Conclusion

• Main Authors: Campbell, John L., Hall, John A.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Princeton University Press 2017
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691163260.003.0005

This concluding chapter summarizes the book's main findings, showing how vulnerability can increase national solidarity allowing institutions to be built that work for a country's collective benefit, allowing it to stay afloat when a crisis strikes. Denmark, Ireland, and Switzerland exemplify the book's argument about the paradox of vulnerability, albeit with interesting nuances in the Irish and Swiss cases. The chapter also considers the differences in the ways that the three nation-states handled the 2008 financial crisis before turning to additional cases to see whether the book's argument can withstand further scrutiny. In particular, it discusses the experiences of Greece and Iceland in handling the 2008 financial crisis, noting that the former demonstrated little resilience in the face of the crisis and that thick institutions played a pivotal role in its resolution in the latter.