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Iceland: United States
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Iceland is governed under the constitution of 1944 as amended. The president, who is the head of state, a largely ceremonial post, is popularly elected to a four-year term; there are no term limits. The head of government is the prime minister. The legislature is the unicameral Althing, whose 63 members are popularly elected to four-year terms. Administratively, Iceland is divided into eight regions.
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Notwithstanding its status as an unarmed nation, Iceland has been eager to do its part to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security. One of the niches it is helping to fill is in civilian peacekeeping and crisis management. It took a significant step forward in this area in 2001 by launching its Icelandic Crisis Response Unit (ICRU). In setting up the ICRU, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs established a roster of over 100 experts in various occupations (police officers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, etc.) who will be specially trained and prepared to deploy to trouble spots abroad on short notice.
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In response to the Nazi occupation of Denmark in 1940 Iceland was occupied by the British. They soon discovered that Iceland of that time was severely underdeveloped with regard to humor, and therefore traded it to the United States, which had a similarly uncivilized humor. This marked a beginning of a great culture flow of Icelandic ideas to America, especially television broadcasting, and Iceland can in large part be blamed for the sad state of american film and television culture, with notable attacks such as Halldór Laxness' failed attempt to create a Hollywood movie and the malicious injection of Icelandic singing into the final credits of Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers.
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Iceland maintains diplomatic and commercial relations with practically all nations, but its ties with other Nordic states, with the United States, and with the other NATO member states are particularly close. Icelanders remain especially proud of the role Iceland played in hosting the historic 1986 summit in Reykjavík between President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev, which set the stage for the end of the Cold War.
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The first people thought to have inhabited Iceland were Irish monks or hermits who came in the eighth century, but left with the arrival of Norsemen, who systematically settled Iceland in the period AD 870-930. The first known permanent Norse settler was Ingólfur Arnarson, who built his homestead in Reykjavík in 874. Ingólfur was followed by many other emigrant settlers, largely Norsemen and their Irish slaves. By 930, most arable land had been claimed and the Althing, a legislative and judiciary parliament, was founded as the political hub of the Icelandic Free State. Christianity was adopted in 1000. The Free State lasted until in 1262 the political system devised by the original settlers could not cope with the increasing power of Icelandic chieftains.
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For policy makers in Iceland who are new to the global economic stage and unaccustomed to being the focus of international criticism over their finances, the negative attention is prompting a mixture of soul-searching and defiance. Still, the state of Iceland's economy is better than it appears, said Thordur Fridjonsson, chief executive of Iceland's stock exchange.
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