Ánægður með þann áhuga sem samkennari minn Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarsson, prófessor, hefur sýnt kenningu minni um að smáríki þurfi efnahagslegt, pólitískt og félagslegt skjól vondugri ríkja, svæða- og alþjóðastofnana. Hann skrifaði stuttan pistil í Morgunblaðið sem bar yfirskriftina ,,Skjól eða gildra?'' 5. september um þetta efni. Við erum ekki sammála í einu og öllu en það er aukaatriði. Rökræðan skiptir mestu og ræður för.
The Icelandic National Radio 1 has made a good program on Scotland and the referendum on independence 18 September. I participated in the discussions and talked about where Scotland as a small new independent state would seek shelter. My colleagues and I have written an academic paper, Scotland as a small state, on the subject which was published last year.
At the first day of term, my colleagues and I presented 'a personal item' in our office to each other. I made an installation: a piece of the Berlin Wall which I broke from it in spring 1990, a Soviet Union military cap which I bought from a soldier in Moscow on the same tour and the Russian flag which I used in a protest against LGBT discrimination in Russia last year. 
The autumn semester is about to start and the first classes in the Faculty of Political Science will take place on Monday 1 September. I am looking very much forward to the meet all the enthusiastic students who want to work with me on small states. I will be teaching two courses on small states, i.e. Small States in Europe: Vulnerability, Status and Influence and The Power Potential of Small States in the European Union.
My colleague and I will hold lectures on Scotland as a potential new small independent state Wednesday 10 September at the Centre for Small States Studies at the University of Iceland. Alyson Bailes will talk about the latest developments in the election campaign in Scotland and I will discuss our academic paper Scotland as an Independent Small State: Where would it seek shelter?
Skemmtilegt spjall um fréttir vikunnar í Vikuloknum hjá Hallgrími Thorsteinssyni
This is the small state studies research team for the summer of 2014.
From the left: Þorsteinn Kristinsson, Tómas Joensen, myself, Sverrir Steinsson and Dan Devine
As in the previous summers, we have been conducting research on Iceland's external relations from a long-term historical perspective. Tómas has been working on Iceland's relations with Denmark from the end of the Middle Ages to the founding of the Republic of Iceland in 1944. Sverrir, Dan and Þorsteinn have been studying the subsequent period, when Iceland entered into the American sphere of influence. Sverrir has studied the political aspect of US-Icelandic relations, while Þorsteinn has focused on the economic dimension. Dan, however, has prowled through the Wikileaks archives in search of new material that sheds light on the events leading up to the withdrawal of the US military base in Keflavík in 2006.
Gleðilega Hinsegin daga - Skemmtileg stund með Jóa og Rúnari í Bakaríinu á Bylgjunni.
