Building on Iceland's 'Good Reputation

Icesave, Crisis and Affective National Identities

Bibliographic Data

ID2142764
AuthorsKristín Loftsdóttir (0000-0003-3491-724X, University of Iceland, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume81
Issue2
Pages338-363
Publication date2016-03-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnos (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0014-1844 • E-ISSN: 1469-588X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00141844.2014.931327
OpenAlexW2045990646
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited35

The paper claims that crisis is a fruitful way to analyse the interrelationship of local and global, \nneoliberalism and the nation-state, which scholars have explored for the past few years. During the Icelandic financial crash of 2008, the failed Internet bank Icesave became a source of intense disputes between the British and Icelandic governments. My paper uses Icelandic discussions of the bankrupt bank to explore how individuals negotiate their imagination of the global and the national and how national identity can be reaffirmed in the context of crisis. The discussion shows that the Icesave debate is based on reification of national communities as well as critical reflection on increased power of transnational institutions and global elites. The paper, furthermore, emphasises how crisis itself can be seen as constituting a field within which to exercise power, as well as a prism to investigate and understand national identities in a globalised world

Context (archaeology · Icelandic · National identity · Negotiation · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · History · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law