Dr. Baldur Thorhallsson

What do New Zealand, Iceland and the Baltic states have in common? I have learned a lot from an excellent two day conference on the foreign policy choices of New Zealand as it faces the changing global balance of power. I spoke about Iceland's foreign policy options in the new global order and Margarita Seselgyte talked about the Baltic states and their relations with NATO, the EU, the US, and Russia. This was the startup of a project on the defence and foreign policy choices and challenges of NATO small states and NATO partner states in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Oceania in the new security environment. The aim is to examine how NATO might better partner with these states. The next conference will be held at the Centre for Small States at the University of Iceland in June 2018.

Trump and Small European States today! Iceland and the USA in 2006 and 2008! What do small states do when a superpower deserts them? How do small states defend themselves when deserted by their most trusted longtime ally? The first conference in our project on Small States and the New Security Environment takes place at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch in New Zealand this weekend. The SSANSE project is a preparedness initiative examining the defence and foreign policy choices and challenges of small states in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Oceania in the new security environment.

New book Small States in a Legal World has been published, featuring the chapter Small States in the UNSC and the EU: Structural Weaknesses and Ability to Influence. If you're in London, make sure to a a seminar on the book on 15 June at Doughty Street Chambers.

The Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland was recently awarded a grant from NATO. The project is a preparedness initiative examining the defence and foreign policy choices and challenges of small states in NATO and its partner small states in Eastern Europe, MENA, and Oceania in the new security environment. In relations to this project the Centre issues a call for applications for two research grants for young researchers. The researchers can be MA, PhD or Post-doc level. Each grant is 12.000 Euros to be divided in three payments over the grant period from 1 September 2017 through 31 December 2019.

Requests for for further information and applications should be sent to Margrét Cela, project manager at the Institute of International Affairs, mcela@hi.is no later than Friday 30 June 2017.

There was a remarkably contrast between the glamor of Eurovision in Kiev last week and the civil war that was being waged in the Eastern part of Ukraine.

• Segment on Channel 2 news

Book on Icelandic sovereignty forthcoming in fall 2017.

The table of contents can be seen in the following picture.

New paper published today, co-authored with Pétur Gunnarsson: 'Iceland’s Relations with its Regional Powers: Alignment with the EU-US sanctions on Russia'. The paper examines the Icelandic government’s consideration to withdraw its support for the sanctions against Russia over Ukraine in 2015. The consideration came as a surprise to many since Iceland in the past has habitually aligned itself closely with the United States and the European Union in such matters. The Icelandic fishing industry lobbied hard for the sanctions to be lifted to avoid Russian counter-sanctions on Iceland. After considerable internal debate, the government decided to uphold the sanctions, but settled on a policy of not taking part in EU´s foreign policy declarations about the sanctions. This move is interesting given Iceland’s traditional positioning between two gravitational centres in world politics: the EU and the US. The paper discusses what this case tells us about Icelandic policymakers’ room for maneuvering in the formulation and enactment of its foreign policy, and about Iceland’s foreign policy bonds to the US and the EU.

A more compacted paper will be published in the academic journal Global Affairs this summer.

Leverhulme lecture and book launch: "Scotland, Security, Brexit and Small States" at Queen Mary University of London.

An interesting new book 'Security in a Small Nation: Scotland, Democracy, Politics' has just been published and is available online (free of charge). We hope that the book will contribute to the ongoing debate in Scotland about whether or not Scotland should become independent. The book is dedicated to the memory of a dear friend Alyson Bailes. Alyson and I wrote a chapter about Scotland the Nordic Nations and whether they, as small states, need shelter. Enjoy this free online publication 🙂