that the blockage was being orchestrated by Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos and his British colleague Alistair Darling (Banning & Gerritsen, 2008). Later, the chief IMF representative in Iceland admitted to a block of not only the British and Dutch governments but also the Nordic states (Rozwadowski, 2013).

When Iceland would not concede, the IMF board postponed its decision and made clear that the plea would be blocked until accepting of liability for Icesave. During this time, a senior advisor in the IMF’s external relations department publicly acknowledged that the delay was directly due to unresolved disputes with the Netherlands and the UK (Transcript of Press Briefing by David Hawley, 2008). As Iceland was not a member of the EU and thus not subject to the European Court of Justice, and as the EFTA Court had no jurisdiction in the UK and the Netherlands, there seemed at the time to be no available legal body to rule on the dispute – apart from the previously mentioned initial arbitrary court that Finance Minister Mathiesen had felt forced to agree to on October 11 but the Icelandic government later abandoned on the ground that it was skewed in favour of the UK and the Netherlands through the EU’s involvement.

Iceland was thus caught in a tight spot. It needed money to prevent further deterioration of the already devastated economy but that meant agreeing to liabilities it did not want to accept. According to the Brussels Guidelines brokered by the French EU Presidency the government of Iceland agreed to cover the deposits of depositors in the Icesave accounts in accordance with EEA law. Iceland was to repay the Icesave debt over ten years, starting three years after signing, with 6.7 per cent interest on the loan. The agreement also entailed that the EU would continue to participate in finding arrangements that would allow Iceland to restore its financial system and economy. This was a precondition Iceland set for paying out according to the agreement. A stabilization package of financial assistance from the IMF was an explicit part of the agreement, which was to be discussed at the IMF Executive Board meeting on Wednesday 19 November (Agreed Guidelines, 2008).

Though these early agreements on the Icesave deposits were meant to end the quarrel, the dispute was only just starting. Ambiguity still remained. To keep up the pressure, and even to increase it, the Dutch Foreign Minister, Maxime Werhagen, threatened to veto Iceland’s EU bid in July 2009 (The Hague Threatens Iceland, 2009). The Icelandic government justified the agreements by claiming that it had had no choice. Either it bit the bullet and accepted responsibility or the country would remain frozen out, thus without access to vital imports such as medicine and food. The Icelandic government explained that no one supported us; not even our Nordic neighbours were willing to listen to Iceland’s legal arguments. Without agreement, Iceland would no longer have been considered a modern state, internationally recognized as equal to others, but would rather have been relegated to being an isolated outpost surviving on local agriculture and fisheries alone. The signing was, however, a serious blow to the country’s political identity, as the postcolonial national identity insisted on not giving in to foreign pressure. It thus caused great strain domestically (Bergmann, 2014b).

After Iceland’s concession to the British and the Dutch over Icesave, the general public took to the streets in even greater numbers than before, now not only protesting against our government’s mismanagement of the economy but also against apparent foreign oppression. Frustration grew as businesses closed and more and more people were laid off while inflation rose to 20 per cent. The protest was now spreading around the country.

Icesave II and III

The new left-wing government parachuted in on the canopy of the Pots-and-Pans revolution contested some of the premises of the Brussels Guidelines, which they claimed was unlawfully imposed by foreign forces. Under the leadership of Finance Minister Sigfússon, chairman of the Left Green Movement, the new government abandoned the multinational approach and instead sent their representatives to London and The Hague to renegotiate terms. This result, which in effect was merely a loan agreement with the foreign ministers of the Netherlands and the UK, where Iceland accepted to cover up to €4.5 billion, instantly became one of the most unpopular agreements in the history of the country. Only after it’s signing however was the freezing order on Landsbanki and related Icelandic assets lifted.

Similar delaying tactics within the IMF on reviews, as when entering the program initially, was furthermore confirmed in a report by the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF into its response to the financial crisis. The report spoke of ‘the active involvement of (at least some) Nordic countries served to delay the first review by several months because […] pressure […] by their European partners not to provide financing assurances in an attempt to influence the outcome of the ongoing discussion on the extent of deposit guarantees for Icesave.’ (Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund, 2014)

Parliament reluctantly accepted the agreement, but only after adding to it new preconditions, referring to Iceland’s ability to pay. These the UK and the Dutch refused. A new negotiation committee was thus formed, which was able to lower the interest rate a little further. After a fierce debate, the amended agreement was accepted in Parliament on the last day of December 2009. The new government was now also accused of caving in to foreign pressure and surrendering Icelandic interests to external forces.

The saga took a dramatic turn on 5 January 2010, when the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, denied signing the law necessary to ratify the new agreement after receiving a petition of 60,000 Icelanders asking him to reject the deal. (He had signed the revoked earlier one). This was an exceptional move.

In early 2010, Icelanders once again found themselves in unknown waters. A quarter of the electorate had signed a petition to be put to the President asking him to decline signing the bill, which was thus as a result of the non-signing subsequently put referendum were 90 per cent of voters refused ratifying it. The country was in a mood of defiance. Many felt betrayed by the UK government when it had invoked the Anti-terrorist Act – an action that ultimately drove our last bank into the ground. Icelanders therefore found the idea that they should foot the whole bill alone difficult to swallow. There was also a legal twist. Directive 94/19/EC upon which the British and Dutch had based their claim was rather unclear. It stipulated only that states are obliged to set up special deposit guarantee schemes. It did not speak of a state guarantee. Many Icelanders were thus frustrated by the fact that the British and the Dutch had refused the request for an impartial court to rule on the issue.

The general perception in Iceland was thus that the government had again been bullied by an overwhelming foreign power into signing an unjust agreement. It is generally accepted that the government and Parliament only accepted the initial deals to achieve other ends, rather than because they felt under obligation to pay. It was simply a necessary evil to gain access to the IMF. And then there was the cost. €4.5 billon might have seemed a small figure by UK standards but this was almost half Iceland’s GDP. Divided by Iceland’s small population, the bill amounted to more than €12,000 per head, or just under €50,000 per household. If Landsbanki’s assets deteriorated any further, this would place a devastating burden on an already debt-ridden population.

In addition to the wide-ranging general feeling of frustration, the appearance of leniency towards the British and Dutch spurred a new wave of protest in mid-2010, which heightened when Parliament resumed in the early autumn, to find thousands of protesters surrounding the building, once again.

After twice going back on signed agreements (in addition to abandoning the two initial deals), the government found it difficult to go knocking on doors in London and The Hague asking to renegotiate the deal once again. Headed by a hired American negotiator, the new team was nevertheless in the end able to bring the interest rate down to 3 per cent. This time, a large majority emerged in Parliament when the IP joined ranks with the government in backing the new deal. The Progressive Party (PP) though still opposed any agreement. Yet, to the surprise of most, President Grímsson also refused the third agreement. In a second referendum, on 9 April 2011, the new agreement was refused by a two-thirds majority, illustrating a clear division between Parliament and the public. Now, there was no longer anything to negotiate. The case was sent to the EFTA Court, where the EU was backing the claim of the UK and the Netherlands and the EFTA Surveillance Authority against Iceland. Finally, on 28 January 2013, the court ruled in favour of Iceland, which was vindicated of wrongdoing in its handling of the Icesave deposits (Judgment of the Court, 2013). The court refused the EU’s and the UK and the Dutch governments’ claims of a state guarantee, such as Iceland had been forced to accept in the earlier Icesave agreements. Later UK and the Netherlands filed a much more limited claim before court in Reykjavik, still pending judgment at time of writing.

Conclusion

Internationally the Icesave dispute reveals interesting contestation and political production (and re-production) of constitution of international legality. Development of international legality, as understood by Rajcovic et al (2016), has in this paper been traced throughout the course of this particular crisis. Domestically the issue was dictating politics in the post-crisis period in Iceland. To the surprise of many Icelanders, after the Crash had left Iceland in financial ruin, the Dutch and the British still enjoyed the full backing in the Icesave debacle of our neighbours in the European community. The UK and Dutch authorities were able to use both the EU and the IMF to pressure Iceland into accepting responsibilities that Iceland’s authorities never believed were theirs to shoulder.

 From interviews with UK officials conducted for this paper is seems clear that the UK side believed that a high level political deal was in place with the Icelandic government of fast tracking Icesave into the UK banking space and that the deal included insurance premium injection from Iceland of 200 million pounds. Interestingly, though, Icelandic officials claim not to have any knowledge of such a deal. It is furthermore evident that the UK government lost faith in Icelandic authorities during the weekend of 3d to 5th October 2008, finally kicking into action plan B of attacking Iceland by use of the Anti-terrorist Act, which had for a while been in the making in Westminster. When doing so it served the UK government well to take a tough stand on Iceland, while simultaneously bailing out banks domestically – being tough on Iceland became a balancing act, serving the purpose of sending tough message to others when announcing the massive bank bailout.

The Icesave case illustrates that in time of crisis international muscle power still prevails. In time of need small states have difficulties when defending off larger states sharp attacks. In a European context, being formally a non-EU member made it easier for the UK and the Netherlands to deploy the EU apparatus to pressure Iceland than they would against a fellow member state. The illusion of a shelter amongst the family of Nordic states was furthermore also shattered during Iceland’s Crash, which was therefore not only economic but also political and indeed psychological. Iceland had been frozen out in terms of diplomatic relations. Suffering the deepest crisis in its post-war history, the country was already drained of foreign currency when the IMF finally opened its doors in November 2008, after Iceland had, under coercion, finally agreed to guarantee the Icesave deposits. By use of delaying tactics of reviews within the IMF the UK was, with the help of some of the Nordics, able to maintain the pressure on Iceland. However, after the immediate crisis was over, it was through the EFTA Court, a European institution, that Iceland, as a small state, was finally able to escape the pressure applied by the British and Dutch governments.

 

 

 

References

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* Acknowledgements: This research was conducted by examining generally available data and through semi-structured off-the-record background interviews with several officials in the UK and Iceland. The interviews are referenced where appropriate in the text but due to anonymity they are not individually listed in the bibliography. The research was financially suported by the Social Science Instute of the University of Iceland, through a project analysing foreing impact on the Icelandic banking collapse. Parts of the paper are furthermore based on my book Iceland and the International Fiancial Crisis: Boom, Bust and Recovery (2014). Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Endnotes

[1] Authors interview with Mathiesen in Desember 2013.

[2] I was allowed only reading the unpublished report in Reykjavik on October 21st 2014

Immigrants’ Experiences of Happiness and Well-being in Northern Iceland

 Introduction[1]

Akureyri is home to almost 800 immigrants for a total of 18,000 inhabitants. Research on the immigrant population in Iceland typically focuses on problems, discrimination, prejudice and difficulties; immigration issues in Iceland have been looked at through the lens of unemployment[2], difficult working conditions[3] and negative portraits of foreigners in the media[4]. However, in 2012, in a study conducted on the immigrant population of this town, 82% of 200 respondents displayed high life satisfaction[5]. Drawing on in-depth interviews realised with immigrants in Akureyri, we examine the experiences of well-being of migrants who have come to settle in his town.

Our analysis reveals that well-being is higher among immigrants with strong social capital and with some connections to local networks. Individuals often resort to individual rationale to explain their circumstances, their choices and their subsequent well-being. We begin the discussion by very briefly reviewing the literature on well-being and by introducing the context in which the study was realised. In the following section, we examine the relationship between feelings of well-being and the urban environment; then we explore the belief that opportunities are plentiful in this northern town, and finally look at the relationship between the social support of immigrants and their well-being.

Literature on immigration and well-being

The booming economy of the beginning of the 21st century and the subsequent demand for labour, especially in the construction and service sectors, resulted in a rapid increase in the number of foreign nationals coming and settling in[6]. Although the economic crisis of 2008 decreased the political and public interest for immigration issues[7], this significant growth of newcomers has raised interest among social scientists. Being the largest minority group in Iceland, the Polish have received a fair bit of attention in social studies, although social scientists have also looked at other communities such as the Filipino[8] and the Thai[9]. Immigration scholars argue that most immigration to Iceland in the past ten years is labor-related, hence providing a body of literature focusing on employment[10] and the financial crisis[11]. Immigration studies often oppose two groups who either welcome or disapprove of migration[12], and many reports highlight the feelings of discrimination and misunderstanding encountered by the newcomers[13]. The increase in the number of immigrants settling in Iceland, the financial crisis of 2008 and the following rise in unemployment resulted in a growth of negative attitudes from the host culture[14], and surveys on discrimination and prejudice have been more numerous in recent years[15]. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about the status of immigrants and minority groups[16], and if little is known about the impact of discrimination and prejudice on immigrant’s daily lives, even less is known about their wellbeing. Although some effort has been made in the past decade in the field of happiness studies, anthropologists have been particularly silent on the subject of well-being and happiness[17]. Iceland is no exception, despite being every year one of the top countries on the OECD life satisfaction index and other similar inventories. The lists ranking the happiest nations in the world very often lack analysis, and the real experience of well-being and happiness gets lost in the rankings[18]. There is very little social studies and ethnography on well-being in the Nordic countries, and practically none in Iceland[19].

Elsewhere, a few social scientists have devoted research to understand the complexities of emotions and subjective well-being although not many have looked at migration contexts. European research has shown that if immigrants seem to have higher levels of happiness than “stayers”, people who display higher levels of happiness are also more likely to migrate[20]. Investigations on the relationship between immigration and well-being typically focuses on measures of well-being such as health, mental or psychological well-being[21] and economic well-being[22]. Happiness experiences and emotions have not been investigated much in immigration contexts, although social sciences could learn much from personal narratives on those topics.[23]

Context, participants and methodology

Located in the north of the country, Akureyri is the second largest town in Iceland. The population has been on a steady increase since the beginning of the XXth century[24], and the foreign population has also grown from 369 in 2004 to 771 in 2015[25]. Representing almost 5% of the population, Akureyri´s immigrants originate primarily from Poland, Denmark, Syria, Germany and Thailand. Akureyri offers a relatively varied labour market consisting of skilled and unskilled jobs in various sectors, including the fishing industry, the research and education sector, the health sector and the tourism and service sectors.

This study uses a narrative methodology. The authors realized interviews with immigrants living in Akureyri and thereafter analyzed them by using discourse analysis, as research has shown that narrative texts are stocked with empirical evidence[26]. Research also shows that qualitative studies are more appropriate to understand social conditions, contexts and emotions[27] in anthropological studies. To gain a better understanding of the experiences of well-being in the foreign community, we conducted thirty semi-structured in-depth interviews with immigrants living in Akureyri. We used snowball sampling to recruit participants of various countries of origin, background, occupation and age group. We required each participant to consider himself an immigrant, to live permanently in Akureyri and to agree to participate in the study. Eighteen women and twelve men were interviewed, mostly originating from Europe; twelve people came from Eastern Europe and fifteen from Western Europe. Two-thirds of the participants were married or in a relationship. Most participants were highly educated and 21 held university degrees. Half of the participants had been in Iceland five years or longer and all of them with the exception of three came entirely voluntarily; the latter group followed their parents as teenagers. The interviews took place in whichever language the participant was most comfortable–English and Icelandic–and a third of the interviews were done in Polish by native-speakers. The interviews were recorded and accurately transcribed, and the interviews in Polish were also translated. The information collected in the interviews was classified in categories and interpreted; we used the discourse analysis method. The participants were assured that their contribution would remain anonymous, and were free not to answer any of the questions.

The emphasis of this project has been placed on people’s self-perception of happiness. We followed Neil Thin when he says that scholars should explore “how people develop a sense that their lives are good”[28]. We refer to “happiness” or “well-being” as our respondents understand them and look at what elements are important to them to contribute to “a good life”. If “happiness is imagined, generated and expressed”[29] differently by different people, depending on personal, social and cultural contexts, we were able to draw and identify from the interviews three main factors that seem to influence greatly the migrants’ vision of happiness: the physical and social environment, the possibility for personal achievement and the feeling of reciprocity.

“Akureyri sé besta staður á Íslandi”: When the physical environment influences social tranquility

If urban green spaces affect health positively[30], studies on the physical environment also reveal that access to nature and the proximity to natural surroundings impact positively the mental wellbeing of individuals[31]. The interviews show nothing but praise about the environment and the city itself:

“It´s close to the nature, you feel like in a luxury society, going to the swimming pool and being almost alone or going to the hospital with no problems, going to the forest and being alone walking.” (Excerpt from interview 9 – Male, Western Europe)

According to most, Akureyri is a nice and comfortable place to live. This attitude towards the place becomes obvious when even the winter darkness is seen in a positive light: “I’ve already fell in love with the darkness” (Excerpt from interview 13, Female, Western Europe), and when asked about the weather, one participant responded: “I actually like it, I like the storms.” (Excerpt from interview 10, Male, Western Europe).

Beauty, peace, ease and calm are all attributes associated with Akureyri: “I like Akureyri and its calm atmosphere” (Excerpt from interview 28, Female, Western Europe). No risks, no violence, no stress often associated with their home countries or home towns, the participants talk about it like being the perfect little hub of the polar circle. Nearly all participants refer to the town itself as being the “right” size, rather small yet with everything they need. The feeling of being in a small town, calm and close to nature also enhances the feeling of security[32]. In small towns, “the close-knit community and the feelings of being acquainted with most people in the surrounding community may contribute to a greater sense of living in an area that is secure and trustful”[33]. One participant told us: “It’s great because people know you and it’s safe and people are watching out for you.” (Excerpt from interview 2 – Male, Western Europe).

Feelings of personal and family safety are important, and every parent participating in the interviews makes much of the safety in town and the accompanying feeling of freedom experienced by their children.

“I like it a lot, it’s a great place for my boys. I don’t know if you have kids, but it’s grand and easy, it’s very safe you know, they just wander when they come from school and do their thing. Sort of like my memories of when I was younger. [Everything] is open, […], my boys can wander to school, it’s a very safe environment. It’s a very carefree existence.” (Excerpt from interview 10 – Male, Western Europe)

“There’s a lot of safety for my child. I don’t know, I don’t have to worry about the next day. Mostly, it is safety for my child, the rest I don’t care. […] I think that’s what keeping me here.” (Excerpt from interview 3 – Male, Eastern Europe)

Thus the physical space discourages feelings of anxiety and seems to play an essential role in the immigrants’ ability to feel relaxed; the risks and worries associated with towns and cities in the participants’ home countries disappears in the midst of the peaceful atmosphere of Akureyri:

“It’s a much more beautiful country, cleaner and not as noisy and not as…dangerous. I remember when we were playing we were not supposed to go in alleys that are dark or something, you don’t really have to fear about something like that here. When the kids are playing until eight o’clock at night and it’s already dark you don’t have to worry.” (Excerpt from interview 4 – Female, Western Europe)

The safety, simplicity and ease created by the settings leaks out onto all spheres of existence: work, administration, security and business. “The easiness of Icelandic life lies in its lack of formality.” (Excerpt from interview 31 – Male, Western Europe). We interviewed a couple who had specifically moved to Iceland to escape the stress following the financial crisis in their home country; although they had a house, good jobs and no financial problems, they “needed peace”. The stress-free factor seems to be particularly important in work situations:

“Sometimes […] it’s coffee break, everybody is going to the coffee break, but I’m still sitting in front of the computer finishing something, and they are laughing but that’s me. The Icelanders are just more… there’s not so much stress. […] I can feel I’m much more relaxed here in Iceland. When I go to my hometown for a visit, you can feel the stress.” (Excerpt from interview 12, Female, Western Europe)

“What I like about [work] is the atmosphere. It is totally different than in [my home country]. You see when I was working [there] there was always a pressure. Here people seem to be more relaxed […] Here, I was late couple of times and nobody said a word. I was also surprised because at the very beginning my boss told me that I work “too fast” [laughing]. Well now I know that I don’t have to be in a rush or put too much effort in.” (Excerpt from interview 21, Female, Eastern Europe)

A few people, coming to work in Iceland temporarily, never went back to their home countries and decided to settle in Iceland; their migration became permanent when their original intention was only to move temporarily. Those migrants to Iceland frame their arrivals almost as an apparent random turn of events. A sense of “escape” is more accidental than sought after; the participants are mostly looking for work and a different experience for themselves and their family, and it is merely a coincidence that it happens in a small relaxed town.

The possibilities for achievement

More than half of the participants mentioned work as their main reason for moving to Iceland, and a common global assumption is that people migrate hoping for a brighter economic future[34]. Meckl & Ólafsson’s study of 2013[35] revealed that income seemed to have little to do with happiness amongst the immigrant population of Akureyri, as have many studies looking at the relationship between money and happiness[36]. If the sentence “I have everything I need” was heard a few times during the interviews, the participants barely make mention of income, but it is hard to assert whether it is because it is not a determinant factor in their well-being or if people feel uncomfortable when discussing finances. If “more money does not necessarily buy more happiness”[37], the feeling of fulfilment at work, on the other hand, seem to be an important factor in the well-being of the participants. On top of having a job for economic and material purposes, the participants expect work to be a purposeful experience.

Most participants were not entirely satisfied with their professional situation, however coping with a little pain might be the price they accept to pay for reaching greater goals: “Sometimes when you’re trying to achieve something you have to go through discomfort.” (Excerpt from interview 2, Male, Western Europe). This participant clearly stressed that while working a job he disliked (the discomfort), he would receive remuneration thereby making it possible to buy a house (the greater goal). The interviews reveal a direct link between feeling good and the belief that there are opportunities available; many participants believe that opportunities open up for them in Iceland, which they never thought possible in their own country:

“You can do things here. In Iceland one of the advantages is that it is small. People can hear about stuff quickly. If this is something really good and people really like it, then people hear it straight away and you will get a lot of possibilities.” (Excerpt from Interview 1, Male, Eastern Europe)

“I wouldn’t have a job like this anywhere else.” (Excerpt from interview 10, Male, Western Europe)

“I think in Iceland everybody gets a chance. In [my home country] you would never get a job in hotel administration or something like that unless you have gone to school for that. Here they give you a chance, you haven’t learned it but maybe you can learn it on the job. […] If you really want this, you can put your mind to it and it’s possible.” (Excerpt from interview 6, Female, Eastern Europe)

In the experience of the Filipino migrants, taking advantage of opportunities, viewed from a different perspective, entails sacrifice, and it is particularly visible in occurrences relative to the women, who moved to Iceland to provide for children and families left behind in the Philippines[38]. One participant told us:

“There’s much pressure in my family to educate […] Everyone sends a lot of money to the Philippines so my other relatives can go to school. They probably sent a few millions already so they could go to university.” (Excerpt from interview 20, Male, Asia)

Education seems to be highly important in the participant’s family; therefore, the sacrifice involved is also seen as an opportunity to improve the whole family’s situation. Despite the negative emotional consequences of moving and leaving family behind, they are counter-balanced by the feelings of necessity and doing good (helping relatives to educate and have a better future). The notion of sacrifice generates good feelings at an individual level – whether you work hard at a job you dislike or you leave your children behind, you do it for greater opportunities in the future. Most participants follow an effort-reward model in which temporary suffering is accepted as long as there is the prospect of greater happiness later on.

Social psychologists and scientists have observed the role of goals and aspirations in personal wellbeing[39]. The self-determination theory proposes that well-being increases in individuals’ lives when dealing with intrinsic goals, “those related to personal growth, emotional intimacy and community involvement” giving instant gratification, but decreases when engaged with extrinsic goals because it involves the approval and recognition of others, “e.g financial success, appealing appearance and social recognition”[40]. In the mind of the participants, it seems that the drive is what matters rather than the goal itself:

“There are some people who want to fight, do better, live better, be different, be a better version of themselves.” (Excerpt from interview 6, Female, Eastern Europe)

“I make small steps for myself. Now I want to do that, and now I want to get this job, and I want to study here, and get a job with what I study, and I want to do more and more… It’s good to have those little steps.” (Excerpt from interview 15, Female, Eastern Europe)

This participant decided to have the best life possible here. She learned Icelandic in a year and went back to school to study and get a job in her area of expertise. The emotional outcomes of self-improving and having a purpose positively affected the participant; she experiences pride and feels a real sense of personal achievement, but she already has in mind for herself more “steps” to climb. For many participants, the drive is as important as the goal himself, and “perhaps the good life is not a state to be obtained, as Aristotle’s suggests, it is the aspiration and act of becoming, the pursuit, and the journey that gives meaning and fulfilment.” [41]

Reciprocity and shared values as a strategy for integration

In 1925, Marcel Mauss described the importance of receiving and giving back in order to establish basic human contacts.[42] Exploring the concept of reciprocity through gifts, his research, which has been used and updated by many social scientists, also makes sense in our context. Throughout the interviews, we identified several approaches for establishing reciprocity through shared values.

The most obvious seemed to be the acknowledgment of the immigrants of the importance of the Icelandic language for the native population. Some participants mentioned that even though they were far away from being fluent in Icelandic, locals were happy to note that they were trying, and that’s all that mattered: “I also saw how Icelandic people were happy when I said something in Icelandic. A single word.” (Excerpt from interview 1, Male, Eastern Europe)

Not being able to speak Icelandic in response to Icelandic people can be perceived as a failure:

“It’s like going into someone’s house, knocking on someone’s door and just speaking to them in Swahili, and sitting down on their couch, just speaking to them in a different language. It’s rude. Again, if you’re a tourist you spend money, so that’s fair enough. If you come to a country and you don’t integrate, it’s rude, and I do feel a bit rude sometimes, especially because I am working with them. […] You should learn. If you live in a place you should learn, and I should learn.” (Excerpt from interview 2, Male, Western Europe)

According to the survey by Meckl & Ólafsson 2013, one third of the foreign population is assumed to speak Icelandic well or very well, while two thirds of the foreign population have not achieved this common value. Therefore, stories about situations where newcomers were confronted with their lack of knowledge in the local language are common.

However, speaking Icelandic does not seem to “correlate with […] general satisfaction with living in Akureyri”[43]. The reason for this might be that the lack of knowledge in Icelandic does not mean that reciprocity is not possible or that social contacts are void. For example, the religious communities of Akureyri, comprising both locals and migrants, seem to be a solid way to create contacts and gain support; one participant who had resided in Iceland for a short time came to know many people through Church: “Yes, it’s probably going to the Church, I met a lot of people there. […] They will suggest you the right things to do and you can trust them.” (Excerpt from interview 13, Female, Western Europe). There is a social element to individual well-being, and the strength of ties within the family, the neighbourhood and the religious community has a direct impact on feelings of happiness and belonging.

Bringing values that matter in Icelandic society, like hard-work and diligence, is another way to facilitate the integration process:

“And the thing with Icelandic people, if they see someone who is hard-working, they will become your friend. They can’t stand lazy people. I’m obviously generalizing now, because it’s many people that I know, it’s a working nation. […] I think it’s the attitude that’s important. If you come somewhere, if you have in mind that you are a guest your attitude will be right, but if you come somewhere and you expect people to serve you, then it’s not the right attitude. And I knew that straight away, I’m a guest here.”   (Excerpt from Interview 1, Male, Eastern Europe)

Work is an essential part of the Icelandic way of life and one of the key values in the society[44]. Therefore, being employed and working hard as a migrant is another way to feel valued and accepted.

Family ties are strong and the family viewed as “the cornerstone of Icelandic society”[45]; it is also a determinant factor in how positively you will be perceived as an immigrant. One participant recognised that contacts were friendlier once she had become a mother:

“[People are] asking you how it is, if you have support and family speaking with you, if the grandparents of the child come and visit you. They are nice when they are seeing a child.” (Excerpt from interview 5, Female, Eastern Europe)

Sharing moral values seems of greater consequence than any other integration factors; if you contribute in reflecting principles valued by the local society (language, independence, diligence and the importance of family, for example), you meet more easily the requirements of reciprocity, essential to the integration process and the feeling of well-being. Of course immigrants are not always receiving the kind of recognition they would wish for, or have trouble to create and keep contacts within the local community. A few participants blame their personal attitude for not engaging enough in society, like not speaking the language or not joining a social club popular among Icelanders, like a gym or a choir, for example. A few others blame the cultural differences:

“We are coming from other countries, other cultures, other lifestyles, we have another sense of humor, we are different. […] They are very friendly of course, very kind, polite, but they are serious. […] They are very closed”. (Excerpt from Interview 8, Male, Western Europe).

However, the negative experiences of being a migrant in Akureyri seem temporary or conditional; if the participant spoke Icelandic, if he engaged in social activities in town, if his lifestyle was more similar to the local one, he would be better off:

“I’ve had loads of opportunities, I missed loads of opportunities as well. Being able to speak Icelandic opens you to Icelandic opportunities. […] The longer I stay here the more important I see it is. […] And it is worthwhile and useful. Yeah, I need to get on it.” (Excerpt from Interview 2, Male, Western Europe).

This comment shows again, that migrants are willing to allow temporary suffering as long as they foresee a possibility for ending this suffering; it makes the negative experience worthwhile or even necessary as long as it transforms into a more positive experience later on:

“As long as it is part of a greater goal and it’s not going to be like that forever, it’s fine. I’m not miserable. I’m not super ecstatic. But I have plans and goals. […] It’s not going to be forever, so we’ve put up with it for now.” (Excerpt from Interview 2, Male, Western Europe).

