Dr. Baldur Thorhallsson

Delicious Haggis and good company at the annual Burns Supper.

Grein í Fréttablaðinu um það hvernig hægri öfgamenn beina í vaxandi mæli gagnrýni sinni að möguleikum og frelsi okkar innan Evrópska efnahagssvæðisins til að flytja milli landa í leit að atvinnu og menntun.

Viðtal í bænasal Félags múslima á Íslandi á Stöð 2.

Áhugavert að koma í bænahús Félags múslima á Íslandi í Ármúlanum. Ég held að við á vesturlöndum horfumst ekki í augu við að margir múslimar líta svo á að vestrið hafi lýst yfir stríði á hendur íslam. Það hefur leitt til aukins ofstækis meðal múslima - sem kallar á enn harðari aðgerðir vesturins í ríkjum múslima og svo koll af kolli. Þetta ofbeldi virðist engan endi ætla að taka. - Átti fróðlegar samræður við Sverrir Agnarsson, formann félagsins, Salmann Tamini, Hjört Hjartarson fréttamann og blaðamann frá Palenstínu sem starfar í Svíþjóð.

An interview in Vísir on the Charlie Hebdo attacks discussing the possible effects of the event on European politics.

The third paper, ICELAND’S EXTERNAL AFFAIRS FROM 1550-1815: DANISH SOCIETAL AND POLITICAL COVER CONCURRENT WITH A HIGHLY COSTLY ECONOMIC POLICY in our series on Iceland's foreign affairs has been published in the Icelandic Journal of Politics and Administration.

,,Essex University has now topped the UK ratings for the quality of its politics and international studies research in each of the last six assessments, dating back to 1986 when national rankings began.''

I met enthusiastic students at the Riga Stradins University in Latvia and gave a lecture on small states in the international system with a special focus on small states in the United Nations and the European Union. A colleague of mine, Maris Cepuritis, at the University focuses specially on small states' foreign policy.  I was impressed how much the students know about small states and Iceland  :-).   Latvia is preparing to take over the Presidency of the European Union and it is encouraging for other small states to see how well Latvia and the two other Baltic states are doing in the EU. The Latvians take their role within the EU seriously and are preparing very well for running the Presidency in the first half of 2015. They feel that they are now full participants in the European project and can have a say within the Union.

Recently, a PhD student of mine Christian Rainer Rebhan defended his doctoral thesis, North Atlantic Euroscepticism: The rejection of EU membership in the Faroe Islands and Greenland, at the University of Iceland. Congratulations on an excellent thesis and an excellent defense!

Here are pictures that show some behind the stage preparations for Christian Rebhan's doctoral defense.

This book - European Institutions, Democratization, and Human Rights Protection in the European Periphery - was published this fall by Lexington Books. Björg Thorarensen and I wrote a chapter in it called 'Iceland's Democratic Challenges and Human Rights' Implications'.