Icelandic Security Policy: Context and Trends
Iceland holds a central position in the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap (GIUK gap), which constitutes a choke point through which naval transit routes in and out of the Norwegian Sea must necessarily lie. Situated between the American and European continents, Iceland constitutes a 'bridgeh...
Published in: | Cooperation and Conflict |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
SAGE Publications
1982
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001083678201700305 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001083678201700305 |
id |
crsagepubl:10.1177/001083678201700305 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crsagepubl:10.1177/001083678201700305 2024-06-16T07:40:26+00:00 Icelandic Security Policy: Context and Trends Gunnarsson, Gunnar 1982 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001083678201700305 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001083678201700305 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Cooperation and Conflict volume 17, issue 3, page 257-272 ISSN 0010-8367 1460-3691 journal-article 1982 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/001083678201700305 2024-05-19T13:14:24Z Iceland holds a central position in the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap (GIUK gap), which constitutes a choke point through which naval transit routes in and out of the Norwegian Sea must necessarily lie. Situated between the American and European continents, Iceland constitutes a 'bridgehead' from which support or reinforcement by short-range aircraft from the U.S. can be provided. This article first analyzes the GIUK gap and its role in U.S. and Soviet naval strategy and concludes that changes in Soviet naval strategy imply diminished importance for the GIUK gap. The second part of the article analyzes general characteristics of Iceland's security policy. While there is no realistic alternative to Iceland's NATO membership, the U.S. base in Keflavík has been highly controversial. The perceived cultural impact of the American presence in Iceland has always been a major focus of the political controversy on security policy, whereas the military aspect has been less prevalent until recent years. Iceland's position in NATO has characteristically been a detached one. Icelandic efforts to establish research and expertise in the security field as well as the trend towards increased politicization of the military aspects of security policy are discussed in the concluding part of the article. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Iceland Keflavík Norwegian Sea SAGE Publications Greenland Keflavík ENVELOPE(-22.567,-22.567,64.000,64.000) Norwegian Sea Cooperation and Conflict 17 3 257 272 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications |
op_collection_id |
crsagepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Iceland holds a central position in the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap (GIUK gap), which constitutes a choke point through which naval transit routes in and out of the Norwegian Sea must necessarily lie. Situated between the American and European continents, Iceland constitutes a 'bridgehead' from which support or reinforcement by short-range aircraft from the U.S. can be provided. This article first analyzes the GIUK gap and its role in U.S. and Soviet naval strategy and concludes that changes in Soviet naval strategy imply diminished importance for the GIUK gap. The second part of the article analyzes general characteristics of Iceland's security policy. While there is no realistic alternative to Iceland's NATO membership, the U.S. base in Keflavík has been highly controversial. The perceived cultural impact of the American presence in Iceland has always been a major focus of the political controversy on security policy, whereas the military aspect has been less prevalent until recent years. Iceland's position in NATO has characteristically been a detached one. Icelandic efforts to establish research and expertise in the security field as well as the trend towards increased politicization of the military aspects of security policy are discussed in the concluding part of the article. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gunnarsson, Gunnar |
spellingShingle |
Gunnarsson, Gunnar Icelandic Security Policy: Context and Trends |
author_facet |
Gunnarsson, Gunnar |
author_sort |
Gunnarsson, Gunnar |
title |
Icelandic Security Policy: Context and Trends |
title_short |
Icelandic Security Policy: Context and Trends |
title_full |
Icelandic Security Policy: Context and Trends |
title_fullStr |
Icelandic Security Policy: Context and Trends |
title_full_unstemmed |
Icelandic Security Policy: Context and Trends |
title_sort |
icelandic security policy: context and trends |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
1982 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001083678201700305 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001083678201700305 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-22.567,-22.567,64.000,64.000) |
geographic |
Greenland Keflavík Norwegian Sea |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Keflavík Norwegian Sea |
genre |
Greenland Iceland Keflavík Norwegian Sea |
genre_facet |
Greenland Iceland Keflavík Norwegian Sea |
op_source |
Cooperation and Conflict volume 17, issue 3, page 257-272 ISSN 0010-8367 1460-3691 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/001083678201700305 |
container_title |
Cooperation and Conflict |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
257 |
op_container_end_page |
272 |
_version_ |
1802007328374915072 |