One of the biggest lessons learned by Icelanders so far seems to be that they need to step up their PR. A seminar at the University of Iceland last semester explained how a research on UK media coverage on Iceland had gone from positive to negative from 2007-2009. The author concluded that to avoid negative [...]

Last year was possibly one of the worst in a long time for the Icelandic national church. Beset with accusations of sexual harrasment and fighting to maintain its position within kindergartens and schools, the church suddenly had to justify its existence like probably never before. I don’t think it is a coincidence after an economic [...]

I answered a question for kannski.is, a website giving opposite views on matters relating to the EU.  It was whether Iceland could not join NAFTA instead of the EU, unilaterally adopt the dollar and keep its sovereignty intact instead of risking it within the EU.  Although I presently believe that Iceland’s long term prospects are [...]

Some thoughts on the way Europe was once lifted from the ashes and whether there are lessons there for Africa: Approaches in the development sector – Making debt relief work Writing in support of Venezuela during the country‘s blockade by German, Italian and British fleets in 1902-1903, Argentinian foreign minister, Dr. Luis Maria Drago wrote [...]

Comparisons on EU “soft” power vs. US “hard” power: Europe is turning away from power, or to put it a little differently, it is moving beyond power into a self-contained world of laws and rules and transnational negotiation and cooperation. It is entering a post-historical paradise of peace and relative prosperity, the realization of Kant’s [...]

Musings on China’s expanding role in Africa and the US’s declining role as a hegemonial power: Times are changing in the world of development assistance. Agents and institutions with their roots in Western liberal democracy have traditionally lead the way in global development , but nations  of emerging market economies are now playing a larger [...]

The economic crisis was understandable. What followed was also very easy to comprehend. Revolt, unrest, outcry, riots, shock, anger… …and then what… January 1, 2011 and the president of Iceland who four years earlier had delivered this speech now asks the nation to look forward, not backwards. The message of someone who’s left a few [...]

Isn’t this whole kreppa thing over in Iceland?

- 20% niðurfelling leysir ekki  vanda þeirra sem eiga að reisa við landið - Sorry for breaking the pause and sorry for writing in Icelandic for now. But I need to get this out there: Í kjölfar mótmæla virðist ríkisstjórnin og Alþingi loksins hafa tekið við sér varðandi skuldavanda heimilana. Nú er mikið rætt um [...]

The Latte-revolution is upon us. Photo by Sigtryggur Ari Johannsson, DV