In migrants discourses, the difficulties they encounter rather seem like obstacles that can be overcome or transformed into opportunities. Despite the difficulties and their consequences on the participants’ well-being, either the positive experiences counter-balance the negative ones, or the prospect of future happiness is at the fore in the migrants’ minds, making the overall experience of migrating to Akureyri worthwhile.

Conclusion

This paper focused on the experiences of wellbeing of migrants in Akureyri in Northern Iceland, where most migrants interviewed displayed high satisfaction and made mention of positive experiences in their discussion with the researchers. More attention would be required to understand the way migrant’s chose to portray their lives; does the sample of participants reflect a positiveness specific to European highly-skilled migrants? Do the migrants apply a rationale to their experiences that conceal their less favourable ones?  Does their relationship with the researchers impair their ability to talk more openly about their negative experiences?

To look at wellbeing and happiness, it is necessary to know what is important for individuals and communities. Although personal attitude is key to happiness, a safe and positive environment, strong social relationships, having goals, sharing values and feeling on equal grounds with locals are essential to the well-being of the foreign population. Identifying how reciprocity can be achieved from both sides seems a crucial element to contribute to individual happiness of migrants in Akureyri. The findings of this research unveil the responsibility of the community to provide a stronger support system to newcomers; to encourage migrants and give them the appropriate resources to learn Icelandic, to offer a support system to enhance social contacts and to ensure that everyone can benefit from going to work or being together with their family.

The debates which have dominated immigration issues have been far from addressing questions regarding well-being and happiness. Focusing on the wellbeing of the immigrants might help to shift the perception of immigrants in the public opinion – from being connected to problems to a positive connotation of possibilities and enrichment.

Bibliography

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Endnotes

[1] Funded by KEA grant. A shorter version of this article has been published in Icelandic under the title: Barillé, S. & Meckl, M. “Nýir íbúar Norðursins: Hamingja og vellíðan meðal innflytjenda á Akureyri”, Ritið tímarit hugvísindastofnunar, 2/2016, p. 137–150.

[2] Carin Läärä Johanna Ann-Louise, “Social integration of unemployed immigrants. A comparison of integration programs in Jyväskylä and Reykjavík”, MA thesis. Reykjavík: University of Iceland, Faculty of Education Studies, 2012.

Einarsdóttir Kristín Ása, “Young unemployed migrants in Iceland. Opportunities on the labour market and situations after the economic collapse with regard to work, social and financial aspects”, MA Thesis. Reykjavík: University of Iceland, Faculty of Sociology, 2011.

[3] Guðjónsdóttir Guðbjört, “The experiences of female immigrant hotel workers in the Icelandic labor market”, MA Thesis. Reykjavík: University of Iceland, Faculty of Sociology, 2010.

Sigurgeirsdóttir Álfrún and Skaptadóttir Unnur Dís “Polish construction workers in Iceland. Rights and perceptions of inequalities at building sites”, Þjóðarspegillinn XII -Rannsóknir í félagsvísindum – Félags- og mannvísindadeild. Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2011.

[4] Ólafs Helga & Zielińska Małgorzata, I started to feel worse when I understood more” Polish immigrants and the Icelandic media.” Þjóðarspegillinn XI: Rannsóknir í félagsvísindum XI- Félags- og mannvísindadeild. Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2010.

[5] Kjartan Ólafsson & Markus Meckl, “Foreigners at the end of the fjord: Inhabitants of foreign origin in Akureyri”. Þjóðarspegillinn XIV: Rannsóknir í félagsvísindum – Félags- og mannvísindadeild. Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2013.

[6] Wojtynska, Anna, Skaptadóttir, Unnur Dís & Ólafs, Helga. The participation of immigrants in civil society and labour market in the economic recession. Reykjavík: University of Iceland, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, 2011.

[7] ibid.

[8] Skaptadóttir, Unnur Dís. “Women and Men on the Move: From the Philippines to Iceland”, In S.Thidemann Faber and H. Pristed Nielsen (eds.) Remapping Gender Place and Mobility. Global Confluences and Local Particularities in Nordic Peripheries. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2015.

[9] Bissat, Johanna, Effects of Policy Changes on Thai Migration to Iceland, International Migration, 51 (2): 46-59.

[10]Einarsdóttir, Kristín Ása. Young unemployed migrants in Iceland. Opportunities on the labour market and situations after the economic collapse with regard to work, social and financial aspects. MA Thesis. Reykjavík: University of Iceland, Faculty of Sociology, 2011.

Guðjónsdóttir, Guðbjört. The experiences of female immigrant hotel workers in the Icelandic labor market, MA Thesis. Reykjavík: University of Iceland, Faculty of Sociology, 2010.

[11] Wojtynska, Anna, Skaptadóttir, Unnur Dís & Ólafs, Helga. The participation of immigrants in civil society and labour market in the economic recession. Reykjavík: University of Iceland, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, 2011.

Wojtyńska, Anna & Zielińska, Małgorzata. “Polish migrants in Iceland facing the financial crisis”, in Gunnar Þór Jóhannesson & Helga Björnsdóttir (Eds.), Rannsóknir í Félagvísindum XI: Félags- og mannvísindadeild, pp. 1-11. Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2010.

[12] King, Russell. Theories and Typologies of Migration: An Overview and a Primer, Willy Brandt Series of Working Papers, Malmö University. Retrieved from https://www.mah.se/upload/ Forskningscentrum/MIM/WB/WB%203.12.pdf, 2012.

[13] Ólafs, Helga & Zielińska, Małgorzata. “I started to feel worse when I understood more” Polish immigrants and the Icelandic media. Þjóðarspegillinn XI: Rannsóknir í félagsvísindum XI- Félags- og mannvísindadeild. Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2010.

[14] Skaptadóttir, Unnur Dís. “Alþjóðlegir fólksflutningar á tímum efnahagslegs samdráttar” [International migration in times of economic recession], in Gunnar Þór Jóhannesson & Helga Björnsdóttir (Eds.), Rannsóknir í Félagvísindum XI: Félags- og mannvísindadeild, pp. 314–322. Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2010.

[15] Pétursdóttir, Guðrún. Manifestation of hidden discrimination and everyday prejudice towards immigrants in Iceland. InterCultural Ísland. Retrieved from http://www.ici.is/assets/ Everyday_discrimination_in_Iceland.pdf, 2013.

Arnardóttir, Elsa & Haraldsson, Rúnar Helgi. Origin and multiple discrimination. Multicultural and Information Centre Iceland. Retrieved from http://www.mcc.is/media/frettir/ Progress-skyrsla-mcc–2.pdf, 2014.

[16] Ólafs, Helga & Zielińska, Małgorzata. “I started to feel worse when I understood more” Polish immigrants and the Icelandic media. Þjóðarspegillinn XI: Rannsóknir í félagsvísindum XI- Félags- og mannvísindadeild. Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2010.

[17] Thin, Neil. “Why Anthropology Can Ill Afford to Ignore Well-Being”, in Gordon Mathews and Carolina Izquierdo (Eds.), Pursuits of Happiness: Well-Being in Anthropological Perspective, Bergham Books, pp. 23-44, 2008.

Thin, Neil. Happiness and the sad topics of Anthropology. University of Bath: Wellbeing in Developing Countries working paper no. 10. Retrieved from http://www.welldev.org.uk/research/ workingpaperpdf/wed10.pdf, 2005.

[18] Fischer, Edward, The Good Life: Aspiration, Dignity, and the Anthropology of Wellbeing. Stanford University Press, 304 pp., 2014.

[19] One exception is the work of Stefán Ólafssón, see for example “Well-being in the Nordic Countries. An International Comparison”. Icelandic Review of Politics and Administration 9 (2): 345-372, 2013.

[20] Bartram, David. “Happiness and ‘Economic Migration’: A Comparison of Eastern European Migrants and Stayers”, Migration Studies1(2), pp. 156-175, 2013.

[21] Stillman, Steven, Gibson, John, McKenzie, David, Rohorua, Halahingano. “Miserable Migrants? Natural Experiment Evidence on International Migration and Objective and Subjective Well-Being”, World Development, 65: 79-93.

Salant, Talya & Lauderdale, Diane. “Measuring culture: a critical review of acculturation and health in Asian immigrant populations”, Social Science & Medicine, 57 (1): 71-90, 2003.

[22] Massey, Douglas. “The Social and Economic Origins of Immigration”, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 510, World Population: Approaching the Year 2000, pp. 60-72, 1990.

Semyonov, Moshe & Gorodzeisky, Anastasia. “Labor Migration, Remittances and Economic Well-being of Households in the Philippines”, Population Research and Policy Review, 27: 619, 2008.

[23] Thin, Neil. “Counting and recounting happiness and culture: On happiness surveys and prudential ethnobiography”. International Journal of Wellbeing, 2 (4), 313-332, 2012.

[24] https://web.archive.org/web/20091015064857/http://www.iceland.org/media/us/iceland_in_figs_06-07.pdf

[25] www.hagstofa.is

[26] Roberto Franzosi (1998). “Narrative Analysis—Or Why (and How) Sociologists Should Be Interested In Narrative”, Annual Review of Sociology, 24: 517-554.

[27] Anselm Strauss & Juliet Corbin, Basics of Qualitative Research, Grounded theory procedures and techniques, Newbury Park, California, Sage Publications, 1990, 272 pp.

[28] Thin Neil, “Counting and recounting happiness and culture: On happiness surveys and prudential ethnobiography”, International Journal of Wellbeing, 2(4), 2012, bls. 313-332, hér bls. 313.

[29] Thin Neil, “Counting and recounting happiness and culture: On happiness surveys and prudential ethnobiography”, bls. 313.

[30] Lee A. & Maheswaran R., “The health benefits of urban green spaces: A review of the evidence” in Journal of Public Health, 33 (2), 2009, pp. 212-222.

[31] Cooper, R., Boyko, C. & Codinhoto R., “The effect of the physical environment on mental wellbeing” in Cooper C.L, Field G., Goswami U., Jenkins R. & Sahakian B.J (ritstj.), Mental Capital and Wellbeing, Wiley Blackwell, 2009, pp. 967-1006.

[32] Ibid.

[33] Eriksson, U. , Hochwälder, J. & Sellström, E., “Perceptions of community trust and safety : Consequences for children’s well-being in rural and urban contexts” in Acta Paediatrica, vol. 100: 10, 2011, pp. 1373-1378.

[34] King Russell, Theories and Typologies of Migration: An Overview and a Primer. Willy Brandt Series of Working Papers, Malmö University, 2012. Retrieved from https://www.mah.se/upload/Forskningscentrum/MIM/WB/WB%203.12.pdf

[35] Meckl Markus & Ólafsson Kjartan. Foreigners at the end of the fjord: Inhabitants of foreign origin in Akureyri.Kjartan Ólafsson & Markus Meckl, “Foreigners at the end of the fjord: Inhabitants of foreign origin in Akureyri”.

[36] Graham Carol, The Pursuit of Happiness: An Economy of Well-Being, Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2011, 164 pp.

[37] Graham Carol, The Pursuit of Happiness: An Economy of Well-Being, bls. 36.

[38] Skaptadóttir Unnur Dís, “Integration and transnational practices of Filipinos in Iceland” @-migrinter, 5, 2010, bls. 36-45.

[39] Romero E., Gómez-Fraguela J.A. & Villar P., “Life Aspirations, Personality Traits and Subjective Well-being in a Spanish Sample” in European Journal of Personality, 2012, 26: 45-55.

[40] Romero E., Gómez-Fraguela J.A. & Villar P., “Life Aspirations, Personality Traits and Subjective Well-being in a Spanish Sample”, bls.45.

[41] Fischer Edward, The Good life: Values, Markets and Well-being. Working Papers Series #14, Open Anthropology Cooperative Press. Retrieved from http://openanthcoop.net/press/2012/09/20/the-good-life-values-markets-and-wellbeing, 2012,bls.6.

[42] Mauss Marcel “Essai sur le don: Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés archaïques” In Sociologie et Anthropologie, PUF, Collection Quadrige, 1973 (original text 1923-1924) pp. 149-279.

[43] Meckl Markus & Ólafsson Kjartan. Foreigners at the end of the fjord: Inhabitants of foreign origin in Akureyri,Kjartan Ólafsson & Markus Meckl, “Foreigners at the end of the fjord: Inhabitants of foreign origin in Akureyri”, bls: 10.

[44] Sigurðsson Geir, “Vinnudýrkun, meinlæti og vítahringur neyslunnar : íslenskt tilbrigði við stef eftir Max Weber” in Skírnir 172 (haust), 1998, bls. 339-356.

[45] Eydal Guðný & Stefán Ólafsson, “Family Policy in Iceland: An Overview,” in Illona Ostner and C. Schmitt (ritstj.), Family Policies in the Context of Family Change: The Nordic Countries in Comparative Perspective.  Wiesbaden, Germany: Verlag fur Sozialwissenscaften, 2008, pp.109-127.

Twelve Years an Editor – Almost. Nordic-Mediterranean Perspectives on Iceland’s International Image

Introduction

Since the year 2015 I have been working as editor in chief of Nordicum-Mediterraneum: Icelandic E-Journal of Nordic and Mediterranean Studies, published by the University of Akureyri (<http://nome.unak.is>). As such, I have received, read, reviewed and released a number of contributions by foreign and, in particular, by Italian scholars, dealing with Iceland under a broad variety of scientific perspectives. Also, especially during and immediately after Iceland’s 2008 financial meltdown, I was contacted and interviewed by a number of media outlets, primarily Italian. Thanks to these experiences, I can contribute to today’s discussion with an eminently personal yet qualitatively rich account of Iceland’s image among Italian and foreign academic circles. Above all, I believe the materials accumulated in the long life of Nordicum-Mediterraneum to be a truly interesting source of insight in the academics’ interest points, if not even the educated commonplaces, about Iceland.

Albeit in charge of the journal since its inception, I am not its real father, who is instead a scholar that has been working for many years at the University of Iceland in Reykjavík, Maurizio Tani. Eleven years ago, one year short of the title’s twelve, he approached me with the idea of a scholarly journal devoted to the many and diverse historical exchanges between the North and the South of Europe and, in particular, between Iceland and Italy. Nothing of the sort existed on the academic scene. Needless to say, his suggestion was taken aboard. Then, thanks to the small yet vital financial support of the University of Akureyri, plus the crucial help qua webmaster of Mr. Fabrizio Veneziano of Schiller International University in Paris and of Ms. Sigrún Magnúsdóttir qua Akureyri-based editorial assistant, the journal was officially born.

Foreign contributions about Iceland: Numbers and titles 

A true pioneer in open-access scholarly publishing in Iceland, the journal aimed primarily at serving as a forum and an archive for scholars interested in Nordic and Mediterranean mutual connections. Progressively, pressured by its growing readership, the journal expanded its scope to Nordic and Mediterranean matters at large, rather than remaining confined to the exchanges between the North and the South of Europe. At the same time, the journal continued to publish a variety of other contributions as well, ranging from reviews of recent literature to interviews and personal memoirs. The break-up of the publications listed below does not include the special issues 11(2-3), due this year and already in the pipes, editorially speaking, and reads as follows:

Regular issues: 11 (2006-2016)

Special issues: 12 (2006-2016 i.e. up to 10(3)/2016)

Of which:

Conference proceedings: 11 (2008-2016)

Other subjects: 1 (2006)

New articles: 42

Reflections on Iceland’s economic crisis: 13

Conference proceedings: 102

Conference-related notes: 11

Review essays: 5

Book reviews: 121

Interviews: 6

Memoirs: 6

Translations: 5

Republished books: 2

Degree theses: 1

Other contributions (short notes, reports, surveys, non-peer-reviewed articles, etc.): 19

Total publication: 333

Of all these published materials, 45 contributions can be said to deal with Iceland’s image in the eyes of foreign scholars, whether directly or indirectly, e.g. as reported in books reviewed for the journal (in the case of book reviews and review essays, I attribute each entry to either the reviewer’s nationality or the book author’s nationality, depending on who emphasises Iceland more). Longer pieces (e.g. articles, conference papers) amount to 21, while shorter ones (e.g. book reviews) to 24. Most of them are in legal studies (12), linguistics and/or literature (7) and history (5). Then we have contributions in philosophy (4), economics (4), geography (4), politics (3), psychology (2), art history (1) and personal memoirs (3). The countries of relative observation can be listed as follows:

  • Argentina: 1
  • Faroe Islands: 1
  • Finland: 1
  • Germany: 3
  • Ireland: 2
  • Italy: 25
  • The People’s Republic of China: 2
  • Romania: 1
  • Russia: 2
  • Scotland: 6
  • Spain: 1

True to the original spirit of the journal, publications by Italian scholars on Icelandic or Italian-Icelandic matters stand out as far more numerous than the others. This geographical predominance and the limited overall as well as specific number of published contributions make a quantitative analysis unlikely to provide valuable information. Their qualitative value as academic exploration of Iceland’s heritage and historical experiences persists, however.

The typology, depth and length of these 45 contributions varies enormously. I list them below in chronological order, specifying their category, in accordance with the journal’s internal system of classification. In the pages following the list below, I refer to the underlined authors and the relevant year of publication in the journal; when Icelandic-foreign collaborative projects are included, I underline and count for the country list above only the foreign specialists involved:

1(1)/2006

Article

Antonio Casado da Rocha, “Narrative Ethics and the Ecology of Culture: Notes on New Italian-Icelandic Sagas”

Note on conference proceedings

Maurizio Tani, “Italo Balbo, Iceland and a Short Story by Halldór Laxness. Notes on the Conference ‘La trasvolata Italia-Islanda del 1933’ (Reykjavík, 7 June 2003)”

Interviews, memoirs and other contributions

Francesco Milazzo, “Teaching Roman Law in Iceland”

1(2)/2006

Translations

Maria Savi Lopez (1848-1940), “Akureyri”, Nei paesi del Nord, Torino: Paravia, 1893

Italo Balbo (1896-1940), “Nella terra dei Vichinghi”, La centuria alata, Milano: Mondadori, 1934

3(1)/2008

Articles

Emanuela Finocchietti & Luca Zarrilli, “Paesaggio naturale e politiche di sviluppo territoriale in Islanda”

Conference proceedings

Manuela S. Campanini, “Iceland as a Landscape Investigation Pattern”

Book reviews

By Antonio Calcagno: Paolo Borioni, Cesare Damiano & Tiziano TreuIl modello sociale scandnavo. Tra diritti e flessibilità (Roma: Nuova Iniziativa Editoriale, 2006)

4(1)/2009

Interviews, memoirs and other contributions

Federico Actite, Ancient Rome and Icelandic Culture – A Brief Overview

5(1)/2010

Articles

Diego Ferioli, “On the Oral-Formulaic Theory and its Application in the Poetic Edda: The Cases of Alvíssmál and Hávamál”

Manuela S. Campanini, “Imagine a Collective Landscape”

Viola Miglio, “Old Norse and Old English Language Contact: Scandinavian Legal Terminology in Anglo-Saxon Laws”

Reflections on the economic crisis

Giorgio Baruchello, “Eight Noble Opinions and the Economic Crisis: Four Literary-philosophical Sketches à la Eduardo Galeano”

Maria Pia Paganelli, “Learning from Bjartur About Today’s Icelandic Economic Crisis”

Interviews, memoirs and other contributions

Antonio Costanzo, “Fyrirlestur um bókina Hávamál. La voce di Odino”

Marinella Lorinczi, “Dracula in Iceland”

6(1)/2011

Article

Adriana Di Stefano, “Northern Steps of EU Enlargement: The Impact of ‘Cohesion’ Policies on Iceland’s Accession Process”

Book reviews

By Rachael Lorna Johnstone: H. Beale et al., Cases, Materials and Texts on Contract Law, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2010); and T. K. Graziano, Comparative Contract Law: Cases, Materials and Exercises (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009)

By Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Natalia Loukacheva (ed.), Polar Law Textbook (Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers, 2010)

Dissertation

Fabio Quartino, La Costituzione Islandese: storia ed evoluzione

6(2)/2011

Article

Garrett Barden, “Responses to the contributors”

7(1)/2012

Article

Birgir Guðmundsson & Markus Meckl, “’Karlson’ – A Stasi ‘Kontakt Person’. An episode of Iceland’s Cold War legacy”

Book reviews

By Andrea Hjálmsdóttir: Aðalheiður Ámundadóttir & Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Mannréttindi í þrengingum: Efnahagsleg og félagsleg réttindi í kreppunni (Akureyri-Reykjavík: Háskólinn á Akureyri og Mannréttindaskrifstofa Íslands, 2011)

By Anita Einarsdóttir & Tiantian Zhang: Herman Salton, Arctic Host, Icy Visit: China and Falun Gong Face Off in Iceland (Saarbrücken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010)

Interviews, memoirs and other contributions

Jorge Mejía, “Some impressions after a quick visit to Iceland”

8(1)/2013

Articles

Hjálti Ómar Ágústsson & Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “Practising what they Preach: Did the IMF and Iceland Exercise Good Governance in their Relations 2008-2011?”

Irina Zhilina, “The Security Aspects in the Arctic: the Potential Role of NATO”

Review essay

By Carlo Penco: Juha Manninen & Friedrich Stadtler (eds.), The Vienna Circle and the Nordic Countries. Networks and Transformations of Logical Empiricism (Vienna: Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook vol.14, Springer, 2010)

Book reviews

By Gísli Aðalsteinsson: Maurizio Tani, La chiesa di Akureyri: Guida storico-artistica alla parrocchiale luterana della «capitale del nord» (Grafarvogur: Snorri Sturluson, 2010)

By Guðmundur Heiðar Frímansson: Brian Lucey, Charles Larkin & Constantin Gurdgiev (eds.), What if Ireland defaults? (Dublin: Orpen Press, 2012)

By Herman Salton, “‘Arctic Host, Icy Visit’: A Response” (cf. Tiantian Zhang)

By Rachael Lorna Johnstone: Jesús Ballesteros, Encarnación Fernández Ruiz-Gálvez & Pedro Talavera (eds.), Globalization and Human Rights: Challenges and Answers from a European Perspective (Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives of Law and Justice, Vol. 13, Leiden: Springer, 2012)

By Rachael Lorna Johnstone: T. Kue Young (senior ed.), Rajiv Rawat, Winifred Dallmann, Susan Chatwood & Peter Bjerregaard (eds.), Circumpolar Health Atlas (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012)

By Tero Mustonen, C. Raudvere & J.P. Schjödt (eds.), More Than Mythology – Narratives, Ritual Practices and Regional Distribution in Pre-Christian Scandinavian Religions (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2012)

Translation

Luana Giampiccolo, “Leiðarvísir, an Old Norse itinerarium: a proposal for a new partial translation and some notes about the place-names”

9(1)/2014

Article

Matteo Tarsi, “On Loanwords of Latin Origin in Contemporary Icelandic”

Book reviews

By Federica Scarpa: Natalia Loukacheva (ed.), Polar Law Textbook II (Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers, 2013)

By Giorgio Baruchello: Þorlákur Axel Jónsson, Dagur Austan. Ævintýramaðurinn Vernharður Eggertsson (Akureyri: Völuspá, 2009)

Interviews, memoirs and other contributions

Birgir Guðmundsson & Markus Meckl, “Regaining Iceland for the Catholic Church in the mid-19th Century”

9(2)/2014

Conference proceeding

Giorgio Baruchello, “The Picture—Small and Big: Iceland and the Crises”

10(1)/2015

Conference proceeding

Thomas Hören, “IMMI and Whistleblowing in Iceland – the new regulatory framework”

Book reviews

By Giorgio Baruchello: Sven-Olof Olsson (ed.), Managing Crises and De-globalization. Nordic foreign trade and exchange 1919-39 (New York: Routledge, 2014 pbk.)

By Giorgio Baruchello: Gaetano Roberto Buccola, Forme del centro. Percorsi analitici dal “Viaggio al centro della Terra” al nucleo dell’uomo (Palermo: Nuova Ipsa, 2013)

By Rachael Lorna Johnstone: Kári á Rógvi, West-Nordic Constitutional Judicial Review: A Comparative Study of Scandinavian Judicial Review and Judicial Reasoning (Copenhagen: Djøf Publishing, 2013)

Interviews, memoirs and other contributions

Roberto Buccola, “The Unconscious and the Island: Fragments of Research on the Self”

10(2)/2015

Conference proceeding

Giorgio Baruchello, “Enemies of Interculturalism: The Economic Crisis in Light of Xenophobia, Liberal Cruelties and Human Rights“

 

Foreign contributions about Iceland: Recurring themes

What sort of recurring themes can be found in this collection of diverse scholarly and scientific texts? I have identified four.

  1. Iceland as “the land of the Vikings”

This is the title given by the aviator Italo Balbo (2006) to the chapter on Iceland in his 1933 memoirs, who also recalls how the Vikings discovered America before Columbus himself. Spanish-Portuguese philosopher Casado da Rocha (2006) mentions too the Vikings’ “stories of warriors and wise men, poets and politicians of the golden age of settlement and commonwealth.” The marauding hordes, their adventures and their legacy are very much a focus-point for many commentators. They are a reason for distinctiveness, if not distinction. For instance, law professor Milazzo’s (2006) account of his teaching experience emphasises how Iceland is not as much part of the legal tradition based on Roman Law as most other European countries. Legal scholar Johnstone too, in her 2011 review essay on comparative law, mentions the enduring island-centric character of mainstream legal education in Iceland. This is not to say that classical culture did not reach or influence Iceland’s cultural development. Quite the opposite, Actite’s 2009 text offers a concise account of the deep, extensive and sometimes surprising impact of the Latin tradition on this island: “For instance, the Latin phrase Rustycus es, Corydon gave origin to the Icelandic words rusti [farmer] and dóni [rude people]”. Tarsi (2014) offers an even longer account. Even some elements of the later Catholic Christianitas endure, as noticed by Cardinal Mejía (2012) and Tani (2013). Still, the land of the Vikings is distinct and original, which is shown by the interest of foreign scholars, and Italian ones in particular, in the history, development and influence of Old Norse or ancient Icelandic, and its literary accomplishments in the Edda and the Sagas, e.g. Ferioli (2010), Miglio (2010), Costanzo (2010), Lorinczi (2010), Tani (2006), Barden (2011), Mustonen (2013), Giampiccolo (2013),

  1. Iceland as a Nordic State

Former Italian governmental ministers Damiano and Treu, together with the historian Borioni (2008), lump Iceland together with the other Scandinavian countries, as though Iceland had as strong a social-democratic tradition as Sweden, Denmark or Norway. However, Iceland does not have it. It was never a welfare State, in the sense and to the extent these other countries have historically exemplified. The right-wing Independence Party has marked its history much more than the various incarnations of democratic socialism in Iceland (cf. also Meckl’s 2012 article on Iceland’s Cold-War history and Baruchello’s 2014 book review), as also reflected by the largely unnoticed repression of Falun Gong demonstrators in Iceland in 2002 (cf. Tiantian Zhang, 2012 & 2013). Difference does not mean intransigence, however. Thus, Hören (2015) and Johnstone (2013a) reveal significant changes in a more Nordic direction led by the historically weaker left-wing forces of the country, in freedom of the press and in human rights provisions respectively. Perhaps, the most obvious manifestation of the “un-Nordicness” of Iceland was the neoliberal boom-and-bust hot-money cycle that led to the notorious kreppa of 2008, about which a number of contributions have been published, i.e. Baruchello (2010), Paganelli (2010), Johnstone (2013), Lucey, Larkin & Gurdgiev (2013), Johnstone (2013a & b), Baruchello (2014 & 2015b). Penco (2013) adds another layer of “un-Nordicness” by noticing how Iceland’s philosophical tradition owes more to Anglophone and Dutch academic traditions and establishments than to Scandinavian ones. Still, there exist clear connections with Scandinavian political experience, notably the Danish roots of Iceland’s constitution (cf. Quartino, 2011). In fact, in addition to its linguistic-literary roots and heritage, the legal tradition of Iceland seems to be, at large, the most Nordic feature of Iceland’s culture, at least according to Kári á Rógvi (2015). Baruchello (2015) adds another line of continuity, i.e. the cartelisation of strategic industries during the 1930s.

  1. Iceland as an Arctic State

Less controversial is this third commonplace notion. Iceland is located in the North Atlantic, after all, which is cold, dangerous to navigate upon, remote. This is the tone of the account by Savi-Lopez (2006), who pioneered the study and dissemination of Icelandic literature in Italy in the first half of the 20th century. As to later accounts, it would appear that being located in the North Atlantic is strategic. It is so for NATO (cf. Zhilina, 2013), for the EU (cf. Di Stefano, 2011), but above all for the Arctic nations and the governance of the region, as emphasised by Loukacheva (2011), Johnstone (2013c) and Scarpa (2014). Indeed, Meckl’s 2014 studies on the Catholic Arctic mission of the 19th century show the Catholic Church being the first international institution to conceive of the Arctic as a geographically, politically and culturally strategic region of the World. The number of submissions and publications pertaining to this third notion have been growingly steadily over the years, reflecting Iceland’s own growing institutional and intellectual self-characterisation as an Arctic State, not least as manifested by the developments within the University of Akureyri, which is part of the University of the Arctic consortium and hosts a most successful Master’s programme in Polar Law.

