Explaining the Crisis of Iceland: A Realist Approach

This article focuses on critical realist analysis of concrete processes of structure formation and realization of structural propensity. It aims to explain the reasons for the rise and fall of the neoliberal regime in Iceland that led to the extreme expansion of the Icelandic financial system and it...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ívar Jónsson 1955-
Other Authors: Landsbókasafn Íslands
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1946/11163
Description
Summary:This article focuses on critical realist analysis of concrete processes of structure formation and realization of structural propensity. It aims to explain the reasons for the rise and fall of the neoliberal regime in Iceland that led to the extreme expansion of the Icelandic financial system and its crisis. The article argues that the neoliberal regime was actively constructed by economic and political actors within the framework of the particular structural characteristics of Iceland. It claims that rigid structural conditions due to the very small size of the economy and severe problem of oligopoly undermined the neoliberal utopia of perfect market competition. In order to develop this argument, the paper observes how power elites actively affect public opinion and establish their hegemonic position in the political system. Keywords: capotism, hegemony, morphogenetic sequences, neoliberal regime, plutocracy, structuration, power elites.