  1. Iceland as a dimension of the spirit

Iceland’s unique landscape, the result of equally unique and rather extreme geographic, geological and climatic conditions, lead to awe and deep existential reflection. Scientific observations are the beginning of more profound considerations about the relationship between humanity and the natural environment, the struggle for survival that we have fought throughout our journey on this planet, and the most disturbing question of all: why do we keep fighting? More or less explicitly, this is the tone of the contributions by literary scholar Finocchietti (2008) as well as geographers Zarrilli (2008) and Campanini (2008 & 2010). The same applies to those of Jungian psychologist Buccola (2015a & b). Numerically, we are not talking of a large number of contributions. However, and here the qualitative character of the present account comes to the forefront, the number of authors that have been interested in Iceland because of its mystique is conspicuous. Methodologically unlikely to reflect upon and disclose the motives for their own research, scholars and scientists have often discussed them with me qua editor and a southern European expatriate in the far north. The fascination with Iceland’s lunar vistas and its seemingly prohibitive inhospitality, combined with the sense of authenticity that such conditions inspire, are a frequent reason for Mediterranean minds to develop an interest in Nordic matters, even if these may have little to do with the island’s vistas, inhospitality or authenticity.

Concluding remarks

The literature by foreign experts published over the years in Nordicum-Mediterraneum pertains to many different disciplines. Prominent are literary, linguistic and legal studies. These disciplinary areas of emphasis are the result of many factors, not least the network of scholars and researchers who have found the journal a suitable venue for their work and that of experts willing to review the books that we receive from publishers. It is difficult, if not impossible, to gauge with certainty how representative they are of the stereotypes of, and commonplace conceptions about, Iceland. Nonetheless, I believe that they do offer considerable food for thought, which is an adequate and relevant aim for the present contribution.

Little Fish, Big Pond: Icelandic Interests and Influence in Arctic Governance

Introduction

On pretty much any measure of international comparison, Iceland is a little fish. Nevertheless, its geographical location next to the Big Pond that is the Arctic Ocean has put in a position of influence in a region of growing international importance.

In this paper, I will explore Iceland’s influence in the Arctic region based on international relations considerations such as its political alliances; and based on international law: Iceland’s rights and responsibilities.

The paper presents the Arctic Council and Iceland’s role within it before turning to issues that are governed outside of the Arctic Council system, in particular, Arctic fisheries and maritime boundaries. The paper explains Iceland’s approach to Arctic cooperation in light of its published policy documents and explore the tools available to Iceland to defend its interests.

Iceland as a ‘Small State’

Small States seek shelter: usually on a regional basis.[1] They make alliances to advance their objectives and protect themselves from the lions. On hard security issues, Iceland finds this in the folds of NATO. The Arctic Council does not address hard security issues at all – and despite some heated press coverage, Russia is not posing a military threat in the Arctic, to Iceland or anyone else. But Iceland also needs economic and environmental security which it has fostered through Nordic cooperation, EFTA, the EEA and, of increasing importance, the Arctic Council.

International relations provides a number of objective criteria on which to measure a State as ‘small’: population, territory, GDP and military.[2] States may be small by one measure but not by another – for example, having a very large territory but a tiny military; or having a small population but a high GDP.

In a global context, Iceland is very small. Its surface area amounts to less than 0.07% of the Earth’s land; its population less than 0.005% of the World’s; its GDP is under 0.02%. And Iceland has no military as such.

But States are also big or small in a given geopolitical context: the Kingdom of Denmark is a small State in global affairs but not in the Nordic Council. Being ‘small’ or even ‘very small’ is a relative matter rather than an absolute. Therefore although Iceland is a very small State at the international level, within the Arctic Council system, it exerts an influence that belies its small territory, population and economy.

Iceland’s Relative Size in the Arctic Council

‘The Arctic’ has a number of different definitions for different purposes, even within the Arctic Council system itself. For example, the area covered by the sustainable development working group is based on human interests; the protection of the marine environment working group is only concerned with the seas; conservation of arctic flora and fauna is determined by ecosystems. In all cases, Iceland is included in its entirety even if almost all of it sits below the Arctic Circle. By contrast, for the purposes of the Polar Code, agreed through the global International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Iceland is entirely to the South of the protected area: this is based on considerations of the marine conditions – temperature and ice-cover especially.

The Arctic Council consists of the eight States with territory that stretches above the Arctic Circle: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States of America. In addition, there are six permanent participants: these are organisations of indigenous peoples from around the Arctic. Each is transnational in character. Five permanent participants represent peoples that inhabit more than one State: the Aleut International Association, the Arctic Athabaskan Council, Gwich’in Council International, Inuit Circumpolar Council and Saami Council.  The sixth is the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North and represents over 40 small-numbered indigenous peoples in Northern Russia.

When thinking about small State theory, how ‘small’ is Iceland in the Arctic Council?

Iceland is still very small when territory is considered: it is dwarfed by the Russian and Canadian Arctics. However, when looking at population, Iceland is not far from the average with a population of approximately 330,000 (see Figure 1).

Arctic populations
Figure 1: Arctic populations

However, these figures are based on assuming that the whole of Iceland is ‘Arctic’. This is indeed the position of the Icelandic government and important to securing its legitimate participation in Arctic governance. Foreign Minister Össur Skaphérðinsson stated in his introduction to the Icelandic Arctic Policy statement in 2009 that: “Iceland is the only state that is wholly within the Arctic area, as it is generally understand international affairs or at the Arctic Council.”[3]

The current draft policy, Iceland’s Interests in the Arctic, goes even further and suggests that Iceland is somehow more Arctic than its neighbours – in which the vast majority of the population and the territory (but for the Kingdom of Denmark) lies well south of the 66th parallel.

 

Iceland is unique when we compare it to other nations that are geographically part of the Arctic. Most other countries, aside from Greenland, are predominantly South of the Arctic according to these definitions and their populations live mostly outside of the Arctic.[4]

If we then stop to consider the observers at the Arctic Council, the Iceland once more disappears – over half the World’s population is now represented in some form at the Arctic Council.

Further, it is not just the observer States and intergovernmental fora that make Iceland look little: WWF, observer at the Arctic Council, has a membership in excess of 5 million people. These are not just people who happen by birth to be affiliated to a particular State; these are people who care enough about WWF’s priorities, including its Global Arctic campaign, to pay an annual subscription.

The History of the Arctic Council

So how can Iceland exert its influence at the Arctic Council? And why was it in favour of the great expansion of observers in 2013? To understand this, we need to explore the Arctic Council’s origins and the way it functions today.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the only international interest in the Arctic was how long it would take to fire an intercontinental missile across it. A diligent doctoral student in the 1980s (now a very well-known professor of law of the sea) was told by his supervisor that he was wasting his time writing about the Northern Sea Route!

Iceland invited Gorbachev and Reagan to meet for disarmament talks in Reykjavík in 1986 and although no agreements as such were agreed, it was sufficient – no pun intended – to break the ice.

It was Gorbachev who then came along with the olive branch: the speech at Murmansk in 1987 in which he identified six areas that he saw as ripe for cooperation:

  • A nuclear weapons-free zone in Northern Europe;
  • Reductions and restrictions on naval activity in Northern Europe;
  • Cooperative development of hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic;
  • Scientific cooperation;
  • “Cooperation of the northern countries in environmental protection”; and developing “jointly an integrated comprehensive plan for protecting the natural environment of the North”; and
  • Opening of the Northern Sea Route to international vessels.[5]

Finland seized on this overture and initiated the Rovaniemi Process which in turn led to the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) in 1991.[6] Pointedly, this initiative was established at a meeting of 8 ministers for the environment, not foreign ministers. The four original working groups, later joined by Sustainable Development and, under the Arctic Council, Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP), are all environmentally oriented.

The transition to the Arctic Council in 1996 was effected through the Ottawa Declaration.[7] This change indicated a much broader range of interests: this was no longer solely a forum for managing shared environmental threats and clean-up activities – it was now, in theory at least, able to address any shared concerns with the explicit exception of military security. According to the Ottawa Declaration, the Arctic Council is established to “provide a means for promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, with the involvement of Arctic indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.”[8]

But in 1996, the Arctic Council was still a fairly marginal institution and outside concern with the Arctic did not extend much beyond preservation of polar bears. Even in Iceland, there was little awareness of the Arctic as a geopolitical region as such or Iceland’s place within it. Iceland looked South to Europe and West to North American for trade but it did not really look North.

Between 1996 and 2000, the number of permanent participants rose from two to six and in the early 2000s, there was a slow but gradual increase in the number of observers. Iceland took the rotating chairmanship from 2002-2004; this also happened to be the time when international interest in the Arctic took off. By around 2005, the Arctic was gathering more and more attention in international relations, international law, development, economics and environmental scholarship and activism. The battle lines were being drawn between those that wanted it closed off as an international natural park; and those that wanted to exploit its apparently abundant resources (forgetting, perhaps, that Russia had been exploiting Arctic resources since at least the times of Stalin).

From about 2010 onwards, five rising Asian States, Italy and the European Union were seeking a formal place at the Arctic table: observership at the Arctic Council. This was awarded for the six States in 2013 and effectively for the EU at the same time but followed three years of intense lobbying efforts and heated discussions.[9]

 

The Operation of the Arctic Council and Iceland’s Influence within it

How can Iceland, then, maintain its influence in the shadow of these giants? To understand this, we need to examine how the Arctic Council operates.

The Arctic States are the members of the Arctic Council and the associations of indigenous peoples are permanent participants. This is a unique format for an international body. The Arctic States and permanent participants sit together at Arctic Circle meetings and have equal rights to contribute to the agenda and debate.[10] Decisions are made by consensus between the member States and in practice, usually the consensus of the permanent participants as well.[11]

The Arctic Council operates at a number of levels (see Figure 2). At the top is the biennial ministerial meeting, the location of which coincides with the chairmanship (which changes every two years on a rotating basis). The Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs) are the member States’ ambassadors who meet alongside the permanent participants and observers twice yearly. A number of subsidiary bodies exist, principally the six working groups which are essentially scientific bodies that can present findings to the SAOs and ministerial meeting but whose policy recommendations must be endorsed by the Arctic States. The working groups are standing bodies but there are also time–limited Task Forces which address specific issues and now the Expert Group on Black Carbon.

The Arctic Council
Figure 2: The Arctic Council

Observers at the Arctic Council[12] have much less influence than the members or permanent participants; in short, their role is to ‘observe’ and not to talk. To become and remain an observer, an entity must: bow to Arctic States’ sovereignty; recognize and commit to uphold international law, in particular, the law of the sea in the Arctic; respect the rights of indigenous peoples; demonstrate commitment, including financial commitment, to the work of the permanent participants; and show its capacity to contribute to Arctic interests, including scientific research.[13]

Observers’ have limited rights at Arctic Council meetings and are expected to contribute principally through the working groups.[14] Unlike the member States and the permanent participants, observers may not propose items for the agenda or raise points during Arctic Council meetings (ministerial or SAO meetings) although they are permitted to submit written statements.[15] Even at the subsidiary bodies, the observers are sat apart at the ‘children’s table’, behind the main table and they may speak only after the States and permanent participants have had their say and even then at the discretion of the chair.[16] Observers are also reviewed every four years but can be excluded at any time as their observer status only lasts as long as consensus exists amongst the ministers. In other words, it would require only one member State to exclude an observer.[17] This means that observers cannot exert the influence they have in other international fora within the Arctic Council. To maintain their observerships, they must placate all the Arctic States and most of the permanent participants, most of the time. Iceland might be little but in the Arctic Council it wields a great deal more influence than China.

The Arctic Council punches well above its weight for what is structurally no more than a roundtable for discussion with no law-making powers or compliance mechanisms. Nevertheless, there are two very significant limitations on what it can do. The first is financial: it has no regular funding and seeks contributions on an issue-by-issue basis.[18] This requires States – including observer States – being willing to front cash. Secondly, the consensus model means that it requires only one State to object to anything to take it off the table – whether that be the wording in a recommendation or the initiation of a project in the first place. Iceland can veto anything.

The Arctic Council has also successfully insulated itself from international tensions and disputes that have dampened East-West relations over the past few years such as the crises in the Crimea and Syria. While Iceland ties itself in knots internally over the Russian sanction regime, this is entirely curtained off at the Arctic Council meetings. When tensions have occasionally arisen between Canada and Russia, Iceland can sit back and enjoy the show; it is not forced to take a position. Also, Iceland, having no indigenous peoples of its own, can play the honest broker and be a neutral mediator between the permanent participants and States.

Alliances in the Arctic Council are fluid; there is no obvious ‘Nordic block’ as often occurs at the United Nations and Iceland will defend its own interests on an issue by issue basis. The consensus approach – or the ‘veto’ approach if you prefer – means that fixed alliances are not necessary; no State can be forced into a position that it finds unacceptable.

Beyond the Arctic Council

From Iceland’s perspective, as a very small State, the Arctic Council is a very attractive forum in which to advance its interests. Its official policy, to prioritise the Arctic Council as the key forum, mirrors that of Sweden and Finland, because it is here that the States have the most meaningful influence.[19] A very small State has limited bargaining power in bilateral negotiations with much larger countries; but it also has minimal influence in global fora in which it is outweighed – and outspent – by major powers. Even worse is a forum in which Iceland is not represented at all.

The same consensus-based system that allows Iceland to protect its interests in the Arctic Council allows the other seven States to do the same – and allows them each to keep certain things of the agenda to be dealt with elsewhere. The so-called ‘Arctic Five’ have squeezed out Iceland over two issues: Arctic High Seas fisheries; and the delimitation of the outer continental shelf.

The Arctic Five

Iceland has a small Arctic coastline but it is does not itself border the Arctic Ocean per se. Its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is met by the Norwegian and Greenlandic EEZ’s in the North. Therefore although Iceland is an ‘Arctic Coastal State’ is it is not an ‘Arctic Ocean littoral State’ – i.e. it does not have a coastline or EEZ that borders the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Five – Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the USA – meet occasionally outside of the Arctic Council framework, pushing to one side not only the other three Nordic State partners but the permanent participants as well. The basic justification for this is that the Arctic Ocean is a ‘semi-enclosed sea’ – a debatable claim geographically but one that gives those five States a special responsibility under the Convention on the Law of the Sea to manage the area.[20]

This group met in Oslo in 2007, Ilulissat, Greenland in 2008 and Chelsea, Québec in 2010 to discuss the legal framework for the Arctic Ocean. The Ilulissat meeting culminated in a declaration which was a broad reaffirmation of State sovereignty in the Arctic, an endorsement of the law of the sea as the governing framework for the Arctic Ocean and a message to non-Arctic States that a treaty based on the Antarctic model of environmental protection and internationalization would not be accepted in the North.[21]

Iceland registered its objections and emphasized the importance of the Arctic Council as the principal forum; but the Arctic Council cannot have a monopoly on any topic and nothing can prevent States from meeting and negotiating outside of the Arctic Council system.

The Outer Continental Shelf in the Arctic

The sexy issue in the Arctic today is the grand carve-up of the outer continental shelf. Iceland does not have a stake in this game because it does not have an Arctic coastline. In any case, while it might resemble a colonial land-grab with dramatic flag-planting and grand declarations of sovereignty, the system to resolve and allocate rights over the ocean floor is long settled.[22] It is admittedly slow and laborious but in short: Canada, Russia and Denmark or Greenland will sooner or later sit down and resolve their overlapping map submissions through bilateral negotiations. There is no hurry to do this as all the resources of any near-term commercial interest are far from the contested zones.

In respect of Iceland’s continental shelf, the Dragon Area to the North by Jan Mayen is long settled as a joint development zone with Norway. Iceland has three potential areas of outer continental shelf that are being mapped and of these, the Rockall area to the South is contested as four States (the Kingdom of Denmark (Faroe Islands), Iceland, Ireland and the United Kingdom) jostle for exclusive rights; but this is not an Arctic issue (see Figure 3).[23]

Iceland's maritime zones - The thick black line circling Iceland indicates the boundary of Iceland’s EEZ. The red line to the South indicate Iceland’s maximum potential outer continental shelf around Rockall; the purple, green and yellow lines indicate the submissions of the Kingdom of Denmark (Faroe Islands), the United Kingdom and Ireland respectively.
Figure 3: Iceland’s maritime zones – The thick black line circling Iceland indicates the boundary of Iceland’s EEZ. The red line to the South indicate Iceland’s maximum potential outer continental shelf around Rockall; the purple, green and yellow lines indicate the submissions of the Kingdom of Denmark (Faroe Islands), the United Kingdom and Ireland respectively.

Arctic Fisheries

Fisheries are more interesting but not an immediate concern. Iceland has exclusive rights over fish stocks within its EEZ but it has to manage shared and straggling stocks and highly migratory species in cooperation with neighbouring States (see Figure 3).[24] For the most part, this goes reasonably well though there is an ongoing sore point over the mackerel which has been gradually shifting Northward and Westward and competing with the cod stocks.

There are very good reasons to keep this out of the Arctic Council framework. The European Union is a key player in this dispute and the last thing any of the Arctic States want to do is give the European Union equal standing at the Arctic Council.

More speculative is the future governance of fisheries in the Arctic High Seas (see Figure 4). [25]

The EEZs and High Seas in the Arctic Ocean
The EEZs and High Seas in the Arctic Ocean

Currently, there are no fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean (the High Seas marked dark blue in Figure 4) as it is too far, and mostly ice-covered, to offer commercially exciting fisheries. Existing fisheries are all safely within the 200 nautical mile EEZ of the coasts. They are managed by the Coastal States and various regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs). The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) NEAFC covers a small corner of the High Seas, but otherwise, the Central Arctic Ocean is an international commons.

The Arctic Five have taken the lead – again under protest from Iceland. High Seas are beyond the jurisdiction of any State and under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Fish Stocks Agreement, to prevent a ‘free-for-all’ and a tragedy of the commons, States with a ‘real interest’ should work together.[26] The difficulty in the Central Arctic Ocean is that there are currently no fisheries and hence it is very difficult to determine who has a ‘real interest’ in the legal sense.

Where the High Seas are concerned, Iceland’s position is that it has just as much interest in the area as the five littoral States; the Arctic Five disagree and began negotiations amongst themselves. This concluded with a moratorium in July 2015 – a temporary ban on Arctic High Seas fishing until such time as scientific studies had evaluated the available stocks and their resiliency.[27]

A moratorium agreed with the Arctic Five cannot bind other States which is why they invited five other entities to a discussion in Washington DC in December 2015 about future governance of living marine resources in the Central Arctic Ocean. The five littoral States attended, alongside five invited participants: The European Union, China, Japan, South Korea and Iceland: the ‘A5+5’.

Russia had expressed scepticism as to the need to include any other States at this point but nonetheless attended the December talks.[28] This indicates the Arctic Five’s recognition that these are all entities with a ‘real interest’ as they are those most likely to have the potential for fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean. It is also indicative of a view amongst the Arctic Five that no other State or entity has a ‘real interest’ – at least at this time.

Being left on the second tier alongside distant Asian States might be humbling for Iceland but an ‘Arctic Six’ is simply not going to happen. Iceland does have legal interests in the Central Arctic Ocean: but in law, these are no different to those of the EU or China. This is not an urgent matter as there is no immediate economic potential but Iceland nonetheless can be expected to protest any exclusion and to defend the role of the Arctic Council to prevent precedents being set for Arctic governance without its involvement.

 

Arctic Shipping

The last hot topic in the Arctic that is outside of the Arctic Council system is shipping. Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of law of the sea that applies right up to States’ baselines. It is a global right that is managed at global fora, in particular, the International Maritime Organization that developed the Polar Code. Iceland has no special legal or commercial interests in the Arctic shipping. .[29] Iceland’s EEZ has no ice-covered waters so it has no extended authority to protect its marine environment beyond that which applies generally under the Convention on the Law of the Sea.[30] But that will not prevent it examining commercial opportunities should commercial shipping develop.

Iceland’s Arctic Policy

The priorities I have identified are reflected in the development of Iceland’s Arctic policies. Increasing governmental attention to the Arctic can be traced at least to the Icelandic chairmanship of the Arctic Council but this section will look only at the official policy formulations from 2009 onwards.

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Össur Skarphéðinsson set the ball rolling in 2009 with the report, Iceland in the Arctic.[31] He followed this up by making the Arctic a key theme of his 2010 report to the Alþingi and then sent them a draft to develop into a formal policy (stefna) which the Parliament then took up and agreed with few changes in 2011.[32]

In May 2015, the new government issued a draft for consultation: Iceland’s Interests in the Arctic: Opportunities and Risks, though this has yet to be finalized and the projected date has been repeatedly put back.[33] The current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, put the Arctic once more at centre stage in his 2016 annual report to Parliament.[34]

In all of these, we see an emphasis on multilateral approaches, the importance of the Arctic Council and the assertion of Iceland as an ‘Arctic coastal State’ that is a challenge to the legitimacy of the Arctic Five.

In Skarphéðinsson’s extensive first report, Iceland in the Arctic, international cooperation is the first priority with particular attention on the Arctic Council. However, the Barents-Euro Arctic Council and the West-Nordic region are also mentioned as important fora. In his 2010 report to Parliament on international affairs, the first region to be addressed is the High North and of the ten Arctic priorities, the first is:

to secure Iceland’s position as a coastal state and a key stakeholder in shaping the future development of the High North. Iceland should be considered a full-fledged coastal state on a par with such countries as the USA, Denmark (for Greenland), Canada, Norway and Russia.[35]

 

This repeats an earlier rebuke to the Arctic Five for their exclusion of Iceland but it is also noteworthy that for all Iceland’s talk of the importance of the Arctic Council, it is not unduly concerned about the exclusion of Finland, Sweden or the indigenous representatives from the Arctic Five talks.[36]

Defence of the Arctic Council comes later (Arctic priority 4) but all the priorities point to Iceland’s need for multilateral Arctic governance and the importance of securing of Iceland’s role within it.[37]

Until such time as the current government agrees a new policy, the official Icelandic Arctic policy remains the 2011 Parliamentary Resolution.[38] It largely follows Össur’s 2010 report though one interesting change is that the Alþingi changed the order, placing the Arctic Council first. However, it also highlights Iceland’s special status as a ‘Coastal State within the Arctic Region’ in priority two.[39]

One surprising aspect of the draft of the latest Arctic policy is that it follows much of the previous approaches but makes very little direct reference, perhaps reflecting a desire of the governing coalition parties to present the Arctic as their project.[40] It was these two coalition parties who held the reins when the Arctic first hit the radar of Icelandic politics and who actively pursued increased cooperation and investment in Arctic relations and research. The draft highlights once more Iceland’s Arctic credentials, now suggesting that Iceland is somehow more Arctic than the other States (in which most of the land and population are far South of the Arctic).[41]

International cooperation is still the top priority, especially through Arctic Council.[42] However, other fora are mentioned and special relations with Greenland and the Faroe Islands are promoted.[43]

The opportunities (tækifæri) identified are very much business-focused: new fisheries, hydrocarbons and shipping; climate change is not presented as wholly negative.[44] This is reminiscent of Berit Kristoffersen’s concept of ‘opportunistic adaptation.’[45]

Indigenous peoples are overlooked in the report almost entirely; mentioned only once in the introduction, their rights and interests are ignored throughout, even in areas where proposed Icelandic activities can have serious impacts.

Most recently, in March 2016, the current Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, delivered his annual report to Parliament. The Arctic is once more the first region to be assessed. The 2011 Parliament resolution remains the key policy and there is no mention of development of the new strategy document (i.e. Iceland’s Interests in the Arctic).[46]

Sveinsson seeks an increase in Iceland’s contributions to the Arctic Council’s activities, especially at the level of working groups, task forces and expert groups and points to the need to begin preparations for the Icelandic chairmanship that begins in 2019.[47] The Arctic Council’s operations are explained in a fair degree of detail to Parliament (given the habitual nature of such reports) some detail (given the nature of such reports) in the following pages.[48]

West-Nordic cooperation is also given special attention, indicating an interest in promoting further cooperation with the Faroe Islands and Greenland.[49]  This is a region or sub-region that is not given a great deal of attention in international relations but has the potential to grow in importance. In this context, Iceland is the ‘big State’ and the only one of the three countries to have decolonised from the Kingdom of Denmark (so far). However, the West Nordic Council is significantly limited in its activities in the absence of considerable investment: not easy to come by in three very small and cash-strapped countries.

The Arctic High Seas fisheries issue is not addressed directly in the report and no reference is made to the A5+5 December 2015 meeting in Washington DC. (This may have been a matter of the timing of the drafting of the report or it may indicate that the current foreign ministry no longer wishes to continue to fight this battle.) Nevertheless, within the section on Arctic cooperation, Sveinsson obliquely refers to the dependence on marine resources of the Icelandic economy and the importance for Iceland of ‘actively participating in international cooperation concerning ocean affairs’.[50]

Making Sense of Iceland’s Priorities

The official Icelandic approach does not diverge widely from what might be expected from a very small fish beside a very big ocean. Multilateral cooperation is key and the Arctic Council is the preferred forum as it secures Iceland’s influence. Nevertheless, although Iceland objects to the Arctic Five, it would quite happily accept an Arctic Six – as long as it is in it.  Iceland objects to its own exclusion and does not necessarily take a particularly principled stand in defence of broader multilateral cooperation.

However, Iceland has been open to the expansion of observers at the Arctic Council; some of these courted Iceland generously during the application period. Iceland needs its international partners beyond Arctic States but if Iceland can channel them through the Arctic Council, it prevents them from overpowering it.

Iceland continues to assert its interest and demand involvement in fisheries management. Iceland must be practical here and take part in the A5+5 – even if it would prefer an A6+4. The shelf is not so pressing and will be resolved in time. Iceland sees some commercial opportunities in shipping –but this is a very long game and will be managed through the IMO.

The current government’s approach to the Arctic is rather more commercially oriented that its predecessor as it looks to climate change as an opportunity (as well as a risk factor) and seeks to profit from the resources that the receding ice ostensibly presents. Nevertheless, those resources remain very expensive to access and develop irrespective of the state of the ice.

[1] See, eg, Alyson Bailes, Baldur Þórhallsson, and Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “Scotland as an Independent Small State: Where Would It Seek Shelter?,” Stjórnmál og Stjórnsýsla 9, no. 1 (2013).

[2] Ibid, 3.

[3] Össur Skarphéðinsson, Ísland á norðurslóðum, Inngangur, 2009 (translation by present author).

[4] Ministerial Committee on Arctic Affairs, Hagsmunir Íslands á norðurslóðum: tækifæri og viðsjár (draft), March 2015.

[5] Mikhail Gorbachev, Speech at Murmansk, 1st Oct.1987, available at <https://www.google.is/search?q=murmansk+speech&rlz=1C1LENP_enIS499IS499&oq=murmansk+speech&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.1838j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[6] Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS), Declaration of the Ministerial Meeting in Alta, Norway, 13 June 1997, available at <http://library.arcticportal.org/1271/> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[7] Ottawa Declaration on the Establishment of the Arctic Council, 19 September 1996, available at < http://library.arcticportal.org/1270/> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[8] Ibid, para. 1a.

[9] Arctic Council, Kiruna Declaration, 15 May 2013, 6, available at <https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/93> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[10] Arctic Council, Rules of Procedure, as adopted by the Arctic Council at the First Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting, Iqaluit, Canada, revised by the Arctic Council at the Eighth Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting, Kiruna, Sweden, available at <https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/940> para 19 (accessed 4 April 2016).

[11] Douglas C Nord, The Arctic Council: Governance within the Far North (Routledge 2016) 38 & 70.

[12] United States of America, Department of State, ‘Arctic Council Structure’ <http://www.state.gov/e/oes/ocns/opa/arc/ac/structure/> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[13] Rules of Procedure, supra note 10, Annex 2.

[14] Ibid, Rule 38

[15] Ibid, Rules 12, 19 & 38.

[16] Arctic Council, Observer Manual for Subsidiary Bodies, as adopted by the Arctic Council at the Eighth Ministerial Meeting, Kiruna, Sweden, revised by the Arctic Council Meeting of the SAOs at Anchorage, Alaska, United States of America, October 2015, available at <https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/939> para 7.3 (accessed 4 April 2016).

[17] Rules of Procedure, supra note 10, Rule 37 and Annex 2, Rule 5.

[18] See, e.g., Nord, supra note 11, 35 & 72-74.

[19] Parliament of Iceland, Þingsályktun um stefnu Íslands í málefnum norðurslóða (2011) 139th legislative session, 28 March 2011.

[20] United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, 10 December 1982, 1833 UNTS 397 (UNCLOS), Part IX.

[21] Ilulissat Declaration, Foreign Ministers of Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States of America, The Ilulissat Declaration, 29 May 2008, available at <http://www.arcticgovernance.org/the-ilulissat-declaration.4872424.html> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[22] UNCLOS, supra note 20, Part VI and Annex II.

[23] Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘Viðræðum fram haldið um Hatton Rockall-málið’ 24 November 2004, available at <https://www.utanrikisraduneyti.is/frettir/nr/2472> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[24] UNCLOS, supra note 20, Part V.

[25] Ron Macnab, Olav Loken and Arvind Anand, ‘The Law of the Sea and Marine Scientific Research in the Arctic Ocean’ Meridian Newsletter (2007-2008) 3, Figure 2 <http://www.polarcom.gc.ca/uploads/Publications/Meridian%20Newsletter/MeridianFall2007.pdf> (accessed 6 April 2016).

[26] UNCLOS, supra note 20, Part V; United Nations Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, 4 August 1995, 2167 UNTS 88, article 8(3).

[27] United States Library of Congress, Global Legal Monitor, ‘Canada; Denmark; Norway; Russia; United States: Fishing Declaration Covering Central Arctic’ 21 July 2015, available at <http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/canada-denmark-norway-russia-united-states-fishing-declaration-covering-central-arctic/> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[28] United States Department of State, ‘Meeting on High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean: Chairman’s Statement’ 3 December 2015, available at <http://www.state.gov/e/oes/rls/pr/250352.htm> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[29] IMO, ‘Shipping in Polar Waters’ available at < http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/polar/Pages/default.aspx> (accessed 4 April 2016).

[30] UNCLOS, supra note 20, article 234.

[31] Skarphéðinsson, supra note 3.

[32] Skýrsla Össurar Skarphéðinssonar utanríkisráðherra um utanríkis- og alþjóðamál, May 2010; Parliament of Iceland, supra note 19.

[33] Ministerial Committee on Arctic Affairs 2015, supra note 4.

[34] Skýrsla Gunnars Braga Sveinssonar utanríkisráðherra um utanríkis- og alþjóðamál, May 2016.

[35] Skarphépinsson 2010, supra note 32, 15-16.

[36] Ibid, 12

[37] Ibid, 16.

[38] Parliament of Iceland, supra note 19.

[39] Ibid, 1.

[40] Ministerial Committee on Arctic Affairs, supra note 4.

[41] See quotation above, supra note 4.

[42] Ministerial Committee on Arctic Affairs, supra note 4, 6-8.

[43] Ibid, 8.

[44] Ibid, Chapters 2 & 3.

[45] Berit Kristoffersen, ‘Opportunistic Adaptation: New Discourses on Oil, Equity, and Environmental Security’ in The Adaptive Challenge of Climate Change, Karen O’Brien and Elin Selboe (Eds) (Cambridge University Press 2015).

[46] Sveinsson 2016, supra note 34, Chapter 2.

[47] Ibid, 12.

[48] Ibid, 13-14.

[49] Ibid, 14.

[50] Ibid, 12.

The EU’s Open Arms and Small States

Recent events notwithstanding, all things considered, the European Union has proved to be a brilliant success along several dimensions. This is why there are still several countries waiting outside the gates aspiring to membership while only the British are considering exit as if to confirm French President Charles de Gaulle´s initial doubts about British membership. And this is why US President Barack Obama encourages British voters openly to say No to Brexit in the upcoming referendum in June 2016, warning them that Brexit may weaken the “special relationship” between the Britain and the United States.

Peace, prosperity, and open arms

Recent troubles notwithstanding, I see three main reasons why the EU deserves to be regarded as a brilliant success: Peace, prosperity, and open arms.

First, the EU has helped keep the peace in Europe since 1945, the longest continuous period of peace and harmony in Europe since time immemorial except for some skirmishes – some major ones, it is true – in former communist countries in the Balkans. Chancellor Helmut Kohl, one of the chief architects of German reunification as well as of European unification, put the matter well when he declared that Germany wanted to share her sovereignty and her fate with her European neighbors lest her neighbors never again need to fear German belligerency.

Second, the EU has promoted prosperity on the continent by engineering a major economic and social transformation with an unwavering emphasis on human rights. European cities from Helsinki to Lisbon – and, yes, also from Athens to Dublin – have been transformed before our eyes, and the same applies to the European countryside. The EU´s strong emphasis on human rights has involved, among many other things, the abolition of the death penalty throughout the union membership. The Americans have begun to take notice: the number of death sentences and executions in the United States has dropped significantly since the mid-1990s.

Third, with open arms, the EU has welcomed formerly autocratic countries back into the European fold – first, Greece, Portugal, and Spain on the southern fringes of Europe, and then the former communist countries in East and Central Europe – enlarging Europe, making it whole. Thus far, only Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland have opted to stay outside the union. Switzerland is a chapter unto itself, having joined the United Nations as late as 2002. Norway is also a special case in that its voters have twice turned down membership in national referenda against the will of the country’s main political parties and interest organizations, a remarkably inward-looking attitude on the part of Norwegians. I will discuss Iceland toward the end of the article.

To continue with the EU’s open arms, Catalonia is eager to join – or rather, remain in – the EU, as is Scotland, after achieving independence. About a half of the Catalan population wants independence from Spain because many of them feel treated like a minority within Spain without full respect and full rights. The government in Madrid threatens to keep an independent Catalonia outside the EU, a threat that contradicts the EU´s open-arms policy and is, therefore, likely to prove empty. The Scottish situation is different. There, also, about a half of the voters want independence, primarily because they want Scotland to be more like Scandinavia, thus setting England free to become even more like the United States. Scotland joined the United Kingdom in 1707 primarily to gain access to a much larger market. Today, as a member of the EU, Scotland enjoys such access and, therefore, does not any longer need to be part of the UK for reasons of trade even if most of Scotland´s trade is still with England. The threat from Westminster that Scotland will lose its EU membership if it leaves the UK sounds hollow because, again, it is incompatible with the EU´s open-arms policy. The threat from Westminster appears also a bit comical in view of the fact that the Conservative government is just about to hold a referendum that may take the UK out of the EU, a result that would almost surely encourage demands for immediate Scottish independence to enable Scotland to remain in the EU.

In both Catalonia and Scotland, the prospect of continued EU membership holds the key to independence. Without membership, many of those who advocate independence would have doubts as they would fear weakened trade relations as President Obama has warned British voters. As members, however, Catalonia and Scotland, would have continued access to Spanish and British markets through the EU, assuming the UK decides against leaving the EU.

Union of small European states

With time, the character of the EU has changed as it has developed into a union of small European states. If Catalonia achieves independence and joins the EU, it will become the typical EU member in terms of population size. Of the 29 members, there will be 15 countries larger than Catalonia and 13 smaller countries. This shows how unreasonable it is to maintain that Catalonia or Scotland are too small to stand on their own feet as EU members. Denmark and Finland are the size of Scotland and smaller than Catalonia. Denmark has been an EU member since 1972 as well as a de facto subscriber to the euro and Finland has been a member of the EU as well as of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) since 1994. If Denmark and Finland were able to do so well by their EU membership, there can be no reasonable doubt about the ability of Catalonia and Scotland to do likewise.

With more small members on the horizon, there is reason also to believe that the common interests of small countries will weigh more heavily in EU policy making and institutions in the future. Clearly, Europe has its political disagreements separating left from right, north from south, east from west, and so on, as does the US and other countries. Even so, Europe´s advanced social model, harking back to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck who can be said to have introduced the first rudiments of the German welfare state in the 1880s, faces no serious challenge within Europe. This makes Europe quite different from the US where the more limited and less ambitious welfare state legislation launched by Democratic Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson is under attack by its Republican opponents in Congress, a situation that seems unthinkable in Europe.

The strong parallel emphasis on efficiency and fairness is, as I see it, the key to the economic and social advances accomplished thus far by the EU. This helps to explain the continued attractiveness of EU membership to all but the most eccentric and inward-looking countries in Europe. Further, the minority of voters against EU membership within individual countries includes European advocates of the US Republican extremism that now, with the 2016 US presidential election approaching, seems to threaten the cohesion if not the existence of the Republican Party.

Three comparisons

The weaknesses that have emerged in modern America – lack of trust, imploding politics, stagnant wages, and increased inequality – mirror the strengths of the European model. In his seminal book Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam charted the collapse of trust in American society, a gradual process the way Putman describes it.

Let me suggest three related phenomena to highlight some of the current differences between the US and Europe.

  • American workers spend 1,800 hours per year at work compared with 1,400 hours in Denmark and Germany, 1,500 in France, 1,600 in Sweden and Switzerland, and 1,700 in UK (source: The Conference Board. 2015. The Conference Board Total Economy Database). Why? One plausible explanation for these differences is that US workers need to put in long hours to compensate for the lack of social security that Europeans can take for granted (Gylfason, 2007). Unlike Americans, Europeans have seen their economic wellbeing rise through higher incomes as well as less work.
  • In 1960, the average American was 3 cm taller than the average German. Today, the average German is 3 cm taller than the average American as documented in a series of works by John Komlos and his associates (see, e.g., Komlos and Baur (2004) and Komlos and Lauderdale (2007)). Why this reversal? A likely reason seems to be that tens of millions of US citizens have been left behind, in poverty and without adequate social insurance, unable even to attain normal physical stature, thereby dragging down – or, more precisely, slowing down the natural advance of – the average height of the adult population in the US (Gylfason, 2007). If this interpretation is correct, it constitutes a devastating case against inequality of incomes and wealth on economic grounds quite apart from the ethical issues at stake.
  • New research by Nobel-Prize winning Scottish economist Angus Deaton and Anne Case, both at Princeton University, shows that middle-aged non-Hispanic white Americans have faced declining life expectancies since 1999 due to a sharp rise in life-style related diseases and suicides (Case and Deaton, 2015). Declining life expectancies are unheard of in modern times except in Russia after collapse of communism and in Africa due to public health disasters, especially the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The lives thus lost in the US are almost as many as those lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic since 1981 (0.5 million vs. 0.65 million).

Expansion fatigue

There is no denying that the EU presently faces serious difficulties, some of its own doing, some not, including the recent torrent of Syrian refugees into the EU. While the EU cannot be blamed for the influx of refugees, the extent to which the EU bears itself some of the blame for some of its other current problems is debatable. The EU has looked the other way while anti-democratic tendencies have intensified in Hungary and, more recently, also in Poland. The EU could have reacted by, for example, imposing economic sanctions by withdrawing financial support from Hungary but chose not to do so. Likewise, the EU seems not to have done much to try to rein in rampant corruption in Bulgaria and Romania. The economic troubles of Greece can be said to follow in part from the EU´s flawed fiscal and financial architecture, a problem well understood from the inception of the euro but one which the EU has yet to address satisfactorily. This list could be extended. In view of these issues, it is understandable that some older EU members are inclined to think that now is a good time to slow down the geographic expansion of the EU by sharpening the focus on deepening European integration while putting widening on hold for the time being. Even so, EU would benefit from the admission of new members such as deeply democratic Catalonia and Scotland. If they declare independence, the EU will almost surely welcome both of them with open arms. This would lend an even stronger voice to advocates of the EU as a union of small European states eager to advance economic efficiency and social justice side by side.

Back to Greece. Much has been made recently of Greece´s inability to overcome her financial predicament by devaluing her currency. The argument is that macroeconomic adjustment by other means within the confines of the euro is bound to be more costly than devaluation of the drachma would have been. This may well be true as far as it goes. Even so, several euro countries have managed a significant adjustment in recent years, including Ireland, Portugal, and Latvia where, in 2014, unemployment was in the range between 11% and 14% of the labor force compared with 26% in Greece. In 2007, all four countries had unemployment rates between 5% and 8%. The experience of Ireland, Portugal, and Latvia shows that adjustment by other means – fiscal restraint, wage cuts, and more, sometimes referred to as an internal devaluation – with the euro in place is possible even if it can be quite painful. None of these countries seriously considered leaving the euro zone, nor did Greece. Comparisons of the euro with the Gold Standard are misplaced because the European Central Bank can devalue the euro if it wants to; in fact, the ECB did so recently.

Iceland and the EU

Iceland became a founding member of NATO in 1949. The decision to join was not based on detailed benefit-cost analysis. Details did not matter. Rather, the Icelandic parliament decided that NATO is a club where Iceland inextricably belongs. In other words, Iceland´s parliament decided to share Iceland´s fate with that of other members of the alliance, including most of Iceland’s closest friends and allies. No referendum was held. Profiteering from Icelandic NATO membership came later. The defense agreement between Iceland and the US is considered to have generated incomes equivalent to about 2% of GDP per year from the 1950s until 2006 when the US government unilaterally closed the NATO base in Iceland against the will of the Icelandic government.

Similarly, the Icelandic parliament´s decision to apply for EU membership in 2009 was not based on an explicit benefit-cost analysis. The principle is the same as before: those in favor of membership view the EU as a club where Iceland belongs if only because all of our closest allies except Norway are members. Further, in fact, I believe Iceland should join the EU even if it could be demonstrated that the costs of membership outweigh the benefits, but then, of course, it is impossible to assess the monetary value of political benefits.

From the early 1990s until the crash of 2008 opinion polls showed that Icelandic voters were consistently albeit marginally in favor of EU membership whereas political parties, subservient to the oligarchs they had created by granting them virtually free access to Iceland’s valuable fish resources, and interest organizations stood shoulder-to-shoulder against membership. Here the situation was diametrically opposite to that of Norway. Up against the wall after the crash, Iceland filed an application for membership in 2009. The application could be understood as a way of saying to the rest of Europe: Please excuse us for having permitted our banks to separate you from so much of your cash, but from now on we shall abide by the discipline required by EU membership. With the political parties held primarily responsible for pushing Iceland off the cliff in 2008 through their crony privatization of the banks during 1998-2003 back in power in 2013, an attempt was made to withdraw the application in 2012 as if to say: We did not mean to say we are sorry, we were just kidding. This is, however, a controversial interpretation. While many Icelanders apparently sensed a collective guilt about having voted for politicians who through the corrupt privatization of the banks paved the way into the abyss in 2008, others had no such feelings of guilt, blaming the crash on the bankers or the politicians or even on foreign conspirators. Anyhow, the attempt in 2012 to withdraw the EU membership application failed. Specifically, parliament put in the membership application in 2009 whereas the foreign minister, not parliament, attempted to pull out unilaterally in 2012, a pullout considered invalid by the EU because an individual minister cannot undo a formal decision by parliament. Hence, Iceland’s application remains on ice, like the Swiss one from 1992, waiting to be reactivated by a new parliament which will then put the negotiated membership agreement before a national referendum as promised by parliament and as required by the new constitution that was approved by 2/3 of the voters in 2012 and awaits ratification by parliament.

Recent developments in Greece, Ireland, and Spain make Icelandic accession to EU membership a harder case to sell. This helps to explain why public opinion has swung against membership since 2008 even if developments in Baltic and Balkan countries suggest a different conclusion. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined the EU in 2004 and by now all three use the euro. Croatia became the EU´s 28th member in 2013, ten years after filing its membership application. Undeterred by events in Greece, Albania became an official candidate for accession to the EU in 2014. Bosnia and Herzegovina applied for membership in 2016.

Another reason for the change in public sentiment in Iceland is that some Icelandic politicians tried to deflect their own responsibility for Iceland´s home-made crash by absurdly blaming it on foreigners and whipping up immigrant-unfriendly chauvinism in Icelandic politics for the first time in history. In terms of economic damage relative to national economic output as well as in terms of fiscal costs, Iceland´s crash was among the greatest ever recorded (Laeven and Valencia, 2012). For example, the damage inflicted on foreign creditors and shareholders was greater than anywhere else relative to the size of the Icelandic economy.

What would be the main benefits and costs of EU membership? The economic benefits are clear even if European Economic Area membership from 1994 has delivered many of them already. Yet, several significant benefits are still missing.

  • Many Icelanders see the adoption of the euro as a key benefit in view of Iceland poor record of monetary management which has allowed the Icelandic króna to lose 95.95% of its value vis-à-vis the Danish krone since 1939. Quite apart from the general philosophy behind the EMU, small countries can benefit from outsourcing the least successful parts of their national policy-making just as they should resist outsourcing their most successful procedures.
  • The Common Agricultural Policy is far less expensive for Europe´s consumers and tax payers than is domestic farm protection in Iceland as has always been the case. Thus, while producer support in the EU decreased from 39% of gross farm receipts in 1986 to 18% in 2014, it decreased from 76% to 48% in Iceland during the same period (OECD, 2015).
  • In view of Iceland´s checkered history of oligopolies and lack of competition in a number of areas, including agriculture, banking, fisheries, and trade, the EU´s Competition Policy and associated monitoring and surveillance could offer significant benefits to Iceland.
  • The Common Fisheries Policy constitutes a problem for Iceland, however, that needs to be solved. Iceland needs to understand and respect that the EU was built on the fundamental premise of the original European Coal and Steel Community stipulating joint management of Europe’s natural resources. At the same time, the EU needs to understand Iceland´s significant dependence on her fisheries – a dependence that concerns the national economy of Iceland as a whole and not just local fishing communities as in the rest of Europe. The EU´s toleration of inefficient fisheries policies, tacitly justified by viewing fisheries as a fairly unimportant regional concern, cannot be accepted in Iceland where fishing remains a macroeconomic concern. Even so, Iceland needs a major overhaul of its fisheries management regime which the Supreme Court of Iceland ruled discriminatory and hence unconstitutional in 1998, a verdict confirmed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2007 (Gylfason, 2009a). In the national referendum on a new post-crash constitution for Iceland, 83% of the voters declared support for a provision stipulating national ownership of natural resources, including full charge for the right to fish in Icelandic waters in keeping with the user-pays principle of environmental policy now openly advocated by the World Bank and the IMF as the best way to deal with climate change (Lagarde and Yong Kim, 2015). Whereas Norwegian tax payers have been able to claim about 80% of Norway´s oil rent from the outset, 90% of the fisheries rent in Iceland still accrues to the vessel owners, Iceland’s answer to Russia´s oligarchs (Thorláksson, 2015).

 

Conclusion

Small can be beautiful. On average, small countries tend to have higher per capita incomes than large ones because various benefits of small size, including cohesion and homogeneity, seem to outweigh the diseconomies of small scope and scale and small pools of talent (Alesina and Spolaore, 2003; Gylfason, 2009b). The EU can expect to benefit from welcoming more small states as members. National boundaries matter less and less when cross-border trade is free. This is why the independence aspirations of Catalonia, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, and others need not be viewed with alarm. Along European lines, ill-designed national boundaries outside Europe would be easier to redraw if trade were free as in Europe, supported by social efficiency, freedom, fairness, and respect for human rights.

 

 

References

Alesina, Alberto, and Enrico Spolaore (2003), The Size of Nations, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Case, Anne, and Angus Deaton (2015), “Rising Morbidity and Mortality in Midlife Among White Non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st Century,” PNAS, National Academy of Science.

Deaton, Angus (2013), The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford.

Gylfason, Thorvaldur (2007), “Why Europe Works Less and Grows Taller,” Challenge, January-February, 21-39.

Gylfason, Thorvaldur (2009a), “Hvað segja lögin: Sameignarauðlindir eru mannréttindi” (What Does the Law say? Common Property Resources as Human Rights) in Ragnarsbók (Festschrift for Ragnar Aðalsteinsson), Icelandic Literary Society, Reykjavík, 497-522.

Gylfason, Thorvaldur (2009b), “Is Iceland too small?,” VoxEU.org, 19 August.

Komlos, John, and Marieluise Baur (2004), “From the Tallest to (One of) the Fattest: The Enigmatic Fate of the American Population in the 20th Century,” Economics and Human Biology, Vol. 2, No. 1, March, 57-74.

Komlos, John, and Benjamin E. Lauderdale (2007), “The Mysterious Stagnation and Relative Decline of American Heights after c. 1960, Annals of Human Biology, Vol. 43, No. 2, March-April, 206-15.

Lagarde, Christine, and Jim Yong Kim (2015). “The Path to Carbon Pricing,” Project Syndicate, 19 October.

Laeven, Luc, and Fabián Valencia (2013), “Systemic Banking Crises Data Base,” IMF Economic Review, Vol. 61, 225–270.

OECD (2016), Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2015, OECD, Paris.

Putnam, Robert (2000), Bowling Alone, Simon and Schuster, New York.

Thorláksson, Indridi H. (2015), “Veiðigjöld 2015. Annar hluti” (Fishing Fees 2015. Part Two).

 

Kristjan Ahronson, Into the Ocean. Vikings, Irish, and Environmental Change in Iceland and the North (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 2015)

In the dialectic between established “certainties” and fundamental ambiguities that characterise north Atlantic islands, Kristjan Ahronson develops the argumentation on the relationships between Scots, Irish, and Norsemen of the early medieval period. The interaction of humans and their environments, as well as peoples’ migrations and the cultural diffusion in the north Atlantic, are the main areas of investigation of a book that is intended to be designed not only for a specialized audience. Popperian theory of science and interdisciplinarity represent the conceptual framework in which the author develops his method or, even better, his crossing of methodologies that are jointly employed to reach a multidimensional pictures of the subjects under inquiry.

Continue reading Kristjan Ahronson, Into the Ocean. Vikings, Irish, and Environmental Change in Iceland and the North (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 2015)

An interview with Kristján Jóhannsson

 

KJ. 38 years! Yes, 38 years. It was such a magnificent time in my life. Even if there were always challenges to overcome, sometimes truly tragic ones. Indeed, they started since the very beginning, in 1976, when my family and I arrived in Milan, and spent the very first night in a hotel by the train station. It was another world. For me, a farm boy from Akureyri, it was a bit frightening. I was with my first wife, two children, my daughter, then very little, and my son, who must have been 6 years old. I could hardly speak a word in Italian back then [the present interview was held in Italian in Akureyri on Saturday, 25 January 2015, and then translated into English]. I knew that my teacher there could speak English, though.  The following morning we went to catch a bus, the blue kind [for long-distance routes], in order to go to Turin, since my teacher was supposed to be there, at the local music school [It. conservatorio], not in Milan. However, not even that was a straightforward matter…

 

My teacher, Giuseppe Valdengo, a baritone known as “Toscanini’s baritone” for he was Toscanini’s favourite, and an accomplished violinist and pianist—indeed a great musician despite being somewhat eccentric—was no longer in Turin! As I said, he was eccentric, amusing, but only to a certain point. He took things lightheartedly and liked making fun of circumstances as well as people, often ending up with offending those around him. Well, just about the time of my arrival, he had gravely offended the director of the music school in Turin, so that he had to leave Turin and go elsewhere, which was not a problem for him, given that he found immediately a new position at the music school of Aosta, in the French-speaking part of northern Italy. For us, on the contrary, it was quite a problem: we had to change our plans on the spot and go to Aosta instead. Valdengo was kind enough to help us find an apartment in Saint Vincent, near Aosta, not far from the well-known casino. We found him there, cheerful, pleased, and I had my first class with him the following morning. I was introduced to the director of the music school in Aosta and that is how I commenced my first year of studies in Italy. I followed an intensive programme that should have helped me catch two pigeons with one stone, namely to learn the Italian musical repertoire and, at the same time, the Italian language.

 

 

 

NM. Were you following a regular study course, then?

 

KJ. Yes and no. I was at a regular music school, but every three months I would take an examination and move up one grade. After one year, if I kept going at that pace, I would be at the second-from-last year of the school curriculum. It was an ambitious plan and a very interesting experience, also because the school was very vibrant and demanding, much more so than here in Iceland, where there is far too little to do and life is far too easy, back then as well as today. Believe me, I do think that, without adequate pressure placed upon the students, real world-class talents cannot emerge.

 

 

 

NM. Do you think that there are still significant differences between the musical education available in the Italian schools and the one that you can get in the Icelandic schools?

 

KJ. Yes, it is still the case. In Italy you can tell a student that something is wrong and that he must do something about it, put more work into it. If you do it in Iceland, then you, the teacher, are in trouble! It makes an enormous difference.

 

 

 

NM. But why Italy? When you decided to go abroad to pursue your studies as an opera singer, you could have chosen other countries, closer to Iceland, either geographically or culturally, if not both.

 

KJ. Certainly, Sweden was very much talked about as a suitable option. Nonetheless, choosing Italy was such an important decision in my career. And I have a person to thank for that. You see, I had studied classical singing here in Akureyri with maestro Vincenzo Maria Demetz, who, among other things, had taught me some Italian—very little, in fact, just a few words! Unfortunately, we spoke together mostly in English and in German, since he came from Val Gardena, in the Alps of [German-speaking] Alto Adige. He had a rather particular opinion of me, in truth an amazing insight. He said to me: “You are more southern Italian than the southern Italians [maestro Demetz used the tongue-in-cheek derogatory term “terrone]: your physique, your temperament, your type of voice; you must not go to Germany or Scandinavia, you must go to Italy! There you will be able to let yourself go and, verily, sing. In Germany, in a way, they might get you to sing Lieder. That way, you could acquire a certain refinement, which would be good for a strong and loud voice like yours. But that is not really the place for you. Go to Italy!” Maestro Demetz was correct on all accounts, for I was not a lyrical tenor, I was not light, I was without agility; I had to get straight into Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Then, but only then, I could work on some additional aspects of my voice. He had seen all this back then, already, which is fantastic, for he was right! 

 

 

 

NM. Moving to Italy, studying so hard: it must have been not only an exciting time, but also a hard one. What sort of sacrifices did it involve?

 

KJ. Big sacrifices. I was young, 26 years old, but I was already married. Besides, I had a fairly clearly defined life in Iceland: I had my own small enterprise, which I managed, I had two children, a house… Yet, I said it right there to maestro Demetz: if I go there, I’m going to make it; I won’t to be fooling around, wasting my time. I knew that, at my age, I had to be ready to go on stage in two or three years. Also because, back then, there were no scholarships, no grants, no student loans, like today. When I decided to go, I sold my house, I loaned out my small enterprise for two and a half years, in order to see how things would have worked out, and for that time we lived off the little revenue coming from my small enterprise in Iceland. After two years and a half I felt like I was dying. Moreover, after just one year, it was pretty clear that my wife couldn’t cope: she and Italy didn’t get along with each other. Not to mention the Italians: she thought they were all mad!

 

 

 

NM. As an Italian expatriate, who left his native country for the quieter north, I may be able to understand her!

 

KJ. Yes, exactly: the quiet north! Well, eventually, she needed to come back to Iceland. And so the troubles started. I began having a little fun around and, in the end, our marriage went down the drain. Also, I felt that she wasn’t really backing me. As regards singing, we didn’t have the same perception of things. She thought that we were going to have some fun for one or two years and then we would move back to Iceland, where I would have kept singing, certainly better than I did before. I wanted more. After six months in Italy, it was clear that things were going well for me at the music school and, at least for a year, my work with Valdengo produced tangible results. I was already giving concerts around, taking part in semi-staged operas. It was the beginning of my professional life. I mean, after just six months, I had my debuts in La Traviata and La Bohème. The voice was good, in all the ways that matter: it responded well, I wasn’t fatigued, and the high notes were good, solid and bright. After a year, I thought it sensible for my wife to go back home, for she was stopping me, rather than supporting me. Still, it was hard.

 

 

 

NM. And your children?

 

KJ. Our elder boy stayed in Italy with me, studying in the schools there. He grew up in Italy and thinks of himself as Italian. Later on, he went to the University of Bologna. Our daughter, instead, followed her mother back home and grew up in Akureyri. They remain close to each other to this day. My wife and I tried to be reasonable and avoid their mutual separation, as well as being separated from either parent. Besides, my daughter came to Italy when there were school holidays in Iceland. As a child, she would sometimes travel on her own. She was a strong little girl back then; she is a strong woman today—my dear Barbara. It was hard, but that much my wife and I could understand: that we didn’t understand each other any more. I was determined. I was strong-willed: I wanted to be on stage and be good at what I was doing. Furthermore, after a year, right in the middle of all this family chaos and unpleasantness, I felt I couldn’t progress much more with Valdengo. He was too lighthearted, too cheeky, he wasn’t taking things seriously enough for my taste. Thus, after a year, when I kept being told that everything was going well, I could sense, almost by instinct, that I was still lacking much to be a real opera singer.

 

 

 

NM. What couldn’t Valdengo give you as a teacher?

 

KJ. He was an excellent listener and very helpful. Nonetheless, as I travelled around Italy and attended concerts, also at La Scala in Milan, I heard and understood that there were certain additional elements of my musical education that I had to acquire or improve considerably more. Above all, I had to become an artist. The voice is one thing, but to sing as an artist is another. To interpret the music well, to master the Italian language, to absorb the Italian culture and make it mine: I couldn’t do it there, in Aosta, with Valdengo. So I told him that I was going to study under a tenor in another place. He became furious with jealousy! Just think of this: after Christmas that year, I took part in, and won, the Maria Callas Award: I had a scholarship, an Italian scholarship, and a contract to sing in five performances of Madama Butterfly at the Spoleto Music Festival as Pinkerton. Valdengo was so mad with rage and jealousy that he wrote a letter to the ministry in Rome, complaining that they were a bunch of idiots, that they had awarded the prize to a hopeless case, who sang like a dog, and so on and on… He destroyed me. The scholarship was revoked and I lost my performances in Spoleto. He destroyed me out of jealousy. In the process, he also destroyed the friendship that he had with Demetz, who took upon himself the full responsibility of sending me to Valdengo in the first place. It was horrible. And yet, what could be a catastrophe turned out to be a lucky break. I went to Piacenza, at the Nicolini music school, where I got my BA, studying with Poggi. Also, I studied acting with Eugenia Ratti, a world-class singer that had performed all over the world, including La Scala and the Met, and that taught acting there. It was precisely what I needed: how to move on stage, how to interpret different roles, how to master and use the Italian language effectively, how to make the Italian culture my own and, above all, how to approach the different composers, understand them. I travelled to Tuscany, to Emilia Romagna, to “meet” with Puccini, Verdi, even Bellini down in Sicily. 

 

 

 

NM. Did you make many friends during your studies and your travels around Italy, people that helped you to absorb the Italian culture, or did you work primarily at the music school?

 

KJ. Under this perspective, I trusted and benefited from the music school, most of all. Also, in my profession, it is hard to make real friends. You are too much on your own. There is too much competition for that to be likely to unfold. Besides, you cannot rely on friends, even if you can make them. Still, there are exceptions, and I met at the Maria Callas Award a lovely man that has become a life-long friend, Maurizio Barbacini. But before I talk about him, let me say that, in those years when I was based in Piacenza, life went on rather well. I was singing frequently, there, in Bologna, Parma, at a number of opera societies, in Turin. My name was getting around. Life was nice. I met also a dear Hispanic-American woman, Doria Cavanna, whom I married in May 1983. Sadly, she died the 31 December of the same year. Another tragedy in my life. She was an amazing artist. Much more developed than me as an artist. I learnt so much from her. I tried to absorb all the suggestions that I could get from her, especially when she was on stage. She wasn’t only a singer, by the way. She had been an actress. She had made movies in America. She was a great woman and a great artist. Despite our time together being so short, it was a very healthy and important period of my life. Her death was a terrible blow. Yet, they say that suffering helps an artist to mature and evolve. There can be no joy without sadness; nor sadness without joy. An artist must understand both realms of experience. I paid a terrible price for that understanding, but, over that period, I did open up to acting and to theatre as art forms.

 

 

 

NM. As time went on, given what you are describing, it seems clear to me that you integrated well within Italian society and the local way of life. However, how much of that Icelandic farm boy that had travelled from Akureyri to Milan, Aosta and Piacenza was left within you? Was there anything that you deem quintessentially Icelandic that helped you face and overcome the challenges that you met?

 

KJ. Absolutely so! I grew up in a big family, seven children, I was second-from-last; I had to fight every time to get anything I wanted, nobody ever gave me anything for free; in this sense, I was tough and autonomous; whenever I liked to do or achieve anything, I knew that I had to fight, on my own, in order to get it. Therefore, even after the shocking way in which my relationship with Valdengo had concluded, the sort of thing that would annihilate a person’s self-confidence, I thought that I would succeed anyway; in fact I wanted it even more than I did before. He told me to go to hell? I will show him that I am a real devil. He told me that I wouldn’t make it? I will show him; I will make it! Nothing could discourage me. And this is very Icelandic: personal autonomy, self-sufficiency. I knew that I had to fight and I did it. Then, you know, in the end, that Maurizio Barbacini of whom I told you briefly before, he helped me too. Consider this: I was penniless, I had been repudiated by my former teacher, I was divorced; in fact, I had left everything to my wife: I thought it was right to do so—and I wanted to be a gentleman. I needed only my toothbrush and I wanted my freedom. Besides, I felt guilty, so, in the end, it seemed right that way. And this is how I actually left Akureyri behind me.

 

 

 

NM. You didn’t leave it for good, though. You kept in touch with Iceland, didn’t you?

 

KJ. Yes, every once in a while I came to Iceland, almost every year, singing in Reykjavik as well as Akureyri and, of course, to see my daughter. My son was with me, in Italy. My daughter was here, in Iceland, her family was here. In 1982, to tell you the truth, I doubted that I could go on, and started thinking about coming back to Iceland. Yet, here in Iceland, I had made friends, powerful friends, people with money, politicians. I wrote to one of them, I described in the letter my situation; I told them that I was penniless and that my predicament was really desperate; I told him that I had to tour around Germany for some auditions there, and that I was ready to do anything. I got some help in return. Not much, but enough to rekindle hope. You see, in 1981… 

 

Actually, going a little further back, in 1979-1980, I graduated with Poggi, and they asked me to take part in a concert in Mantua. There is a beautiful little theatre there, and it is there that I got lucky: at the piano was Ettore Campogalliani, a great musician, who for 25 years had been working at La Scala, a real giant in the world of music! He was there, at that concert, playing the piano for some of his students, who would later become some of the most important singers in the world. I sang for him both big arias from Tosca and was very successful. I also sang other arias, from La Bohème and other operas by Puccini, receiving great applause—the little theatre truly seemed to be crumbling down upon me with excitation! So I had an opportunity to talk to him. He was a real gentleman and a man of great culture, not only an accomplished musician, but a published author of many books as well. He was also a poet, and he taught at the university in Venice. Over dinner, I spoke to him candidly and explained to him that he could give me what I needed most. Almost everywhere else, included here in Iceland, the music scene was provincial. I say this despite having been born and raised in the theatre here in Akureyri. My house was near the theatre. My father worked there and so did my mother. At the age of two or three I was already in the theatre of my hometown. That was already a great advantage. I had already understood many things there then, but in Milan, at Campogalliani’s prestigious theatre, I could advance so much more!

 

I needed more culture. That was the point. He said to me: “I really liked you today. In Milan, at least fifty of the best singers in the world have come to me: Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni, Katia Ricciarelli, Gianni Poggi, Carlo Bergonzi…” I couldn’t list them all! Renata Scotto and so many others! “However,” he said, “I normally require an audition, hence you will have to come to Milan and sing for me…  No! I’m joking! You proved your worth today: we can start our classes tomorrow, if you like.” So I went to him, and there was also Antonio Tonini, who was a good friend of his, and after two or three months with him he told me that, in Ancona, maestro Zino was going to stage Il Trittico by Puccini and that they needed a tenor, as usual! That’s how I got the job! Back then I knew well Rigoletto, La Bohème, La Traviata and I was preparing Lucia di Lammermoor. “Leave Lucia and study as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi“—that’s what he said. After a month, Tonini came to listen to me and told Campogalliani: “Let’s have him for Il Tabarro as well. He should do both, for there is no better singer—and we can save some money too!” This combination of roles is very rare, given that Il Tabarro is complex, deep and dramatic, while Gianni Schicchi is lyrical, even light, since Rinuccio’s role is very high [in the vocal register]. In May we go to the Marche for the rehearsals—and it was so beautiful! I had an enormous success in both roles.   I was the newcomer, though, hence I was not getting paid much: I was the last name on the list! Still, it was enough to survive. All these events happening in a rather short span of time. In Ancona, moreover, I met an Englishman, who was the director of the English National Opera. After listening to me, he decided to offer me the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at their theatre in London…

 

 

 

NM. From one thing to the next…

 

KJ. Yes. Life seems to move that way. This is also how I met, out of sheer chance, the great maestro Menotti. It was at a concert in Parma. We started talking together. He told me that he was disappointed not to have me singing for him, as Pinkerton, in Spoleto. Then, I had to explain to him what had happened, how an angry person had tried to destroy me, my reputation, my career. He replied: “Don’t worry. In 1983 you come to Spoleto and sing in a new edition of the Madama Butterfly. It will be an over-the-top one, I warn you now!”—Ken Russell, a real genius, was going to direct it… Menotti and I became friends that way. He was then the super-intendant of the theaters in Rome, where I spent eventually 20 years as a regular performer, singing in all the big roles: Tosca, Il Trovatore, La Gioconda, Manon Lescaut.

 

 

 

NM. 20 years, during which you inaugurated with Il Trovatore the newly built opera theatre in Genoa, in 1992, as the city celebrated the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas.

 

KJ. Exactly. The theatre Carlo Felice in Genoa. It was 500 years since the “discovery” of the Americas and 50 years since the destruction of the old opera house, which the Brits had bombed during World War II. I remember it very well.

 

 

 

NM. Yes, that is true, only the wing to the east had survived the aerial bombings and is still visible today. The rest is new—so new that it had sparked some controversy…

 

KJ. What a theatre! And what an occasion! Singing in one of the best roles Opera can give you. It was a remarkable experience. I recall the actual theatre, which is sort of inside-out, for it is meant to give you the idea of singing in a medieval square, like those you see in the old part of the city, which is just nearby. When I saw it, I said to myself: “It is true what they say about the Italians [that they are all crazy!]”. I found it very strange, but, at the same time, very interesting. It was something daring and novel. A stroke of genius, I would say.

 

 

 

NM. Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra is said to be the best opera ever staged in that theatre, for it is possible to create the illusion of being in medieval Genoa, given the subject of the opera and the look of the theatre.

 

KJ. It’s true. Singing in a medieval square! By the way, I sang also La Gioconda and Rigoletto in that theatre. Somehow, 1992 was the year of my “explosion” as an international tenor. I started singing regularly in Britain as well, which lasted over a period of ten years.

 

 

 

NM. And what was your relationship with Iceland at that point of your career?

 

KJ. I was far away, very much. The sense of separation ran deep. Also, I was being mocked back home, they said that I had gone to Italy to become the new Caruso… Some rascal, I mean… But I took it mostly as a bit of fun. 

 

 

 

NM. You had also Icelanders that supported you, though.

 

KJ. Yes, certainly. Valur Hafþórsson, the head of KEA, had sponsored me. So did the Town of Akureyri. Not huge sums of money, but enough to make life easier. Above all, I knew that I had not been deserted. They were beside me. They supported me. Nevertheless, I felt distant. I was the first young Icelander to go to Italy in 25 years. After the war, in the 1950s, a few went to Italy to study, without great results. Then, nobody else. Even today, far too few Icelanders go to study in Italy. I cannot understand why. Italy is the cradle of civilization, the cradle of culture, the cradle of Opera. Why are they going elsewhere? Why London or the US? It’s all second-hand there!

 

 

 

NM. Do you think that in Italy there are still the best opportunities for opera singers? The best schools?

 

KJ. Yes, I do. Absolutely. I am certain of that. Also, think of this fact: while we are sitting and conversing here, today, there are literally thousands of concerts and operas being performed worldwide. More than 70% of them are either Italian or in Italian. Then, what’s the point of studying elsewhere? The main reason why I don’t do German Lieder is that I cannot speak German very well. A singer must have a high level of competence in the languages he wishes to sing in. Now, if more than 70% of the classical singing going on in the world is in Italian, then it is simply logical that anyone interested in opera singing should acquire a high level of competence in the Italian language. You cannot get that in London, Vienna, New York. You can only get that in Italy!

 

Also, let me add a few words on Maurizio Barbacini, whom I met at that Callas competition of which I was talking to you before. He sang back then and also played the piano very well—a gifted musician. I had him joining me in Iceland for some concerts, conducting the national symphony orchestra. We issued a record together too. Now he is often in New York and Vienna. A great pianist and a man of great musical culture, especially Italian opera. I would consult with him very often in those days, even if his career was not yet blossoming, for I trusted his judgment. He always had great insight in musical matters. Well, I was waiting before commencing at La Scala, which had hired me, but, as you know, theaters have often many-years plans to run through, meaning that, like with the Met, I sang for them in 1986 and then walked on stage in 1990! Well, I met with Barbacini. We conversed, had some fun, did some music together. And then he said to me: “Why do you take on these roles, which everybody else can take too?” He was referring to high lyrical roles in Rigoletto, La Bohème, Tosca, possibly the toughest one among them, La Traviata, some Bellini, like La Sonnambula and I Puritani—I had always very solid high notes, which are de rigueur for that kind of repertoire. He continued: “There must be at least three or four other tenors out there that sing these roles as beautifully as you do. But I know you, your vocal capacity, your temperament, your strength, both of will and of body: you must sing those parts that nobody else, in this day and age, sings really well. Those parts for which you cannot find really good tenors, apart from Luciano [Pavarotti]. He’s the only one.” It was an excellent idea. Also, I had noticed my own mental and physical development over those years, which was calling for something new in my career. Someone once told me that no idiot has even sung well!

 

 

 

NM. An interesting motto…

 

KJ. One must think about the roles he chooses, the possibilities available in the repertoire and in the theaters, selecting the place and the moment with some wisdom. It is not enough to just go on working, relentlessly. Thus, it was the mid 1980s, I started studying for Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, which I knew would have been performed in Iceland, with me in it, the following year. Then I started studying Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, for which I had received an informal offer from Florence, with Bruno Bartoletti conducting it. Meanwhile I had sung Tosca in Florence with Zubin Mehta, and it was very successful, at least as much as my Trovatore in Genoa. In between I sang the Gioconda and, in Turin, Il Trovatore. So, I had the Tosca in Florence and Il Trovatore in Turin: I was going back and forth between the two—what a mess! But I was young, lustful and strong! Up to 80 concerts a year! Barbacini was right: with these operas, my strong voice, my will and my wisdom, I must say—I had always 20% of my voice in my pocket, so to speak, for 80% of my strong voice was more than enough, while other colleagues in the same roles would have to push 100% all the time—it could be done. Theatre directors were happy with a singer like me. They long for stability, reliability; they don’t want to worry about whether the lead tenor will make it or not. I had this surplus of vocal strength that they could rely upon. Therefore they were happy to offer roles to a madman like me: “You sing better when you are sick than when you are in good health”, one of them told me once! My friend Barbacini was right: I knew more roles, I was known as reliable, there was now one of these roles available in Vienna, then another in New York, and then yet another in Florence…

 

 

 

NM. You expanded your repertoire and established your career.

 

KJ. Precisely. And I was always cautious in deciding my next move. I didn’t rush forward. I thought things through, paying attention to the health of my voice, never pushing too hard. I must concur with the adagio: no idiot has ever sung well! You may have a golden voice, but without wisdom you cannot go anywhere!

 

 

 

NM. Let’s get back to Iceland…

 

KJ. Yes, well, in the late 1980s there was Sigurður Björnsson, conductor of the national orchestra, which was a bit boring, to be frank. They took themselves far too seriously. They didn’t care for Opera. They cared for pure music, especially contemporary, which is good, but to a point. One should never forget what Karajan used to say about orchestras: the best ones play regularly in operas, meaning Vienna and Berlin, for the players must listen to the singers, pay attention to what is going on, following the artists on stage. Sigurður wanted to change this and he did change it, fighting and making use of me in this direction. It was a big bet—on a real racing horse, though! We staged many operas, also semi-staged ones, and there was no year in the two following decades when I didn’t sing something in Reykjavík. Needless to say, many local colleagues became very jealous! His wife, a fantastic soprano, with whom I had debuted in 1981 in La Bohème, was a good friend of mine. We were the best singers in the country. It is as simple as that. But then I could start hear people gossiping about us, spreading lies, being nasty. Now, I am no angel by any means, but things were being twisted and blown out of proportion… All this made me feel more and more separated from Iceland.

 

 

 

NM. Why coming back, then?

 

KJ. After singing for 30 years around the world as one of the best three or four tenors in the profession, facing also envy and gossip on your own, you become very self-centred. But the world doesn’t spin around you. In 1985, during the rehearsal for Un ballo in maschera, I met the woman that became my wife, with whom we will soon celebrate 30 years together. She was younger than me, a stage actress, I fell madly in love with her; and she with me, fortunately! Everything worked out well. There was something in her that my second wife also possessed: they were women of great culture, educated, and cosmopolitan. I had been alone for two year. Suddenly, thanks to her, I felt inspired again: I could receive so much from such a talented artist.  And she understood me. She came with me to Italy without any qualms, She had been abroad herself: 10 years in Norway. There was no uprooting. Nothing radical. She was cosmopolitan. She liked that kind of life. In Iceland, an artist’s life is very hard. Artists are paid poorly and, at times, treated poorly. People expect them to be available to act, sing or play, but they are flabbergasted if then the artists ask for money in return. And what they get is very little anyway. Thus the overall level of artistic life in the country, and I am talking about the widespread mentality not the artistic quality, has been condemned to provincial mediocrity.

 

 

 

NM. Haven’t things changed over the past 10-15 years though?

 

KJ. Yes, they have. And I think I played a role in this change. I insisted to be taken seriously and so all artists with and like me. It is fine to have amateur singers or artists that win their bread in a different way, but you also need people that go past that stage and turn their art into a career, a profession, a life. A life that can take you around the world: we lived for almost 10 years in Monte Carlo, we travelled regularly between Italy and the US.  And we had kids…

 

 

 

NM. That changes things, doesn’t it?

 

KJ. Yes, I used to joke about the fact that I led a better life than Onassis: travelling worldwide, singing in the best theatres, being famous, wealthy—and always with my family! But then the kids started growing and they had to go to school… As a result, my wife started being less mobile, while I travelled more and more often on my own; then she got seriously ill—now everything is fine, thanks God—and I was constantly worried for her while abroad. All this didn’t go down well, with her especially. She wanted to change things, for herself first of all. As for myself, I had had my shot. Thirty years on the top of the world, so to speak. Now she wanted, she needed, to think more about herself. And I understood that very well. After receiving so much from my family, I had to give back to them. So I slowed down, moved back to Iceland and began to teach on a regular basis, while she went to the university in Reykjavík. Meanwhile, I spent more and more time with the kids; she completed her first degree, got a Master’s degree… Now she earns more than I do! And that is just great: we are ready to face the future together. But be sure about this: I still love being, and I think I am still loved as, a man of music. In fact, I hope to die on stage!

 

 

 

NM. And what would you say of yourself as a teacher?  

 

KJ. I do my best to coach as many young voices as I can. Just few weeks ago, at the opera house in Reykjavík, there was Verdi’s Don Carlo: 8 singers were former students of mine. Some people acknowledged this fact; some didn’t… I am saddened, to tell you the truth, about the way in which Icelandic music schools operate. They are too relaxed, too lenient. Students approach their courses as some kind of fun or entertainment. I have always thought of education as something more than that. Getting an education, enriching your culture, pursuing a study line are meant to take you to some higher or deeper place—a stage at least! It is not just a bit of fun. I teach differently than most of my colleagues. I make demands.

 

Also, there are too many music schools in the country, which are starved of students, since these are never enough for all of them, hence the schools are always on the verge of bankruptcy, which reduces dramatically the scope for teachers to make demands on the students. Ten music schools, two for singing, would be enough in Reykjavík: there are 19 now! All are competing for the same funds. Fewer, better poles—that’s what we need. As long as the funds are not reduced, then they could be distributed among the fewer schools, which could then hire teachers as needed and increase the level of musical education in the country. Icelandic taxpayers pay about 65% of the cost of advanced students in music schools: the students should ponder upon this fact and behave more seriously, taking their studies more seriously, working much harder. On my part, I try to teach the way it is done in Italy: you pay more to study with me, but you get more hours, both with me and the piano accompaniment, and you are expected to do all that is required, such as music theory, etc. You are to be prepared as an artist. And I am much harder than my colleagues. You cannot spend five months studying one aria! And I can get very angry: sometimes I give the students a dressing-down. They accuse me of being mad, but mad are those students that do not study: they have the opportunity, the general population pays for much of it, and they are registered as students. Why on Earth should they consider studying as a discretionary option, then? If you are a student, then you study. It is that simple! 

A personal memoir by Róbert R. Spanó

 

It has always been a big part of my self-image to be “half Italian and half Icelandic”, although not in a negative way; quite the opposite.  I have always been proud of my background and have often wondered if and to what extent it has moulded my personality. Growing up I always felt a bit different from my “pure” Icelandic friends, in a subtle way, perhaps a bit more extrovert at times, certainly a loud and rather gregarious person; all in all classic stereotypical Italian characteristics. But for personal reasons my sisters and I did not cultivate strong ties with Italy initially. Later, my older sister and I have begun a pilgrimage of sorts, attempting to contact our relatives to the extent possible.

 

In my view it is important for those persons that have multicultural roots to attempt to understand from where they come from, as it is clear that one will better understand oneself in that way. Fortunately, I have not, directly, suffered prejudice during my life, due to being “half” Icelandic, despite having lived most of my life in Iceland. However, I could describe many amusing anecdotes that are related to my family name, which is certainly not a common one in Iceland. One of my favourites comes from the time when I worked as a Deputy Judge in the District Court of Reykjaness. I presided in a case where I had to appoint assessors in a real estate dispute. I later heard that one of the assessors, during an examination of the real estate in question with the parties to the case, read aloud from my court order appointing him for the job. Slowly he began by stating that in the District Court a hearing was held by… and then he paused, clearly having problems with the name of the judge, ending up by saying: “… held by Róbert R. Shampoo deputy judge”!

 

Currently, I work in a very international setting as a judge in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. In the Court, almost 700 staff members from all over Europe work together in a very interesting and collegiate atmosphere. I have already felt that my international background is an immense asset in this environment for many reasons. Firstly, having lived abroad myself when I was younger, both in Canada and in Italy, makes it easy to identify with others, their differing viewpoints on various issues and on the way they approach certain problems based on different starting points. Secondly, I have been very fortunate to work closely with my good friend and colleague, the Neapolitan Guido Raimondi, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Court and the judge elected with respect to Italy, and all the wonderful Italian lawyers in the Court. This experience has brought me closer to home, so to speak. I can converse with them in Italian and have dealt with many Italian cases for which I am, happy to say, well equipped.

 

I have four wonderful children, my foster daughter Rán, Karítas Diljá, Egill and Atli. They all have very Icelandic names and, with the exception of Karítas Diljá, they are light-haired and bluish-eyed like their mother, my wife, Arna Gunnarsdóttir, a very talented artist. My older sister, Ásdís Mercedes, is also an artist and a mother of two lovely boys. Unfortunately, Ásdís and I have not been very effective in teaching our kids about their Italian heritage, but hopefully that can be amended in the future.

 

Last summer my wife and I travelled to the Amalfi Coast to spend a week hiking in the hills, starting off in Ravello and ending in Positano. As I walked through the streets, sat in the cafés, ate pasta and pizza in the restaurants and drank some great red wine with my wife in the evening, I felt at home. It has always been like that, I think: living in Iceland, but sensing, to some extent, that I also have another home, far away to the south. It is a comforting feeling!

Icelandic Journalists & the Question of Professionalism

Characteristics of a profession

The conditions that an occupation must satisfy in order to count as a profession can be debated although certain elements seem well established as parts of any definition of the concept of a profession. We will approach this topic by considering first the related, but distinct, concept of professionalism and then turning to the concept of a profession.

Continue reading Icelandic Journalists & the Question of Professionalism

Papers from the NSU Summer session of 2014 – study group 3: “Crisis and Crisis Scenarios: Normativity, Possibilities and Dilemmas”

 

The general theme of the meeting was CRISIS: Crisis and Crisis Scenarios: Normativity, Possibilities and Dilemmas. In addition we had the special theme Neoliberalism, Economic Crisis and a New Economy.

 

The general discussion was a continuation of the work of the crisis study group on topics such as: the concept of crisis; democracy in crisis: the European Union and the public sector; crisis, existence and culture; Arctic crisis, climate change and environmental issues; crisis, paradoxes and new technology; globalization and crisis.

  Continue reading Papers from the NSU Summer session of 2014 – study group 3: “Crisis and Crisis Scenarios: Normativity, Possibilities and Dilemmas”

The Crash Course from Iceland

I. Preamble

In October 2008 dramatic events unfolded in Iceland when it became apparent that its economy could no longer sustain the sensational economic growth the country had experienced in the previous years. To most of the public the news of the downfall came as a frightening surprise. The country’s banking sector, which had led the growth of the economy and expanded to over ten times the gross domestic product (GDP) in a short time span, collapsed almost completely. Nearly all of the largest companies in Iceland were owned by the notorious financial Vikings, who owned the controlling shares in the oversized banks. Iceland’s crash was in part so drastic because of the unhealthy cross-ownership of companies and banks. As a result, share values in the country’s stock market were nearly erased. Iceland’s independent micro-currency, the Króna (ISK), that had attracted a lot of foreign hot money seeking high returns during the boom, was all of the sudden in free fall. Unemployment, which was unheard of during the boom (1%), went all of the sudden to 9% and some analysts worried that it could spiral upwards even more as events unfolded. The instability was underlined with interest rates and inflation moving upwards to a staggering 18 per cent and GDP predicted to fall around 10%.[1]

On the streets people were angry and wondered: How had it come to this? Everything was in tatters. Nothing captures this as well as the story of Landsbanki, traditionally a State-owned bank, which had functioned as a cornerstone of Iceland’s economy since 1885 and played a part in the country’s road to independence in 1944. Under State ownership the balance sheet of the banks had remained for decades modest in relation to GDP and yet stable even though the country did experience some turbulent times. Iceland’s economy is massively reliant on fisheries and the bank had seen difficulties when fish stocks suddenly fell or even when whole stocks like herring disappeared completely. External factors like two World Wars and the Cod Wars against the British did also have their impact. In 2003 the bank was fully privatized in an attempt, as the politicians of the day would phrase it, ‘to unleash the powers of the free market’, which is precisely what happened. In the years from 2003-2008 Landsbanki, under their new ownership, managed to expand its balance sheet from under 50% of GDP to over 250% of GDP, when it eventually collapsed. Such massive expansion was also experienced by the other two main banks, Glitnir and Kaupthing, whereas the banks not only expanded in Iceland but led an outvasion in acquiring huge assets and leading ventures abroad. This was duly felt in the United Kingdom where the financial Vikings grabbed headlines with investment in known brands on the high street as well as English football clubs.[2] One of the main owners and chairman of Landsbanki, Björgólfur Thor, made a trademark oligarch move and bought West Ham United in 2006; he became chairman in 2007, until he lost the club after the crash in 2008. This event raised eyebrows since, given the size of Iceland’s economy, the room their businessman were taking in the UK and elsewhere was considerable.

The country asked assistance from its Nordic neighbours and the International Monetary Fund in order to stop further deterioration of the economy and avert a total collapse. Not only did Iceland face a banking crisis, but also a currency crisis and a huge economic crisis. Politicians in other parts of Europe, where dark clouds were gathering overhead, stressed that although they might have problems of their own, at least they were definitely not Iceland. Such voices have now been silenced, since the country has experienced a remarkable turnaround in economic terms. In August 2011 the country completed its successful IMF programme and the fund concluded that key objectives had been met and the government had stabilized the economy. Growth resumed with numbers that many troubled countries in the Europe would give a lot for (2,7% in 2011, 1,5% in 2012, 3,3% in 2013). The budget deficit was turned into a surplus, unemployment was reduced to 5% and continues to fall, interest rates went down by 12%, inflation was maintained at under 4%, the currency was stabilised albeit under capital controls. Growth for 2014 is predicted to be 3,7%.

Although several economic problems remain, the country has emerged from its deep crisis. New banks were successfully resurrected that are dwarfed, however, in comparison with the monsters that emerged during the financial Vikings’ era. Both private and public debt stabilized and is on a downward trajectory with the sovereign successfully entering capital markets again in 2011. Iceland’s economic crash and recovery has sparked huge interest in this tiny economy of 300.000 inhabitants, which managed banks whose bankruptcies are among the largest in history. The before- and after-crash tale is dramatic, full of surprises and extravagances.

 

 

II. Success stories

The success stories told of how Iceland bounced back from its near-death economic experience are many. Here is an example of something I have in mind:  

In contrast, Iceland avoided a public health disaster even though it experienced, in 2008, the largest banking crisis in history, relative to the size of its economy. After three main commercial banks failed, total debt soared, unemployment increased ninefold, and the value of its currency, the krona, collapsed. Iceland became the first European country to seek an I.M.F. bailout since 1976. But instead of bailing out the banks and slashing budgets, as the I.M.F. demanded, Iceland’s politicians took a radical step: they put austerity to a vote. In two referendums, in 2010 and 2011, Icelanders voted overwhelmingly to pay off foreign creditors gradually, rather than all at once through austerity. Iceland’s economy has largely recovered, while Greece’s teeters on collapse.[3]

 

There are various versions, but what they have in common is that they attribute success to the fact that Iceland did not bail out the banks. Some of them thank not the people for halting a bank bailout, but the government at the time. From this supposed fact Iceland did not have to impose austerity policies that are thought to have had a further negative impact on crisis-ridden countries such as Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (PIIGS). In Iceland policy-makers seem to have escaped an IMF bailout package conditionalized upon imposing austerity and recapitalized oversized banks with toxic assets. [4] This in turn is given as an explanation as to why Iceland experienced a rapid recovery while the other countries, especially Greece, have seen very little progress.

I think there is a need to urge for caution in comparing economic crises of different countries. Greece and Iceland had very different problems leading to crisis. Greece did not have a banking crisis like Iceland and Iceland did not have a public debt crisis before the crash like Greece. Ireland had a banking crisis like Iceland, but the former has the Euro as currency and the latter the independent Króna. Putting to one side the need for caution in these circumstances, then this Icelandic saga of a heroic escape from the bad banker is just a myth and lacks any factual basis. Iceland attempted a bank bailout, but it failed, and the cost of the Icelandic crash has been considerable both in economic and social terms. Although Iceland escaped better from the circumstances than many had envisaged, the impacts of them are still being felt.

 

 

III. The mini-crisis of 2006

The tragedy in the Icelandic case is that so much harm could have been averted if the authorities had only taken measures in a mini-crisis, called the Geyser crisis, that hit the economy in 2006. Analysts, especially outside of Iceland and most notably from Denmarks Danske Bank, gave out warnings that Iceland was heading for disaster as its banking sector was seriously unstable.[5] This is what economist Gudrun Johnsen calls the ‘missed opportunity’ for Iceland and points out that, rather than taking this criticism to heart, domestic politicians and bankers responded to it by shooting the messenger. They maintained that the analysts had ill intentions as they were in competition with the banks or that they did not understand the Icelandic banking miracle. So, instead of reviewing the fundamentals of the financial system and asking questions about the direction of the banking outvasion, all the wrong lessons were learned from the Geyser crisis. Bankers and politicians agreed that in order to correct the misperceptions over the banks, a PR campaign was needed as well as a restructuring of how they financed themselves so that they could continue to grow. The bank managers saw that they could not only rely on the international bond market, as the view was getting more commonplace that all was not fine in Iceland. Funding was getting harder and more expensive by the month, which these heavily leveraged banks could not withstand. Most notably, this meant the banks moved into introducing high-interest-rate accounts. Landsbanki, for example, introduced the now infamous Icesave online accounts out of their branches in the UK and the Netherlands. It managed to accumulate billions of pounds in deposits in just over a year. However, when the accounts became unavailable due to the collapse of the bank in October 2008, the UK authorities used anti-terrorism laws to freeze all Icelandic assets on UK soil, sparking a hefty row between Iceland and the UK that ended before the EFTA court in 2011. In 2013, however, the EFTA court came to an interesting verdict, acquitting the Icelandic State of any claims made by the UK and the Netherlands to reimburse them for moneys paid to depositors of the failed branches of Landsbanki. Rather, the UK and Dutch insurance deposit schemes stand to get reimbursed by the winding-up process of the failed bank but, importantly, the Icelandic State is not liable.

 

 

IV. Contingencies

After the 2006 Geyser crisis, the banks did not only change their strategy and turn to the pockets of depositors. In addition to accumulating deposits, the banks manipulated their access to the Central Bank of Iceland and the European Central Bank for funding when international markets closed on the Icelandic banks. As Johnsen notes, ‘[i]nstead of using their existing asset portfolio (which was depleted), they issued new unsecured bonds in the domestic market at a favourable rate, then colluded on exchanging these bonds among themselves. Another bank could then use them as collateral against short-term lending from the Central Bank’.[6] Or to put it simply, the banks were taking money out of the Central Bank in exchange for IOU tickets they had exchanged among themselves. These tickets became known as “love letters” in Iceland. In effect, they were printing money, and on a massive scale. One of the results of this is that the Central Bank of Iceland became de facto bankrupt, with losses estimated at 11.1% of GDP, which is another peculiarity of the Icelandic case.[7] A court case is currently ongoing in Iceland where the CEO’s of Kaupthing are charged for financial transactions and loans made in the final weeks leading to the crash. Part of the money used in those transactions, 500 million Euros, was a large portion of Iceland’s currency reserve loaned to the bank by the Central Bank of Iceland.

 

The years between 2006 and 2008 are key in understanding the Icelandic case. One of the main questions one gets when discussing the lessons from Iceland is: Was the quick recovery due to how the country ‘burned’ the creditors? Myth has it that when things got tough for the banks, the Icelandic government denied to bail them out and the country therefore escaped the difficult long-term consequence felt by, for example, Ireland. But that is a serious distortion of what happened. The Icelandic banks were on Central Bank life support from 2006 to 2008. After the Geyser crisis, the banks got the funds needed in order to continue their ventures. Paradoxically, what turned out to be Iceland’s luck in the circumstances was that heads of other Central Banks did not abide to the demands of their colleague in Iceland, Davíð Oddsson, for a loan to continue funding the banks. In all actuality, it turns out that it was the Icelandic authorities that were the last to spot the ill health of their own banks. In a response to a letter from the Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King, where he proposes the need for a downsizing the banking system and that more funds are not what is needed, Mr. Oddsson writes:

The Icelandic banks are well capitalized but they are dealing with a problem of perception. The signals we receive from the markets are that a swap facility for the Central Bank would contribute immeasurability to the alleviation of the problem. I hereby kindly ask you to reconsider this matter.[8]

 

Mervyn King did not reconsider nor did any other Governor of a Central Bank in Europe, which then meant that the authorities, out of necessity, had to switch to plan B i.e. to split up the banks and make them go into administration. For admirers of historical contingences, this case is a treat. Iceland did not take a calculated decision to let the banks fail, but an attempted bail-out failed. This meant that that its tackling of a banking crisis took an unexpected turn, as banks were put into a winding-up process, a move only considered in the face of failure. If drastic measures against the banks had been taken in 2006, then Iceland would offer a role model for averting crises. But then an interesting political question arises. The banks fuelled sensational growth. What politician would stop the promoters of such growth and who would vote for him? And in a political climate of complete confidence in the self-regulation of markets, the role of regulators gets very small.

 

 

V. Iceland’s bad/good bank move

Iceland’s bank manoeuvre has received a lot of interest because it deviates in important ways from the current orthodoxy in crisis response in Europe, where the argument for a bank bail-out is the standard. The recipe needs mentioning. In response to the crisis, the Icelandic Parliament passed emergency laws in 2008 that gave the financial services authority (FME) the tools to take drastic measures and intervene in the financial market. An important part of the legislation was to give all depositors (wholesale and retail) priority status over other creditors such as bondholders. On this basis domestic deposits were moved into new banks that received a capital injection from the State and assets and loans from the old banks matcing the deposits. The failed banks were then put into administration, which makes this a good/bad bank split. And even though Iceland did not deliberately choose this route, it turned out to be beneficial, which proves an important point that alternatives to bank bailouts are possible. One should also note, however, that the good bank / bad bank move is based on sound principles that are sadly overlooked by policy-makers in Europe. If the State finds it necessary to salvage a financial institution, then State funds should only be allocated to such bail-outs provided that the assets of the financial institution are sound and important for the functioning of society. Rather, it may be sensible to seize the opportunity to minimise risk by downsizing the banks and eliminating toxic debt. A bank that faces default is doing so for a reason and the government needs to ensure that it is not throwing good money after bad money. The argument that banks should always receive tax-payer money because of systematic importance and contagion fears should not be accepted as a wholesale argument. The State does not of necessity need to bail out the banks in the exact shape they are in when they seek assistance.

 

So, although Iceland stumbled upon the correct route eventually, the attempt to sustain the banks since 2006 became immensely costly. Despite the much-praised route taken by Iceland, the total cost of the economic crisis for the State has surpassed Ireland’s, which was thought to be the very bad case, in terms of GDP (Ice 70% Ire 60%).[9] The most recent IMF report discusses this surge in debt and estimates it for Iceland even higher than previously assumed, stating that ‘the collapse of the banking system led to an increase of Icelandic public-sector debt to almost 100 percent of GDP’.[10] The reason is that the pure size of the banking system was such that even though a late good/bad bank manoeuvre rescued Iceland from complete economic annihilation, the crash remained immensely costly for the tax-payer. But there are also important caveats to stress here. The fiscal costs are in part caused by the refinancing of the new banks. A lot of the increase in public debt is due to establishing an adequate foreign reserve of currencies to support the Icelandic Króna. The State also recapitalised the new banks and so the majority of the financial sector is now largely owned by it. And as Iceland’s economy is growing again, the assets of the banks are improving and the State will in the future be able to receive considerable revenue from the banks to repay its own capital contribution. Hopefully, it will all be repaid in full and with interest, which would make up for some of the costs of the crisis. Nevertheless, Iceland did not miraculously escape the crisis; although its recovery has been positive.

 

 

VI. Emerging from crisis

There are many factors that explain Iceland’s emergence from the crisis. Economists would point to the stabilizing and downward path of private and public debt and stabilization of currency, which brought down inflation. Another peculiarity of the Icelandic case is the introduction of capital controls in an IMF programme, which helped stabilize the currency. Some would point to how the depreciation of the currency helped hasten the recovery for an export-driven economy. But keeping in line with the peculiarities of the Icelandic experience, I want focus on other factors that I consider pivotal in its recovery. Bergmann notes that in terms of the recovery, a key component of it was that it was welfare-orientated.[11] One of the main aims of the government was to do as much as it could to protect Iceland’s Nordic welfare system and the consolidation measures implemented after the crash were based on social principles.[12] Cuts in the budget were curtailed to shelter the most important elements of the welfare structure. To meet the rising costs of such a social protection scheme after the crisis hit, in addition to falling revenue, considerable tax reform was introduced. An increase in income tax on the highest wages was introduced instead of a flat rate. Capital and corporate income tax rates were raised, new special wealth taxes and a bank levy introduced, environmental and carbon emission taxes launched. The capital controls also helped by preventing capital flight once they were set in place and they also retained the assets of the creditors of the failed banks. A special resource rent tax on the export-driven fishing industry that targeted substantial increases in profits resulting from the depreciation of the Króna was introduced. This and running a deficit to fund certain social programs necessary to soften the impact of the crisis were important in achieving economic progress. For example, in 2011 and 2012, 1% of GDP each year was used to subsidize interest rates to indebted households and a special social stimulus package was introduced in 2011 which increased wages and benefits. Both the IMF and OECD have pointed to this social emphasis with the latter claiming that “[c]onsolidation policies appear to have been designed in an overall equalising manner.”[13]

 

As a result Iceland was the only country within the OECD where the average income of earners at the top of the scale fell more than that of those at the bottom of the scale. During the boom inequality increased significantly, making Iceland an interesting test case for the debate surrounding Professor Thomas Piketty’s claims on wealth inequality and the development of capitalism.[14] But in tackling the crisis, socially just principles contributed to Iceland’s recovery. The Icelandic authorities were terrified of the prospects of a double-dip crisis which could have easily become the reality if funds were not redistributed through the tax system and social protection shielded from cuts. Strong moral arguments support such an approach, as measures should focus on getting the whole of society through the crisis and not just financial institutions, but they are also economically sensible. The focus should be on maintaining as much as possible the purchasing power of low- and middle-income groups. A counterproductive move would have been to cut unemployment benefits when it peaked, in the name of cost-cutting, and then introducing extra costs in areas people highly rely on, such as education or health services. Austerity not only hurts the individual who lost his job, but also the community that relies on him as a consumer, as his diminished income needs to pay for public services he previously did not have to.

 

The Icelandic boom, bust and recovery story offers a fascinating study for policy-makers, journalists, academics or just anyone interested in understanding financial crises. The big question is whether Iceland can offer any lessons to other countries that face a crisis. I think the verdict is mixed. There are lessons in the failures leading up to the crisis and in what made the country emerge from crisis. It is right to stress that every country faces a different set of circumstances, even though they are all lumped together as countries facing economic crisis in discussions on “crisis”. But maybe the most important lesson from Iceland is that when tackling a crisis there are always more possibilities available than are usually laid on the table. Even when facing serious consequences, taking the unexpected route is not so disastrous.

 

 

References  

 

Baruchello, G. (2013a), ‘The Picture—Small and Big: Iceland and the Crises’, Nordicum-Mediterraneum, Vol. 9, no. 3, available at: http://nome.unak.is/nm-marzo-2012/vol-9-no-3-2014/73-conference-paper/480-the-picture-small-and-big-iceland-and-the-crises

 

Bergmann, E. (2014). Iceland and the International Financial Crisis: Boom, Bust and Recovery. Palgrave Macmillan.

 

Byrne, E. & Thorsteinsson, H. (2012):‘Lessons for Ireland from Iceland’s financial crisis?’, in Lucey, B., Larkin, C. & Gurdgiev, C. (eds): What if Ireland Defaults?, Dublin, Orpen Press, pp. in press.

 

Halldórsson, Ó.G. & Zöega, G. (2010): Iceland’s financial crisis in an international perspective. Economic Institute Working Paper Series W10:02. Reykjavík, University of Iceland Economic Institute.

 

Huijbens, E. & Thorsteinsson, H. (forthcoming): Maintaining welfare in the wake of collapse – the case of Iceland‘. Geografiska Annaler B

 

IMF (2011): ‘Iceland’s Recovery – Lesson and Challenges’ The International Monetary Fund, 27th October, retrieved from: http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2011/isl/index.htm, 9th November 2011.

 

IMF (2012): Iceland 2012: Article IV Consultation and first post-program monitoring discussion. Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund.

 

IMF (2013a): Baltic and Icelandic Experiences of Capital Flows and Capital Flow Measures. Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund.

 

IMF (2013b): Fiscal Monitor April 2013 Fiscal Adjustment in an Uncertain World. Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund (World economic and financial surveys, 0258-7440)

IMF(2014): Iceland: Fourth Post-Program Monitoring Discussions-Staff Report; Press Release; and Statement by the Executive Director for Iceland. Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund. .

 

Johnsen, G. (2014). Bringing Down the Banking System: Lessons from Iceland. Palgrave Macmillan.

 

Lane, P. R. (2012). The European sovereign debt crisis. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(3), 49-67. Chicago

 

Karanikolos, M. (2013) et al. “Financial crisis, austerity, and health in Europe.”The Lancet 381.9874: 1323-1331.

 

Konzelmann, S. J. (2014). „The political economics of austerity“. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 38 (4): 701-741

 

Loftsdóttir, K. (2010). The loss of innocence: The Icelandic fnancial crisis and colonial past. Anthropology Today, 26(6), 9-13.

 

Magnússon, G. (2010): Lessons from a small country in a financial crisis or Dr. Minsky and Mr. Ponzi in Iceland. Economic Institute Working Paper Series W10:03. Reykjavík, University of Iceland Economic Institute.

 

OECD (2011): OECD Economic Surveys: Iceland. Paris, OECD.  

 

OECD (2013): Crisis squeezes income and puts pressure on inequality and poverty. Paris, OECD.  

 

Ólafsson, S. and Kristjánsson, A.S. (2012): Skýrsla I: Umfang kreppunnar og afkoma ólíkra tekjuhópa [Report I: The scope of the recession and returns to different income brackets]. Reykjavík, University of Iceland Social Research Centre.  

 

Thorsdottir, T. K. (2013). Iceland in Crisis. Women and Austerity: The Economic Crisis and the Future for Gender Equality, 102.

 

Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the Twenty-first Century. Harvard University Press.

Wade, R. and Sigurgeirsdóttir, S. (2010): ‘Lessons from Iceland’, New Left Review, 65: 5-29.

 

Wade, R. and Sigurgeirsdóttir, S. (2012) “Iceland’s rise, fall, stabilisation and beyond.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 36.1: 127-144.

 

 


[1] For an overview of main economic indicators before and after crash see IMF 2011, 2012 & 2014 and Halldórsson & Zöega 2010.

[2] Financial Vikings are discussed in Loftsdóttir 2010 and see Baruchello 2014 for discussion on the neoliberal ethos during the boom years.

[3] Stuckler & Basu. “How Austerity Kills”. New York Times. May 12, 2013. See also Karanikolos et. al. 2013 and see discussion in Byrne & Thorsteinsson.

[4] See Lane 2012 on crisis packages for European countries especially p. 57-59. On the history of the idea of austerity see Konzelmann 2014.

[5] Christensen 2006

[6] Johnsen 2014:93

[7] Byrne & Thorsteinsson 2011. See also Magnússon 2010.

[8] Johnsen 2014:185

[9] IMF 2013b

[10] IMF 2013b: 11.

[11] Bergmann 2014:159

[12] For detailed argument consult Huijbens & Thorsteinsson forthcoming.

[13] OECD 2013: 3. Gender issues are discussed in Thorsdottir 2013. See also Ólafsson & Kristjánsson 2012 for discussion on how changes in the tax system sheltered low income groups.

[14] Piketty 2014.

Sven-Olof Olsson (ed.), Managing Crises and De-globalization. Nordic foreign trade and exchange 1919-39 (New York: Routledge, 2014 pbk.)

 

Historical memory is unwelcome by people who have too much at stake in the short term to realise that they may have much more to lose in the medium and/or long term. Historical memory is also unwelcome by people who wish that economic history could fit neatly within the theoretical constructs that they favour because of ideological, political, moral or pecuniary commitments of theirs (cf. Francesco Boldizzoni, The Poverty of Clio: Resurrecting Economic History, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011).

  Continue reading Sven-Olof Olsson (ed.), Managing Crises and De-globalization. Nordic foreign trade and exchange 1919-39 (New York: Routledge, 2014 pbk.)

Jón Ólafsson (ed.), Lýðræðistilraunir. Ísland í hruni og endurreisn [Democratic experiments. Iceland in collapse and renaissance] (Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 2014)

 

The indications are that the costs are 44% of Iceland’s GDP, meaning that it is internationally the third costliest financial collapse ever (Luc Laeven og Fabian Valencia. 2013. Systemic Banking Crises Database. IMF Economic Review, 61, pp. 225-270). The series of events leading to the collapse and what has happened afterwards has had serious consequences for Icelandic society and government. The most obvious sign of these consequences is that trust levels within Icelandic society have declined. The banks enjoy least trust of all Icelandic institutions, as is to be expected, as only 10.2% of Icelanders said in October 2014, six years after the financial collapse, that they trust Icelandic banks (MMR Market and Media Research). Just 12.8% trust Alþingi, the Icelandic Parliament, according to the same source.

 

One of the consequences of the financial collapse was that in 2009 the Icelandic republic had the first left-wing government in its history, i.e. since it was established in 1944. This government had to deal with all the most serious consequences of the financial collapse. On top of that, it tried to engineer changes to important Icelandic social institutions like the fishing quota system, which has been controversial since its inception in 1983, and the Icelandic constitution. The reasons behind the changes to the quota system were based on justice and fair allocation of natural resources. The reasons behind changing the constitution were not as clear, but it seems to me that the best construal of them is that the attempt to change the constitution was a confidence-building measure, an attempt to reconstruct the most important legal document of the republic´s legal system and secure general trust in governmental institutions. According to the same survey firm as referred to above, the legal system as a whole enjoyed the trust of 28.9% last November, but in November 2013 the same measurement was 38.1% and in October 2009 the trust in the legal system as a whole in Iceland was 36.5%. There is no reason to read too deep a meaning into these measurements, but they are some indication that the preparation, writing and rejection of the draft constitution have not affected public trust in the legal system. Some may think that we can infer from this that the whole affair surrounding the drafting of a new constitution was in vain. But this may be too hasty.

 

What actually happened in this process? First, there were public protests against the sitting government ending in its fall in early 2009. Second, after the general election in 2009, the first left-wing government in the history of the Icelandic republic was established. The prime minister of that government had long been of the opinion that the constitution needed revision. Third, some general meetings were arranged early in 2009, trying to find out which were the most important values of Icelanders. The government organised a similar meeting in early 2010 to figure out those values that should govern the revision of the constitution. Fourth, the government established a committee gathering data and evaluating various ideas about such a revision, thus preparing the work of a constitutional assembly. Fifth, the government decided that an assembly should be elected by the general public to write a new constitution or revise parts of the existing one. Sixth, the election to the constitutional assembly was declared null and void by the Icelandic Supreme Court after a legal challenge. The government decided then to establish a constitutional committee with the same mission and the same individuals as voted onto the assembly. Seventh, the constitutional committee delivered in four months a draft of a new constitution. This draft was never assented to twice by the majority parliament with a general election in between, as it must do according to the rules laid down by the present constitution.

 

This book is a collection of essays in Icelandic about this whole process and other democratic experiments in Iceland’s recent years. It is written by two Icelandic authors and six international authorities on democracy and democratic developments. Jón Ólafsson edits the book and writes an introduction describing the development of the constitutional project and other democratic experiments in Iceland. James Fishkin analyses some of the processes that took place in the constitutional preparation and the drafting of the new one, and he evaluates to what extent deliberation and rational discussion were features of them. His conclusion is that neither the general meetings nor the constitutional committee reflected the general population and we should be careful about drawing any conclusion about the views of the meetings and the committee coinciding with the views of the population as a whole. He is also critical of the lack of rational discussion both in the preparations and the drafting of the new constitution.

 

Hélène Landemore examines the process of preparing and writing a new constitution in Iceland from an epistemological point of view. She is interested in: how the constitutional committee dealt with the problem of writing a constitution; and how it used “crowdsourcing”, meaning the competence and the intelligence of the general public, especially in writing the draft of the new constitution. She is critical of the role of experts in writing and editing the draft of the new constitution; she believes that the process had serious drawbacks, as she thinks that the general public and its representatives are capable of writing a constitution upon the condition that as many as possible take part in the process. She believes that the current Icelandic method for establishing a change to the present constitution or adopting a new one is too restrictive. Tom Ginsburg and Zachary Elkins approach the preparations and process of writing the draft of the new Icelandic constitution from a comparative point of view. They review various views of transparency in such a process, as well as the role of experts. They are, like the other experts writing in this book, favourable to the opening up of the process for preparing and writing a constitution and the government process in general, but they realise that there is no simple solution or simple recipe for a constitutional process, in Iceland or anywhere else. Thus, they ask the difficult question: If the new constitution was the result of a grassroots movement, why was it so easy to stop it in parliament? Why were those parties that opposed the new constitution elected as the new parliamentary majority in 2013? There is no simple answer to that question and there are two appendices to their article that are informative and interesting.

 

Paolo Spade and Giovanni Allegretti write about novelties in democracy or new initiatives in democracy, especially participatory financial budgeting as practised in a number of Brazilian cities. They explore the connection between these new initiatives and the new possibilities that have opened up on the net. They realise that these connections are complex and they can easily become counterproductive from the point of view of participation, if not used carefully. Democratic experiments in other places are drawn into the discussion such as Portugal, Germany and the United States, and in Reykjavík, Iceland. This is not directly relevant to the process around the constitution but the discussion broadens the picture of new initiatives in democracy. The last article is by Kristinn Már Ársælsson and is an overview of democratic initiatives in Iceland in the years 2009-2013, i.e. the years of the first left-wing government of the Icelandic republic. These include the preparation and the writing of the draft constitution, plus two national referenda on the Icesave agreements between the Icelandic government and the British and Dutch governments. These referenda were engineered by the refusal of the Icelandic president to sign two laws supported by the majority of parliament. In both cases the general public voted against these laws. These were the first national referenda since 1944, when it was decided to establish a republic. He also discusses the initiatives taken by the city council in Reykjavík.

 

All these articles are interesting, make important points and throw light on the events that have taken place in Iceland in the last five years. This is of particular value for a small society like Iceland, because very few people outside the country can understand what happens here and why. Icelandic scientists are a part of their own society and sometimes find it difficult to analyse what actually happens. The critical distance of foreign scientists can bring benefits.

 

This distance has its drawbacks too. This is clear from the discussion of the constitutional process. There is no attempt to relate it to the political culture in Iceland. What is most interesting about this process, which elected a constitutional assembly from members of the general public, is also a major break with the Icelandic tradition of politicians and legal experts discussing and drafting changes to the constitution. Part of this tradition is that all the major parties have had to agree to the changes put forward. Even though this is not literally true of all the changes proposed, it is true of most of them. This has guaranteed that the changes proposed and consented to in parliament before it is resolved, are consented too unchanged in the newly elected parliament. This threshold to changes to the constitution has not proved to be serious or impossible in the Icelandic context. Changes have regularly been made to the Icelandic constitution. It is not fashionable nowadays to take Icelandic political culture seriously, since its vices rather than its virtues have been more prominent in recent years, but it seems to me that one of the reasons working against the new constitution was that there were serious political disagreements about it. Pushing it through parliament would have been a serious break with the national consensus tradition. You may not think very much of this tradition, but it is an historical fact; besides, traditions in political cultures have to be reckoned with.

Per Eliasson, KG Hammarlund, Erik Lund & Carsten Tage Nielson (eds.), Historie didatik i Norden: del 1, historiemetvetanda – historiebruk (Malmö & Halmstad: Malmö högskola and Högskolan i Halmstad, 2012)

The challenge is tackled in two volumes; “historiemetvetanda – historiebruk” [history usage] rewieved here;  and “historisk kunskap” [historical knowledge], in a separate volume, not covered here.

The authors constitute a group who have a background in history teaching and research in history teaching. They cover all three levels of schooling, from compulsory school through upper-secondary and university level.

Continue reading Per Eliasson, KG Hammarlund, Erik Lund & Carsten Tage Nielson (eds.), Historie didatik i Norden: del 1, historiemetvetanda – historiebruk (Malmö & Halmstad: Malmö högskola and Högskolan i Halmstad, 2012)

Deweyan Democracy: The Epistemic Context

Dewey’s characterizations of democratic conduct show that he thinks of it as involving a give and take. One’s contribution (according to ability) creates a claim (according to need). The individual has duty to his or her community (or society) and society has corresponding duties toward him or her. The mutual dependence of individual and society is the dynamic that generates values. Intellectual freedom, cultural and intellectual diversity, growth and participation are examples of central values made possible by the democratic dynamic. Democracy for Dewey is thus primary: It is an ideal because of the conditions for value formation that it creates. Other values are then (or can be) derived from the democratic ideal.

It is in this complex sense that Deweyan democracy is a “way of life.” The claim is not that democracy is just one of many possible choices of a way to organize society or a way to live. It is in Dewey’s view the only possible framework for the ever-increasing intricacies of the modern world.

There are two ways to explore the conception of democracy sketched here. One is a thorough exegesis of Dewey’s works to investigate whether this characterization of his view makes sense – to check its correctness. Another is to look beyond Dewey and see whether the approach to democracy so inspired by his philosophy is a good approach to democratic theory, if the goal is to seek a useful justification of democracy. In this paper I am interested in doing the latter. In what follows I will attempt to show that “Deweyan democracy”—i.e. the idea of democracy as a way of life—offers interpretive possibilities that help understand how we can both have a substantive notion of democracy and put it in a justificatory framework where rejecting it is certainly possible, but fails to make sense unless, before rejecting it, one is prepared to accept it, in which case rejection, of course, does not make sense.

 

I

The democratic ideal—democracy as a way of life—looks like a moral concept. It has, obviously, a moral side to it in the sense of presenting a morally superior way of organizing social life (to use Deweyan vocabulary) to other available ways of doing so. But it is a mistake to overemphasize this moral side of the concept (although a frequently to be seen in comments on Dewey’s philosophy). The moral side in my view is less important than the epistemic side of Deweyan democracy. Democracy as a way of life provides the environment that protects and fosters science or, more generally, inquiry. The reason is proximity in method: In a democratic arrangement moral and political problems get a treatment similar or even analogous to what scientific method would dictate for inquiry. One must be careful not to take the analogy too far however. It does not mean that the method of science should be used to solve moral issues, but it is a recipe for moral cognitivism. Moral as well as political problems should be approached by reason and argument: Democracy is the intellectual environment that fosters reason and argument.

One should also follow Dewey in drawing a distinction between the idea of democracy and the manifestations of democracy (Dewey 1954, p. 143-144). The forms of power associated with democracy, such as representative government, majority rule, parliaments, elections etc. are no necessary features of democracy. Democracy is thus characterized by its ends rather than by the specific means that have traditionally been used to reach them.

Deweyan democracy has evoked considerable discussion in recent years. Many philosophers, who are generally sympathetic to Dewey, have been skeptical about his democratic theory and some have rejected it outright. Robert Talisse has argued that if democracy is a moral ideal it must be treated as other (possibly competing) ideals and values, from the point of view of value pluralism. Talisse correctly points out that from this perspective one cannot think of it as a shared or basic value, it would only amount to a moral value which could certainly be chosen or desired by any reasonable person, but could equally well be “reasonable rejected” by anyone adhering to different values (Talisse 2012, p. 109). For Talisse, Deweyan democracy fails the “pluralism test.” He argues that Deweyan democracy is simply one version of perfectionism because of the emphasis on human flourishing that it entails. In other words, if we read Deweyan democracy from the point of view of a Rawlsian conception of liberalism, the democratic ideal turns out to be just one more “comprehensive doctrine” which can never serve as a basis for a political organization acceptable to all reasonable persons (Talisse 2012, p. 112-114).

Matthew Festenstein points out—contra Talisse—that the notion of reasonable rejectability is not the kind of constraint that the pragmatist (i.e. the Deweyan) could accept. Since it only proposes a fixed standard to adopt or reject basic values it amounts to an a priori evaluation, which is not very useful from a pragmatist point of view. While Festenstein recognizes that one can reasonably reject the democratic ideal that, in his view, does not exclude it from being a possible “basis for the justification of state power.” It is difficult to see, however, what is gained by his result, since relativizing the democratic ideal does not remove Talisse’s objection, it only refocuses the difficulty (Festenstein 2010, p. 42).

Eric MacGilvray picks a useful element out of Deweyan democracy when he argues that it provides a kind of a test, similar to the pragmatic maxim, to determine whether one or another belief is fit for public discussion. It means that holding—and promoting—a belief about how to justify state power e.g., requires willingness to present it in experimental terms. The threshold for access to discussion about basic values for the social contract need in his view not be higher than that. If a belief can be tested and discussed experimentally—it would not have to be experimentally tested—and its meaning (conceivable consequences) for society can thus be assessed and discussed, there is no way to say that it is unfit for providing a justification of state power (MacGilvray 2004, p. 163-167; see also Festenstein 2010, p. 33). While MacGilvray provides a more interesting way of filtering issues fit for public (and political) discussion, his argument is no direct counterargument to Talisse’s. He carves out a role for Deweyan democracy, i.e. to offer a framework for determining the democratic meaningfulness of beliefs. While I think this is an interesting and in fact very useful and practical way of using the idea of Deweyan democracy, it limits it to a methodological tool.

Other authors such as Elizabeth Anderson have praised Dewey’s experimentalist account of democracy and yet other, such as Cheryl Misak, suggest that by using the more rigorous Peircean approach to inquiry as a model for understanding Deweyan democracy, one can exploit the inquiry/democracy analogy and apply methods of inquiry to the search for common solutions to social, political and even moral problems (Anderson 2006, p. 14-15; Misak 2000, see p. 45-47).

II

The question still remains whether and why Deweyan democracy should be chosen as an ideal, what kind of choice that would be, and what one has so chosen. I think this choice must be seen as a result of two related beliefs:

  1. Value articulation: The choice of democracy as a way of life implies accepting the claim that democracy is a necessary condition for articulating central activities, goods and values in community such as freedom and equality, education, public discussion, openness and opportunity.
  2. Opportunity creation: Democracy is a better way to create opportunities for inquiry, experimentation and in general solve problems using best available means and methods than other models of social organization.

If these beliefs can be sustained, one could see democracy as a prism through which certain values become articulated rather than itself a simple or core value. To reject democracy is therefore to refocus or rearrange social or moral values. If a democratic approach is not seen as basic, values such as the ones already mentioned, as well as many other central values of modern society such as pluralism, toleration and participation loose the meaning that democracy as a way of life gives them. Democracy thus should be chosen as “a way of life” in the sense of a principle of articulation and arrangement.

I depart from the authors I have mentioned in this paper since I want to show that the best argument for democracy comes neither from the independent standard that a Peircean model might create, nor from the experimentalist vision that it entails. The public action test does not per se provide an argument for democracy it only explains how we can make a useful distinction between issues that properly belong to public discussion and those that don’t. One might simply argue, of course, that there is no alternative. In a very practical way democracy is accepted as the only viable kind of social and political arrangement in modern society. The superficial acceptance of democracy does not mean that democracy is ideally practiced (or even practiced at all) in every case. It only reveals the dominance of the discourse of democracy.

There are however alternatives to democracy, some of them quite powerful. Sometimes these alternatives are presented as the necessary basis of democracy and there are social forces that promote them as necessary restrictions of democracy, since without certain restrictions democracy could lead to undesirable results.

As Bo Rothstein has shown, the correlation between democracy and good life is not always in democracy’s favor (Rothstein 2013, p. 15). Many surveys show it to be negative over a range of accepted indicators measuring quality of life. Good governance seems, on the other hand, to be strongly correlated to success in improving the lives of citizens, and increased democracy may lead to deterioration in governance. The alternative to democracy might thus be efficiency and justice in the design of institutions, as well as basic liberties that promote equality and individual freedom in accordance with liberal principles. It is clear in any case that if increased democracy is shown to go against improving the quality of life for citizens that indeed would deliver a strong argument against democracy.[1]

My contention is that by “choosing democracy” one is not choosing a particular method or procedure for a specific kind of decision-making but rather a general framework for public choice and deliberation. One could see such democratic commitment as a moral commitment. In such a case one would argue that the fairness of democratic approaches should commit one to them, even in cases when certain problems might seem better solved using a different approach. But the commitment is clearly epistemic as well: If there is an approach to problem solving best described as democratic to which one is committed, then one is also committed to the limitations of the approach. While Dewey seems not very keen on providing a moral justification for choosing democracy, he seriously attempts to provide an epistemic justification, i.e. argue that democracy will, in the long run, provide a better environment, better tools and on the whole better approaches to problem solving than other conceivable (or available) approaches.

From the Deweyan point of view the epistemic commitment must therefore be seen as prior to the moral commitment. It means that democracy should be seen as a way of dealing with and solving problems. It would not do to argue simply that democracy somehow ensures that the best methods are used or that solving problems democratically will always yield the best solutions. What it does mean is to take seriously the duty to seek not only solutions that can be had by majority decision or solutions that can be forged by negotiation and compromise but to seek the best solutions. If “real” democracy often (even most of the time) falls short of the democratic ideal, this does not make the idea of democracy any less clear. Quite the contrary, since it is the idea by which political decisions should be elucidated and criticized.

 

III

In the last part of the paper I want to sketch how I think that the idea of Deweyan democracy should be used to discuss and judge political and administrative practice. The objective is on the one hand to see how democratic practice falls short of an ideal of democracy (or not), on the other to provide a healthy angle of democratic criticism. Dewey’s emphasis on experimentation in connection with democracy, i.e. seeing democracy as the free exchange and discussion of ideas where the point is to have a generation and selection process based on making full use of “intelligence” is key to understanding this conception of democracy (Dewey 1985, p. 362). This means that in democracy as a way of life, individual contribution to decision and policy-making is matched with (conceivable) individual influence on decisions and policy.

In addition to the two basic democratic beliefs—that it is a framework for value articulation and opportunity creation—one should think of two central conditions of democracy:

  1. The efficiency condition: For each participating individual success does not necessarily entail being able to convince others of one’s point of view or being in the majority but on the efficiency of democratic process. Success is to be a part of a conclusion based on discussion, fact-finding, deliberation, debate and eventually (perhaps) voting that harvests the input of the participants.
  2. The integrity condition: A decision made, or policy adopted, must be a result of what has been democratically concluded. If the logical space of decision-making is different from the logical space of reason-giving, the procedure used is meaningless.

The efficiency condition deals with the ability of a group to come to a conclusion and the integrity condition with the relation between that conclusion and an eventual decision or action. Democratic failures may appear in both parts undermining either grounds for policies or legitimacy of decisions. The work of parliaments often evokes suspicion about the integrity of the democratic process when the connection between arguments and information revealed in deliberation and the eventual decision seems vague or absent; when positions are known in advance, more or less, and the debate carries only a symbolic function.

The give and take mentioned earlier need not be understood as individual willingness or commitment to participate in public debates or policy-making and therefore the efficiency condition does not depend on actual participation. Instead of seeking a standard to determine the content of public reason, one should seek a framework to connect participation and policy. The point should be access rather than inclusion, where the possibility of participating, not only in exercising free speech, but in actually providing input into policy, is at stake. The problem with participatory approaches taken by governments is often their reluctance to acknowledge the importance of public participation seeing it rather as a possible hurdle in successful governing. Therefore there is tendency to both limit the power of extra-institutional participation and place all kinds of security valves on the possible decisions to be reached by such extra-institutional participants. To illustrate this and at the same time probe the conditions of democracy and the basic democratic beliefs, I want to discuss four recent examples from Icelandic politics:

  1. National assemblies 2009 and 2010
  2. Annulment of the elections to the constitutional assembly 2011
  3. The first Icesave referendum 2011
  4. National referendum on the constitutional bill 2012

After the financial collapse in Iceland in 2008 there was considerable pressure on the government to use unorthodox methods to change the course in Icelandic politics and promote democracy. The first attempt to create a public voice in order to influence policy systematically was made by an independent group of people who formed an NGO called “The Anthill”. The Anthill organized a so-called National Assembly (Icel. Þjóðfundur) whose purpose was to articulate basic values and general policy goals for Icelandic society (Gunnar Hersveinn 2010). The National Assembly consisted of over one thousand people, a random sample from the general population, who were asked to participate in a meeting held in one day, 14 November 2009. The Anthill then planned to have the government accept the results of the assembly as guiding principles in the political renewal ahead.[2] Although it turned out to be problematic to simply adopt the results of the National Assembly and include them in the various tasks of the government, these results were taken seriously. The government adopted the methodology used in organizing National assemblies for public consultation regionally and nationally. In 2010 the Constitutional commission, whose task was to prepare for the Constitutional assembly, held a second National assembly elected in 2010 in order to revise or rewrite the Icelandic constitution.

There were several problems in the selection of participants for the National assemblies, which strictly speaking make it difficult to talk of participants as random samples of the population. Some other organizational problems have also reduced value of the results, but here I will focus on something else.

The task of the first National assembly was to articulate core values to guide governmental policy. The task of the second was to identify the core values to guide the revision of the constitution.[3] In both cases a number of general policy statements were also generated by participants to further identify policy goals. The problem with these results was their generality. The meetings neither provided priority rankings for goals nor any interpretation of value commitments and therefore policy-makers could hardly use them to plan policy. Therefore, even if the meetings were admirable exercises of public participation and engaged all kinds of people in thinking and talking about political issues—many had perhaps never been consulted except by occasional opinion polls—their overall usefulness was difficult to see. These meetings may have carried some meaning for participants who saw certain general value commitments articulated in a dramatic way as a result of the one-day meeting. They could however hardly have seen it as an opportunity for inquiry since the meeting was not deliberative. Its purpose was to express rather than critically engage the views of the participants. The assembly also fails both the efficiency and the integrity condition. The lack of systematic discussion created a gap between whatever was said during the meeting and the results published after the meeting. No problem was dealt with during the meeting and therefore nothing can be said about efficiency in doing so. Worse since the results were overly vague, it was difficult to see how the integrity condition could be fulfilled either. The relation between these results and eventual decision-making could not be spelled out. From the perspective of Deweyan democracy one could then say that the meetings were democratically meaningless, since while it allowed symbolic participation, it could not effect policy- or decision-making in any meaningful way.

Elections to the Constitutional assembly were held 25 November 2010. A large number of candidates ran for a place in the assembly – 525 competed for 25 seats. The elections were unusual in many ways. The government was criticized during and after the elections for many flaws in how the elections were conducted. There were certain problems with the design of the ballot, the ballot boxes, the voting booths and some of the procedures used. After the elections a group of citizens complained to the Supreme Court who then reviewed the elections and found it to be flawed in six respects. Although the flaws were technical and gave no reason to conclude that the elections had been rigged or the vote misrepresented, the Supreme court used its authority to annul the elections.

One might argue that a decision, made by a judicial body such as the Supreme Court, should not be evaluated in terms of democracy since it is based on the law and on judicial authority. It was clear however, that having pointed out certain flaws in the way the elections were conducted, the Supreme Court had a choice to annul or not annul the elections. Since the results were not in dispute, the Court had no democratic reason to annul, i.e. doing so did not serve to ensure that the democratic will of the electorate was protected, in fact the will of the voters was in this respect not considered to be the most important issue. The decision was thus undemocratic and one could even argue that it was anti-democratic, or, in other words, an attempt to put an end to a democratic process, rather than facilitate it.

From the point of view of Deweyan democracy one should argue that the Supreme Court had a duty to point out the flaws in the elections but also to base its decision on a commitment to serve democracy. As was later pointed out by critics of the decision, it is not in accordance with the rule of law that a judicial body may decide to annul a democratic election conducted legally, without significant failures and whose results clearly express the will of the electorate.[4] Here a commitment to democracy should have guided the Supreme Court. It is an epistemic commitment in the sense that the will of the people was known, it is also a moral commitment since serving democracy will then be seen as a more important value than technical perfection in the conduct of elections.

One of the bitterest issues debated in Iceland after the collapse of Iceland’s international banks, was the so-called Icesave case. Landsbankinn, one of the three big banks that collapsed in October 2008, had in 2007 started individual savings accounts in Britain and Holland that were quite lucrative for private savers. When Landsbankinn’s foreign operations were separated from its Icelandic operations and declared bankrupt, thousands of people lost their savings but were partially compensated by the British and Dutch governments in accordance with the European banking insurance policy. The British and the Dutch claimed that the Icelandic government was liable to pay the compensation and so they demanded to get back the amount paid to the individual savers. The Icelandic government to begin with accepted its responsibility and an agreement was negotiated. When the agreement was put to the parliament for ratification, a huge controversy ensued. Although the agreement was passed in the parliament it was clear that it created much anger among voters, who felt the Icelandic nation was being forced to pay debts created by irresponsible bank managers. The Icelandic president intervened by refusing to sign into law the bill on the agreement passed by the parliament, after having received petitions to do so from thousands of Icelandic citizens.

The Icelandic constitution stipulates that if the president refuses to sign a law, it must be put to a national referendum. As the referendum was being prepared, however, the government entered into new negotiations with the British and the Dutch. When the referendum on whether to accept the agreement passed by the parliament or reject it was conducted, the agreement was no longer relevant. It made therefore no difference whether the voters accepted or rejected the agreement since the government already had an offer that was clearly better for the Icelanders than the one they were voting on, even if not a formal signed offer or agreement. The referendum was therefore meaningless, and no democratic purpose in conducting it. One might argue that from some formalistic perspective it was unavoidable to conduct the referendum since it had already been scheduled. Parliament could however also have revoked the bill. The question here should be what would be more democratic to hold the referendum or abandon it. From the perspective of Deweyan democracy a referendum that fails to give a meaningful result—whatever the result—is not democratic. Other approaches might yield positions such as that holding the referendum is harmless; anyone who fails to see the point in participating could refrain from doing so, and so on. But it seems to me that if there is no problem–solving purpose in holding the referendum, and the whole point of doing it has become secondary, i.e. declaring support for (or opposition to) the government it has lost its democratic legitimacy. Whatever purpose there may be in participating (or not participating) it is different from the question being voted on.

Finally I want to discuss the national referendum on the constitutional bill submitted by the Constitutional Council.[5] The bill was submitted in the summer of 2011 and was meant to be passed before the end of the term in the spring of 2013. In October 2012 a consultatory referendum was held on the bill and at the same time participants were asked to express their view on six key questions on the content of the new constitution. While expressing support or opposition to the bill itself was relatively straightforward and yielded clear results (around two thirds were in favor of the bill, 50% of the electorate participated), the questions were vague and the results therefore begged the question. I will not go into detail in describing the various questions or the problems the evoked. It will suffice to take one example. One of the questions had to do with the national church. Iceland has not taken the step to separate the national church from the state. The current Icelandic constitution says that the state must “support and protect” the Evangelical Lutheran Church.[6] The question in the referendum was whether the voter thought that the new constitution should have a clause dealing with the national church. It did not ask what (if anything) the voter thought the constitution should say about the National church. Since (to many people’s surprise) the result was that the majority wanted there to be something on the church in the constitution, it was unclear how to interpret the will of the voters in that respect.

Again, from the point of view of some democratic theories this flaw in the referendum might not be taken to mean that it was undemocratic, but from a Deweyan perspective one would be able to conclude that since the result was democratically meaningless the referendum did not fulfill the epistemic conditions of democracy. The answer to the question made problem-solving more, rather than less, difficult, and the referendum therefore was meaningless for democratic problem solving.

Conclusion

Dewey’s discussion of democracy and the framework referred to as Deweyan democracy makes sense of a democratic commitment according to which we can assess democratic initiatives and results from an epistemic and moral point of view. The epistemic commitment is prior to the moral commitment since in many cases the moral commitment is a result of the epistemic commitment. Once democracy as a way of life is understood in this context, there is no need to fear that a democratic commitment amounts to committing oneself to a comprehensive doctrine such as an ideology or a religious belief. It is simply to make demands not only about democratic procedure, participation or deliberation but also in regard to the results of democratic decision- and policy-making.

References

Anderson, Elizabeth. “The Epistemology of Democracy.” Episteme (2006).

Dewey, John. Democracy and Education. New York: Free Press, 1966.

—. Reconstruction in Philosophy. Boston: Beacon Press, 1957.

—. The Public and Its Problems. Athens: Swallow Press – Ohio University Press, 1954.

Festenstein, Matthew. “Pragmatism, Inquiry and Political Liberalism.” Contemporary Political Theory 9.1 (2010): 25–44.

MacGilvray, Eric A. Reconstructing Public Reason. Harvard University Press, 2004.

Misak, Cheryl J. Truth, Politics, Morality. Routledge, 2000.

Talisse, Robert B. “Can Democracy Be a Way of Life? Deweyan Democracy and the Problem of Pluralism.” Transactions of the Charles Peirce Society XXXIX.1-21 (2003).

—. Pluralism and Liberal Politics. New York: Routledge, 2012.

Endnotes



1 The terms democracy and governance are sometimes conflated. In his introduction to a collection of papers on democracy, Giorgio Agamben maintains that “the word democracy is used in most cases to refer to a technique of governing” (Agamben 2011, p. 1). While it is probably true that the term democracy is often used inaccurately, the distinction between governance and democracy is quite clear. Agamben probably overstates the confusion. There is however a tendency to describe administrative restrictions of democracy as part of a democratic framework.

2 The website created for the 2009 National assembly only has information in Icelandic. See thjodfundur2009.is. In the Q and A section of the page it is stated that the goal of the assembly is to create “a strong common vision” for the nation which will help “solve difficult and complicated problems”. In another section the intention to present them to the government with, as well as to institutions and associations whose role it will be to contribute to the recovery of the country after the crisis.

3 The National assembly (also referred to as National forum and National gathering) is described on its website, also available in English. See http://www.thjodfundur2010.is/english/ n.d.)

4 Reynir Axelsson, Athugasemdir við ákvörðun Hæstaréttar um ógildingu kosningar til stjórnlagaþings. Published 23 February 2011 at stjornarskrarfelagid.is.

5 The Constitutional Council was appointed by parliament after the nullification of the elections to the Constitutional Assembly. All 25 elected Assembly members were appointed except on who decided not to participate in the appointed body.

6 Constitution of the Republic of Iceland, Article 62. See: http://www.government.is/constitution/.

Brian Lucey, Charles Larkin and Constantin Gurdgiev (eds.) What if Ireland defaults? (Dublin: Orpen Press, 2012)

 

 

There is a story to be told about this turn of events; both a general story about crises in the capitalist system, including this particular crisis, and also about how the crises have unfolded in particular countries. When I talk about crisis in this review I am not referring to the Euro crisis but to the banking crisis.

 

It is worth pointing out at the beginning of this review that it is a significant fact that a number of countries have avoided this crisis even though they have been affected by it as, I guess, every country in Europe at least has been. The Scandinavian countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland have been able to avoid this crisis and the same applies to Canada. Finland has adopted the Euro and is having problems because of it, but all the four Scandinavian countries had learnt their lesson from their banking crisis in the early 1990s and managed to avoid all the pitfalls in the time leading up to the banking collapse in the autumn 2008. The key issue seems to have been a close monitoring of their banking systems and a tough management of the system by the state. It seems to me that the role of the state is probably the most important issue in this crisis. In the decade leading up to 2008 it seems to have become an accepted orthodoxy that somehow the market system needed only a minimum of regulation and was self-perpetuating. If there is any fairly clear lesson to be learnt from this crisis it is that this orthodoxy is a myth. The state is the most important institution for a well-functioning market, not because the state should regulate every minute detail of the market, but because the state must put in place a good legal framework, close monitoring and the willingness of the institutions to use those powers supplied by the state to control the financial market.

 

The other option is to leave the financial system to its fate in the market, so that the banks and other financial institutions can collapse and become bankrupt like any other business. It is an interesting fact that no government in Europe or North-America was willing to do this. There are various reasons for this but the two most important ones seem to me to be:

 

(a) First, the risk of contagion, meaning that when one financial institution falls the confidence in the others falls sharply, so that a bank that is in no way insolvent can suddenly become so because people do not trust it any longer. This does not happen in other markets: If a building firm collapses other building firms are not in danger of collapsing and the same does seem to apply generally to the manufacturing industry. What is so special about banks? The reason why financial businesses are not in this position is because they rely so heavily on trust in their operations. A bank is not like a library where money is stacked on every shelf, because the money that you put into your account the bank lends to somebody else, who is willing to pay the interest the bank asks for. So at any time there is only a tiny portion in the bank of the money people have put into it. If there is a run on the bank, it cannot pay all the owners of current accounts their money, even if it is in perfect order. That is the basic reason why we need central banks, banks that lend to other banks, when for some reason or other their own money does not suffice.

 

(b) The second one seems to me to be the fact that banks have become so important for the everyday life of ordinary members of the public that no government can leave the bank system alone. The smooth running of the banking system has become a matter of security for the public and government is responsible for public security. If government is found wanting in public security this can easily lead to public unrest. This fact, that is, the centrality of the banking system in the life of the members of the modern public is usually overlooked when examining the financial crisis and its importance. 

 

This book explores what would happen if Ireland defaulted, did not pay any of its debts, only paid some, or paid most of them but not all. It seems to be the case that it will in all probability be impossible for the Irish state to pay all of its debt, because the Irish state decided to underwrite all of the debts of its banking system when it was grinding to a halt. This has had the consequence that public debt in Ireland is so large that it prevents the growth of the economy. Also, since Ireland decided to take up the Euro, it does not have the option of devaluing its own currency. So all roads to renewed profitability are paved with serious difficulties. This does not mean that it is impossible, but it will take a long time. The default of a sovereign state is not the same as the bankruptcy of a large business. It is much more complicated and serious, especially for the citizens of that state. All this is examined in this book.

 

The book is in four parts. The first part is general, where the authors explore research done on crises and contagion and there is a description of the problems facing Ireland and the possibilities the state has in its public finances. The second part consists of four essays on various aspects of the Irish financial crisis. It will probably have to restructure its debt and this will have to be selectively done; the public debt is analysed and it is discussed if the Irish state will be able to finance its public debt on the market when it returns there or whether the interest rate that the market requires will be unsustainable. One essay explores how Ireland´s problems are connected to the problems of the Euro. The third part collects five reflections on financial crises in other countries: Russia, Iceland, Argentina and New York. The fourth part is a collection of essays from various Irish perspectives on the debt and possible default of the Irish state.

 

This is an important book that deserves to be widely read. Every essay adds something to the panorama and at the end the reader is in a better position to evaluate the possibilities. The viewpoints are clearly expressed and well argued and even though acronyms are to be expected in this field of research they are kept to a minimum and should not prevent understanding of the issues. The arguments expressed here have relevance for many states in Europe at present.

 

 

 

 

Páll Björnsson, Jón forseti allur? Táknmyndir þjóðhetju frá andláti til samtíðar (Reykjavík: Sögufélag, 2011)

When taking into consideration the warm reception the book has received, as well as the prestigious awards, one ponders upon whether the nation is relieved by the loss of its leading political patron? Or whether this acceptance unveils tolerance towards anyone who tries to tarnish the president’s image. Páll Björnsson deconstructs the very icon that was consciously constructed of Jón Sigurðsson for a political purpose.

The story begins in a society of inequality. The funeral procession in Reykjavík in the spring of 1880 when President Jón Sigurðsson (hereafter “President Jón”) and his wife Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir (1804 -1879) were reburied, was deliberately divided by class and gender. In the very farewell of the nation to President Jón, the occasion token was used for reproducing the existing social inequalities. Women were assigned a lower status in the celebrations to commemorate President Jón. Also, there was lack of consideration towards President Jón’s widow during the preparations for President Jón’s funeral in Copenhagen in December 1879, which was organised in such a way as to promote political consolidation. Páll Björnsson writes the book from a gender point of view, thus making it an uncomfortable reminder of the national patron’s lack of stand when it came to the one of the most controversial issues in political debate of the age.

 

Páll Björnsson analyses how the political icon of President Jón was cultivated by the new media (newspapers) by appealing to emotions, whereby sorrow was converted into national mourning, remembrance into national commemoration, and funerals into national festivities. This analysis is welcomed by the reader who interprets the political presence of President Jón in modern politics after his death as a key-factor in a nation-building process. where the inhabitants of a country have been transformed into a political nation that is able to have a state of its own. Páll Björnsson does not specifically mention this, but President Jón himself lead actual Icelandic politics, which for decades prevented the parliament of Iceland (Alþingi) from acquiring a treasury under its own power for the sake of implementing a nation-building policy.

 

The publication of the book has not resulted in the loss of the overnight loss of the icon of Presidet Jón as regards the legitimisation of political authority in modern society. On Iceland’s national day of 2010, the Icelandic Minister of Education referred to his ideas on educational matters in a speech held at President Jón’s birthplace in Hrafnseyri. Páll Björnsson questions, in a footnote, whether President Jón was a prime mover in educating the nation as hitherto believed. His school-policy did not gain ground in his lifetime. Quite the opposite, the focus on independence politics made it impossible for Icelanders to establish a comprehensive school-system as other nations did in that period.

 

Páll Björnsson‘s book is not about President Jón himself, his life and actions. The book is about diverse exploitation of him as an icon, from souvenir production to image creation of big companies. The book is about Icelanders and how an image has been utilised for political purposes. In the beginning, this was done to preserve a society divided by class, gender, age groups and regions, characterised by the authorities’ fear of common people’s political organisation. The endeavor was to create a single opinion in a disparate society. Páll Björnsson infers how powerful a political weapon the image of President Jón was for those who wanted him in their camp. All stakeholders wanted to have a share in him as their icon of choice.

 

Páll Björnsson also concludes how difficult it has been for state authorities to honour their duty to pay respect to the “the legacy of President Jón” (pp. 183-211). We read about the problematic realisation of the objectification of the icon in such a way that it can be more than just that. For one, the difficulties in finding an objective for the rebuilding of President Jón’s birthplace at Hrafnseyri in a remote and depopulated area, or in justifying what kind of function it would have. However, the couple’s sepulcher in Reykjavík found its function, while the real success story is the statue standing opposite Alþingi. Páll Björnsson’s book is a contribution to the analysis of the original legend of the birth of a Republic. President Jón himself spent most of his life in Copenhagen, the capital of the Danish North-Western-Atlantic empire. The icon-creators realised the importance of an untainted image of the unequivocally Icelandic Jón Sigurðsson. This can be interpreted as the solution of the paradox for nationalistic thinking of a national -hero who chose to live amidst the claimed oppressors.

 

The author uses in an original way the fact that the ship carrying the bodies of the couple for the funeral in Iceland had the name of the mythological Phoenix, the bird that in our culture symbolises renewal. President Jón was renewed. Here the reader calls for further analysis of the Jesus-like symbolism that can be found in the writings on President Jón in the first decades after his demise. There are many examples therein of religious symbols being replaced with political ones during a time of secularisation in Western societies. It is clear that the book rests on a theoretical analysis and that the discourse in Iceland on the ideological roots of the Republic calls for theoretical writings on this issue. Here, however, we merely have a description.

 

Páll Björnsson quizzes the nation on President Jón as a good teacher would do. This is done by using questionnaire (N 1363, response rate 70%). The answers are analysed by gender, age, region and schooling. The result is that image is superior to knowledge. Only a minority knows well the life and work of President Jón and why he was given the title “President”. Highly educated males in the prime of life know President Jón best, other groups less so. However, the majority regard President Jón as an important unifying symbol for the nation, consider it right to honour his memory and are proud of him.

 

The acceptance that characterises the response to the book Páll Björnsson has written is justifiable. Páll Björnsson enters a new field in the research on President Jón’s legacy. The book is an elaborate treatise. You can appreciate this elaboration even just by looking at the carefully chosen pictures. Some are in colour. Viewed as a whole, the pictures tell us as critical a story as the written text itself. Interestingly, President Jón is revealed as two different characters in two different paintings, as a bronze statue in fabrication, alongside gentlemen, protesters, extremists, women, students, commoners and in a teargas haze. The narrative is lively. The footnotes are quite many and often replicating the text of the sources, thus deepening the premises for the descriptions in the text. The book offers lists of people’s names, pictures and sources. No misspellings or grammatical errors could be found.

 

This review discussed whether the warm reception of a critical book on a national-hero at his bicentenary represents tolerance towards a new sentiment on President Jón or a liberation from his enduring authority. The book on President Jón written by Páll Björnsson offers the nation a chance to reunite with an ex-national -hero and finds it difficult to understand why he is still so politically massive in spite of his physical absence.

 

“Karlson” – A Stasi “Kontakt Person”. An episode of Iceland’s Cold War legacy

 

Introduction

Iceland’s geographical position gave this small nation a special strategic importance in the political and military chess game between east and west during the Cold War era. Placed in the mid Atlantic, Iceland constituted an important post for the NATO defence forces and surveillance activities. This importance can be seen in the presence of American troops at a NATO base in Keflavik from 1951 until 2004. The military base and the NATO alignment created stark divisions among the population and was one of two major cleavages that characterized Icelandic politics throughout the post- WWII era, especially during the Cold War. The other cleavage that marked Icelandic politics of the time was the left-right dimension. The four traditional parties of the Icelandic party system ranked in a different order on these two continuums, with the right wing Independence Party allying with the Social Democrats in its support for NATO and the military base, while the centre agrarian Progressive Party supported NATO membership but joined forces with the Socialist Party in the opposition to the military base. The Socialists however were stern opponents of both the base and NATO membership, while they expressed sympathetic views for the People’s Democratic Republics in the eastern bloc.[1] Left wing socialists held up ties with their sister parties in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, while bourgeois politicians cultivated their links with western or mainly American liberal democracy.  The political discussion was framed in terms of the Cold War and the press, which throughout most of the 20th century was a party press, continuously suggested that the political motives of their opponents were conspicuously linked to or derived from either the interests of Soviet or Eastern European communism or US capitalist imperialism.

It was in this circumstances that in the fifties and sixties young left wing people sought to undertake their university education in the Eastern block and more often than not the Socialist Party in Iceland (SEI) was in one way or another the go-between in arranging for such student positions. Many of these left wing students kept contact with each other even though they did not study in the same place or country. At a point in the late fifties these students had formed an organisation, SÍA, Sósíalistafélag Íslendinga Austantjalds (The Society of Socialist Icelanders in the Eastern Bloc) that had considerable influence within SEI, the Icelandic Socialist Party.[2] In 1962 members of the youth organisation of the conservative Independence Party managed to get hold of – in fact steal – some of the internal correspondence of the SÍA group and subsequently the correspondence was published letter by letter in the daily newspaper Morgunblaðið along with some political explanations from a right wing standpoint. The correspondence was also published by the Conservative youth organization, Heimdallur, in a special booklet labelled the “Red Book”. Remarkable as it may sound, the correspondence between the Icelandic students in SÍA shows a great deal of criticism of the socialist system as practiced in the Eastern bloc, though in general of course their views were very sympathetic to the People’s Democratic Republics. From the standpoint of the conservatives in Iceland the purpose of the publication of the SÍA correspondence was to show that the students in Eastern Europe, along with the Socialist Party of Iceland, were plotting a communist takeover in cooperation with their communist allies in the east, even though they knew that the system was not working well and had all sorts of flaws.[3] This whole affair exemplifies the frenzy and the tone of the political discussion in Iceland during the Cold War and the suspicion that was created around the students that studied in the Eastern Bloc.

The legacy of heated feelings of the Cold War has in many ways survived the Cold War itself. The demand for some sort of reckoning or historical rectification has frequently come up, particularly in relation to the publication of documents that have become accessible after the fall of communism. This has been felt in Iceland mainly at a general political level but its implications have also been personal – putting the spotlight on the individuals that supported communism and in particular those who studied in the Democratic People’s Republics, not the least the German Democratic Republic. This paper will examine to what extent demands for a historical reckoning are relevant by looking at a particular case that can be found in the Stasi archives. By conducting a case study of this kind, a light is shed on important factors that tend to be lost in the more ideological and normative public political discussion. The case examined is the one of a young student who became a Stasi informer in the early 1960s, know as “Kontakt Person Karlsson”.

 

“Kontact Person (KP) Karlson”

According to the archives of East Germanys State security service (Stasi) one Icelandic student cooperated with the Stasi while studying in East Germany.[4] His name was Guðmundur Ágústsson, who after returning to Iceland became a bank manager. In 1959 he arrived as a young student via Vienna in East Germany, where he first attended a language course in Leipzig before taking up his studies at the University of Economics in Berlin-Karlshorst. Later his sister followed him to East Berlin.

On the 9 February 1963, four years after entering East Germany, a note is found in the Stasi files concerning “making contact with the person”.[5] Before this remark in the files, the Stasi had already gathered information about Guðmundur Ágústsson , since a report explains that he seemed to be “open towards our problems”.[6] In this first description of Guðmundur Ágústsson to be found in the files, his appearance is described as “modest and dutiful”, also his “perfect moral conduct” is underlined,[7] contrary to the one of his sister who, according to the report, is “in some cases very impulsive”.[8]

According to the minutes of the first meeting between the Lieutenant Koch as representative of the Stasi and Guðmundur Ágústsson, Koch explained to the Icelandic student that lately pubic disorder in East Germany was increasingly initiated through West Berlin and therefore it was necessary for GDR “to take measures against the enemy’s intentions. In order to do so we have to involve foreigners, and since we knew that he [Guðmundur Ágústsson] was a member of our brother party SEI, we have turned to his person”.[9] According to the minutes Guðmundur Ágústsson answered positively to the request of the Stasi; he agreed to visit West Berlin and establish contacts with students there as well as to report on activities at the University of Economics where he studied.

Guðmundur Ágústsson was, according to the Stasi files, one of 25 Icelandic students studying at the time in the GDR. All were members of the SEI. They all came to East Germany through the mediation of the SEI or the Federation of Icelandic Trade Unions. During their first meeting Lieutenant Koch asked Guðmundur Ágústsson not to talk with anyone about his contact to the Stasi and they agreed to use the codename “Karlson” for him. After this meeting the Stasi run “Karlson” as a “Kontakt Person” (KP) in its files. “Kontakt Persons” were individuals used by the Stasi, sometimes without their knowledge, but also, as in this case, people who knowingly cooperated with the Stasi. “Karlson” knew, as the documents indicate, that his interlocutors were working for the Stasi.

“Karlson’s” first job assignment consisted of establishing a contact with an Icelandic student in West Berlin, “with the aim of assessing if this contact could be further exploited”. In order to do so “Karlson” should find out, “with whom he [the friend] has contact”, and further, he should report about groups and “their participation in actions against the anti-fascist protective barrier” (meaning the Berlin Wall)[10] and evaluate the general mood in West Berlin. “Karlson”, according to the minutes, agreed to do so. But he did not agree to introduce his acquaintances in West Berlin to the Stasi.[11] The reason he gave was that in his opinion the friend “was politically not ready”.[12] However “Karlson” proposed approaching another Icelander in West Berlin who might be willing to cooperate with the Stasi. According to “Karlson” this was a friend who had gotten an invitation from the Free University of Berlin to become a lecturer. The minutes state that at this time it had not yet been decided whether the acquaintance would accept the job at the Free University or not, because in the words of “Karlson”, a “decision on this matter would be made by the SEI”.[13]

Five weeks later at the following meeting “Karlson” could not report much, because he had not traveled to West Berlin. However, he had by now learned that his friend would take the position at the Free University in West Berlin. Until the year 1962 the acquaintance had been working as a lecturer at the University of Greifswald. Both he and his wife were members of the SEI. “The KP estimated the [name blackened] as a very humorous and outgoing person, who sometimes because of his comical appearance, his physique and his facial expressions is viewed as ridiculous.”[14]

Furthermore, “Karlson” reported in this meeting that he had recently received another visit from an Icelander, but he was politically not organized and in “his political development not yet mature”. Therefore “Karlson” declined bringing him into contact with the Stasi. In addition the Stasi noted in the minutes of the meeting that the KP would “soon get his own flat on the basis of his collaboration and his political work.”[15]

In May 1963 Lieutenant Koch gave his first evaluation of his Icelandic spy:

The [Kontact Person] is honest in the cooperation, but had not yet been reviewed. He takes his tasks seriously, makes his own proposals and he is venturous. His [cooperation] is based on conviction.

Control: Regular meetings every 14 days in the CA [Conspiratorial Apartment].

Range of duty: Supply of suitable candidates for recruitment. Naming appropriate candidates, as well as being used on special occasions in West Berlin.”[16]

In the following meeting “Karlson” and his Stasi officer discussed mainly how to establish the actual contact with the Icelandic lecturer at the Free University in Berlin. First of all, it was agreed that there was “no need to pretend to be a member of the press, but the KP should just contact him as an employee of the Stasi”.[17] “Karlson” agreed to organize the meeting. During the meeting they discussed three more Icelandic students living in West Berlin, but the minutes state that “Karlson” did not want to be the person who “arranges the meeting”.[18] Therefore they agreed on a different approach: while “Karlson” would celebrate the moving into his new apartment with the Icelanders from West Berlin, he would contact the Stasi as soon as his Icelandic friends would leave. On the way back to West Berlin the Stasi would have then the possibility “to address” the Icelanders at the checkpoint in Friedrichstraße: “this way the (KP) would be kept out from the conversation and the staff can safely carry out their own conversation.”[19]

At this meeting it was further agreed that “Karlson” would participate at the upcoming regional Social Democratic Party Congress as a member of the media and report to the Stasi about it. Furthermore he should monitor the preparations for the rallies on May 1 in West Berlin. One day before the first of May “Karlson” received specific instructions. In particular, he should find out where the loudspeaker van with the “inflammatory agitation” was stationed that was supposed to “disturb the activities on May 1 in democratic Berlin”.[20]

During this meeting the status of the recruitment of the Icelandic lecturer was also discussed. According to “Karlson” the Icelandic lecturer wanted to find out whether the people whom he would meet were “really from the Stasi”.[21] Furthermore, the Icelandic lecturer informed “Karlson” that the Senate of the Free University of Berlin had told him that they were informed about his membership in the SEI. They also warned him not to get involved with “Russian agents”.[22]

At the next meeting, on the 1st of May, “the Kontakt Person ‘Karlson’ had returned from his excursion to West Berlin and shared his observations about the deployment of the police, the position of the radio car, the tribune and more, which were then immediately submitted to the headquarter.”[23]

According to the minutes of the meetings “Karlson” reported about his intended trip to England, France and Italy. The minutes end with the note that the next meetings will be arranged by phone. Although there are no further minutes of meetings to be found in the archives, one can assume that the contact continued, since a receipt exists for the 28 January 1964 with the note: “The Kontakt Person ‘Karlson’ was given 50 DM for costs.”[24]

On 20th of November 1964, Lieutenant Koch closed the file, since “Karlson” had returned to Iceland. The file contains also the exact statistics of the border crossings by “Karlson” to West Berlin, and thanks to the collection of data by the Stasi, we also know that “Karlson” for example, on the 4th of February 1964, brought “2 nylon shirts; 2 pairs of women’s stockings, 20 PCs. cigarillos (Intershop); 250 gr coffee and 1 kg bananas”[25] from West Berlin to East Berlin.

The Icelandic lecturer at the Free University in West Berlin refused being recruited by the Stasi. On the 19 December 1963 one meeting had taken place between the lecturer and the Stasi at Café Sofia in East Berlin. At this meeting the Icelander stressed the “security of his person”. He said that “if the contact should become known it would have serious consequences for the party and him.” He also pointed out in this context the “unprofessional work of the security organs of the Soviet Union concerning the radar station in Iceland, where arrests had been made and which greatly damaged the reputation of the Soviet Union and caused great dismay for the comrades of the SEI.”[26] Lieutenant Koch was not very optimistic about a possible cooperation, since the Icelandic lecturer said that he “does not want to have anything to do with the secret service”.[27] But at least the reader of the files learns that the Icelander was very “sloppily dressed”, wore summer shoes in December and “a grey suit, a red shirt and a blue tie”.[28]

 

“Kontakt Person Karlson” revisited

In Iceland a discussion of the relations between Icelanders, Communist parties and secret service organizations in the eastern bloc have regularly surfaced – not only throughout the Cold War but also in the post Cold War era. Several times the issue has come up whether some Icelander had been working for Stasi.[29]

In early February 1995 a documentary film, “Í nafni sósíalismans”, (In the Name of Socialism) by the historian Valur Ingimundarsson and the journalist Árni Snævarr was shown by RÚV, the Icelandic State Broadcasting Television. The film was based on some documents that the authors had had access to after the opening of the Stasi archives in Germany and it spurred some discussion in the Icelandic media.[30] The name of the banker Guðmundur Ágústsson came up, as it appeared that he had been a Stasi agent in the period 1963-1964. The documentary claimed that Guðmundur Ágústsson had the codename “Karlson” in the Stasi files, and that one of his missions was to recruit Árni Björnsson, who at the time was a guest lecturer at the Free University in West Berlin. Árni acknowledges in the film that he had had some encounters with the Stasi, but that he had not answered indirect requests for him to become an informer for the secret organization. He does however mention an incident when his nice had been visiting him and had gone to a theatre show in East Berlin. When she did not return, Árni Björnsson became worried and went to a border control gate to ask about her. There Árni was detained for a while, until a Stasi officer came and asked if he had not received a message from them some while ago. Árni Björnsson acknowledged that and asked about his nice. There were no news of the girl, but in light of the circumstances Árni Björnsson thought it would be wise to agree to meet with the officer two weeks later. He says that he met with a Stasi officer two weeks later in a coffee shop and that was the end of it.

On the other hand, Guðmundur Ágústsson, alias “Karlson”, had refused to talk to the makers of the documentary, so his side of the story appeared in a newspaper only after the film had been shown on national TV. In an exclusive interview with the newspaper DV, Guðmundur Ágústsson explains that he had agreed to do some trivial exercises for Stasi in order to secure his own peace and eventually a safe passage home for him, his German wife and their child. Guðmundur Ágústsson refers to his contact person at Stasi (Lieutenant Koch) as the “young man with the cigarette”. He tells of a “spy mission” to West Berlin in the following way:

I met the young man with the cigarette and he asked me if I could go over to West Berlin and check if there was a military truck convoy in a certain boulevard in the southern part of the city. I was also supposed to stop by the Wall there in the neighborhood and see if a big hole was being dug in the ground behind a hill. I went to these places, but there were no army trucks, no digging and no hole. So I stood there like a fool. I went back and told the young man that nothing was there. That was the last I heard from Stasi. I probably did not pass the test or possibly Stasi was just training the young man in talking to somebody.[31] 

Later in the interview Guðmundur Ágústsson reflects on the documentary value of the Stasi files about himself. “I understand that there is a large folder on me in the Stasi archives. I do not think I want to see it. But the documents are there and people must then remember that the text that is written there is just what a man with a cigarette thought about me. He might even have been trying to look good in the eyes of his superiors. I never wrote a single letter for them.”

As it is apparent by now, two parallel stories have been told of the same course of actions involving  “Karlson”. On the one hand there are the files written by Lieutenant Koch, whilst on the other there are the stories and experiences as these are remembered by both Guðmundur Ágústsson, the student, and Árni Björnsson, the lecturer. Much of the factual evidence comes forth in both stories, but the interpretation and explanations of what actually happened and what it meant is very different.
Whose truth? – a discussion

After the Berlin wall came down and the Stasi archives were opened the news came to Iceland that Guðmundur Ágústsson had been a Stasi informer in 1963-1964. More than 30 years later, in 1995, Guðmundur Ágústsson had to explain to the Icelandic press that by cooperating with Stasi he had “secured himself peace and a safe passage home with his German wife and child”.[32] And still just over ten years after the explanations in the DV newspaper, Árni Björnsson, who was the friend of Guðmundur Ágústsson that worked and lived in West Berlin in 1963-1964, came forth in the scholarly magazine Þjóðmál to explain his involvement with Guðmundur Ágústsson and Stasi. Árni Björnsson was reacting to another article in the magazine where he was named as a likely Stasi informant.[33] The title of Árni Björnsson’s article is “Stasi and I. What is the truth?” He does not takes issue with the Stasi files themselves or even the reports by the Stasi officer that approached him, but points out that they are based on the officer´s personal interpretation, social conditions and circumstances. He therefore asks whether that interpretation is necessarily the whole truth.  In other words, Árni Björnsson is suggesting a cautious approach in interpreting the files and documents that can be found in the Stasi archives.

At least two lessons can be derived from comparing the two different accounts at issue. Firstly, it seems clear that Stasi did not necessarily ask its Icelandic informers to collect sensitive or hidden information, but asked for all sorts of public information, such as reporting about public student meetings and the curriculum of the Free University. This could make the Stasi request for cooperation look almost trivial to the student in question, so much that it would seem irrational to refuse such a small favour and risk being considered uncooperative by such a powerful organization as Stasi was then.

Secondly, the Stasi files give us a fragmented and indeed limited view of what really was going on. This is due to three main factors:

a) The nature of the reports to be filled out gives limited space for accounting for different and sometimes complex situations.
b) The evaluation and interpretation of the writer of the report is subjective and coloured by Marxist ideological phrases. Furthermore the reports are written by officers for their superiors and it can be expected that things that might be thought interesting for the secret police are overemphasized.
c) The fact that some of the files and reports may be missing limits their comprehensiveness.

In light of the latter point, an important lesson can be learned about the way in which documents and reports of official agencies not meant for publication, be they secret agencies or ordinary embassies, should be interpreted. To be sure, uncovering such secret files can provide valuable and important information, as recent WikiLeaks documents on embassies have shown, for instance. However, such documents call for careful consideration of the circumstances in which they were written and of the values and motivations of those who wrote the files. The limitation of the files makes them useful for political polemics, since they leave so much space for interpretation, but not for careful, detailed historical accounts of the past. And last but not the least, one may also just be stunned by their banality.

 

References

Guðmundsson, Birgir and Meckl, Markus, 2008, Á sumarskóm í desember. Ísland í skýrslum austurþýsku öryggislögreglunnar Stasi, in Saga, Tímarit Sögufélags, XLVI: 2, 2008, pp. 86 – 113.

Knabe, Hubertus,1999, West-Arbeit des MfS. Das Zusammenspiel von „Aufklärung“ und „Abwehr“Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin

Ólafsson, Jón , 1999,  Kæru félagar.Íslenskir sósíalistar og Sovétríkin 1920-1960, Mál og menning, Reykjavík

Snævarr, Árni and Ingimundarson, Valur, 1992, Liðsmenn Moskvu, Almenna bókafélagið, Reykjavík



Endnotes

[1] Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (1977) The Icelandic Multilevel Coalition System. Expanded version of a chapter in E. Browne (ed) Cabinet Coalitions in Western Democracies. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.

[2] Ólafsson, Jón , 1999,  Kæru félagar.Íslenskir sósíalistar og Sovétríkin 1920-1960, Mál og menning, Reykjavík bls. 212-213

[3] Ibid pp. 214

[4] In the archives of the Stasi there are approximately 250 pages concerning Iceland. Among the material is one folder concerning the collaboration of an Icelander with the secret service. A complete overview over the material found is given in Icelandic in the article: Birgir Guðmundsson and Markus Meckl, Á sumarskóm í desember. Ísland í skýrslum austurþýsku öryggislögreglunnar Stasi, in Saga, Tímarit Sögufélags, XLVI: 2, 2008, pp. 86 – 113.

[5] Report on the contact of the person, BStU, central archives, 1496/65, BL. 9.

[6] Investigation report, ibid. 3.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid. p. 5

[9] Report on the contact of the person, BStU, central archives, 1496/65, BL. 10.

[10] Minutes of the Meeting, 20. 2. 1963, ibid. 13.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid. 14

[14] Minutes of the Meeting for the 15.3.1963, p. 15-16.

[15] Ibid p. 16.

[16] Assessment of “Carlsson”, dated on the 7.5. 1963, ibid p. 18. In the documents one can find different spellings for “Karlson”.

[17] Minutes of the Meeting for the 19. 4. 1963, ibid. 19.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid. 20.

[20] Minutes of the meeting, 30. 4.1963, p. 21.

[21]Ibid. 21.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Report from 6 May 1963, ibid, page 23.

[24] Recipt, 28.1.1964, ibid., page 27.

[25] BStU 12225/66

[26] Report of the 20 12 1963, BStU, central archives, 1496/65, p. 29 f. The matter the lecturer might be referring to here is an episode often called “The Hafravatns case” that came up in February 1963. Two deputies from the Soviet Embassy were expelled from Iceland for trying to recruit an Icelandic man as a spy. See: “Miklu fargi af mér létt”, Morgunblaðið 28th February, 1963 pp. 23-24

[27] Ibid. 33.

[28] Ibid.

[29] For a discussion of these connections between Icelanders and the Eastern Bloc see e.g.: Árni Snævarr and Valur Ingimundarson, 1992, Liðsmenn Moskvu, Almenna bókafélagið, Reykjavík; Jón Ólafsson, 1999, Kæru félagar, Mál og menning, reykjavík ; Rauða bókin :leyniskýrslur SÍA, 1984, Heimdallur, Reykjaví k; Helgi Hannesson, 1989, “Sósíalistafélag Íslendinga austantjalds og SÍA skjölin 1956-63”, Háskóli Íslands. Sagnfræðistofnun Ritröð sagnfræðinema, Reykjavík.

[30] See Morgunblaðið web page: http://www.mbl.is/mm/gagnasafn/grein.html?grein_id=176466 and DV, daily on the 6th and the 7th of February 1995.

[31] „Fékk frið og heimferð fyrir konu og barn“, DV 7th of February 1995

[32] DV, daily newspaper. 7.th of February, 1995 pp. 1-2

[33] Árni Björnsson, „Stasi og ég. Hvað er sannleikur“. Þjóðmál II:4 (Winter 2006), pp. 28

Aðalheiður Ámundadóttir & Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Mannréttindi í þrengingum: Efnahagsleg og félagsleg réttindi í kreppunni (Akureyri-Reykjavík: Háskólinn á Akureyri og Mannréttindaskrifstofa Íslands, 2011)

Three of the biggest Icelandic banks, which had been privatized in the late 1990s and early 2000s, collapsed and were taken into public ownership. An economic collapse was a fact and the former Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde asked God to bless the Icelandic nation at a press conference in October 2008. Certainly, the crisis (kreppa) was not a nightmare we would wake up from, but a reality that had to be dealt with. The next step was when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was called in to organize a crisis management program. Then the currency collapsed. The unemployment rate has since been on the increase; from 1.5% in September 2008 to 8.7% in May 2009 with others taking wage cuts and/or cuts in working hours.

 

Although the everyday life of the Icelandic general public was in some way perceivably paralyzed in the fall 2008, people began to revive themselves. It was at this time that “The Kitchenware Revolution? was conceived in Iceland. The general public started a massive protest against the government. Icelanders, who have no great tradition of political resistance, rallied in the streets with their pots and pans. In front of Althingi (the national Parliament) people knocked upon their household utensils. January 2009 witnessed masses of people who gathered everyday, aiming to disturb the operations of the parliament, demanding that the government resign. For the first time since 1949, when Iceland’s entry into NATO was objected to, the police used tear gas to keep protesters back from the Althingi. Icelandic society was experiencing formerly unknown turbulence.

 

The Kitchenware Revolution won its first victory on the 23rd of January 2009, as the government resigned. New elections were called for and took place on the 25th of April 2009. The new government elected confronted the great task of “saving? Iceland from bankruptcy without jeopardizing its rather strong welfare system. For that to be possible it is obvious that the prosperous population of Iceland has to adjust to a new way of living. During these times of kreppa and turbulence both the national government and the municipalities have been facing huge decline in their annual budgets and the undertaking of cutbacks in services has been the biggest task ever since.

 

It was, and still is, a huge project to restructure the welfare system during these times of great cuts in national budgets. During such difficult times a book like ‘Human rights in crisis: Economic and social rights during an economic crisis’ is greatly appreciated. Not only is it the first research conducted after the economic collapse focusing on human rights issues; it also provides valuable guidelines for those working in the public sector and raises the issue of the importance of awareness of human rights in it.

 

By outlining some of the main issues of the International Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, the authors provide valuable guidelines on how the national and the local governments can avoid infringing the human rights of the citizens when cutting down expenses. As the authors Aðalheiður Ámundadóttir and Dr. Rachael Lorna Johnstone point out, it is more important than ever to appraise human rights during financial decline.

 

The main aim of the book is twofold; firstly to serve as a guide for Icelandic politicians, officialdom and the general public on economic, social and cultural human rights during times of economic crisis, as it outlines what these rights are and how they can be secured and accomplished through laws and policy making. Secondly, to increase the nation’s general knowledge in the field of economic, social and cultural rights. As the authors of the book recognize clearly, it is during times of kreppa that the task of protecting human rights may very well be more important than ever. A primary reason is that during such difficult times the economic situation tends to overshadow every other aspect of society, and the commonly heard phrase “it is not the right time to focus on this now” tends to distract people from other pressing issues and important accomplishments such as first and foremost protecting the actual human rights of the citizens.

 

Although Iceland has been a country of prosperity, human rights issues can be argued to have rather been in the shadow of public discourse on citizen’s wellbeing. The focus has been on the ‘welfare’ of the citizens, which of course is deeply related to human rights, but does not coincide with it. Indeed, the book casts light on how one of the main issues of past Icelandic governments has been to protect the general public’s welfare, sometimes in conflict with human rights considerations. The book’s body is built around the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights and Ámundadóttir and Johnstone argue convincingly why they choose to build on this specific covenant rather then than theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political rights.

 

The aim of the book to increase knowledge and educate about the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights and human rights issues in general is well conceived. The book starts with very informative chapters on the Covenant; its geneses and its role within the nation states and the work of its UN committee. Iceland’s legal obligations are also extensively discussed, since the covenant has been long ratified. Also, there is a chapter that outlines the essence and intentions of the commitments undertaken by the member states.

 

Since the book is designed for people working in the public sector with very diverse backgrounds and knowledge of the existing laws, these chapters are very enlightening and essential for further understanding the foundations of the covenant and, no less importantly, how it can be applied to policy and planning during times of restructuring and retrenchments in public services. The authors manage to explain the ideology of and the key-concepts pertaining to economic, social and cultural human rights clearly and in a helpful way, also for persons with no legal background. The reader obtains a good overview of the central tenets of the covenant and is likely to be better informed on how retrenchment has to be considered with regard to protecting human rights during economic decline. Good examples of these are the clear explanation of ‘progressive realization of rights’ and ‘progressive-regressive measures’.

 

Chapters engaging with specific issues of the Covenant in the Icelandic perspective follow these first instructive chapters. Ámundadóttir and Johnstone explain their choice of using the examples of employment rights, social rights and rights to education to outline the implementation of the covenant in Iceland before and after the economic crises. It can be argued that they could have taken different examples from the Covenant, or that it would have been helpful to use more than just three specific fields. However, it can also be argued that the authors manage to give a very concrete representation through their choice of specific fields, especially concerning the aim of the book to serve as a guide for national and local government and officialdom.

 

As stated above, the unemployment rate in Iceland has risen enormously since the fall of 2008. The chapter on the right to employment gives important insights on how governmental policy and regulations impact human rights and what has to be taken into consideration to keep the commitments under the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights. The authors give examples about certain things that have worked out well despite decline in budgeting; and they very well advise on what has to be taken into improved consideration in respect of the economic, social and cultural rights. The standpoint of the book is very relevant for the public sector and easy to learn from as it is summarized in a very resoluted manner and without any preciosity.

 

A good example is when Ámundadóttir and Johnstone point out how changes in regulations concerning the rights of students to unemployment benefits greatly affect their possibilities to make a living during the summer months, since the Icelandic Student Loan Fund only lends funds to students during a nine-month period each year. Therefore these changes in regulation concerning unemployment benefits leave students that do not have a summer job out of their right to enjoy the benefits of the welfare system. This is just one example on how the authors provide constructive illustrations on the subject matters, which gives the reader an idea of what kind of problems they can expect to approach during cutbacks in the public sector and in what ways they might be solved without violating human rights.

 

The book is in general written in an approachable language suitable for any reader. My conclusion is that Ámundadóttir and Johnstone reach the aims of their book, which is very enlightening and informative and manages to clear the line between ‘welfare’ and ‘human rights’. But as the authors state in the book, the Icelandic focus on ‘welfare’ has somehow shrug off the great importance of respecting human rights. The difference between those two concepts has not been clear enough, neither in political nor in public discourse. The book does deepen the understanding of the importance that the people who participate in the decision-making process with regards to economic, social and cultural rights. As well as it underlines the importance that the citizens themselves be aware of their rights.

 

This book is also an important contribution to human rights education in Iceland, a field which has been neglected by the educational system. Therefore this book is treasured even more for politicians, public officials and the general public. As Ámundadóttir and Johnstone underline correctly, there is great need to increase human rights awareness in Icelandic society, not least during these times of crisis, in order to enable politicians and public officials to make decisions based on enlightened knowledge of human rights, thus avoiding violations of basic rights of the population. It is also in the interest of the citizens to be more knowledgeable about their human rights, as it helps them to experience themselves as rightful owners rather than receivers of charity and enjoy human rights with dignity.

 

Today’s demand is resting on open, transparent and trustworthy administration; this book can help to direct us toward that path. It has to be distributed widely among officials and politicians in national as well as municipal governments for the benefit of the wellbeing of all Icelandic citizens and in order to minimize the negative effects of the crisis during times of retrenchment.