Iceland and NATO Membership: Analyzing Public Reaction to Iceland’s Membership

• Main Author: Brynja Dögg Björnsdóttir 1992-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Alþjóðasamskipti; Atlantshafsbandalagið; Ísland; Hernaðarbandalög; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/33325

The focus of this master's thesis is on the Icelandic government's decision to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Icelandic hostility towards the alliance. My aim throughout this research is to find reasons as to why the government wanted to abandon its neutrality policy and join a Western defense alliance and why so many Icelanders were deeply opposed to NATO membership. Furthermore, Norway and Denmark's decision to join NATO will be explored to see if NATO faced the same opposition there as it did in Iceland. These questions are examined through the lenses of three theories of international relations, i.e. realism, constructivism, and nationalism. They are used to analyze factors contributing to the Icelandic government's decision to join NATO and the opposition to NATO membership. The conclusions find that the decision making of the Icelandic government was determined by the assumed economic and military needs of the country. The government regarded the Soviet Union as the primary threat to Icelandic security and therefore concluded that the country's security would be best served by NATO membership. Opposition to Iceland's membership in NATO can be explained by the nationalist discourse of this period. A considerably large part of the Icelandic population felt that the real threat was not the Soviet Union, but the consequent surrender of liberty should Iceland join the alliance. Lastly, the conclusions find that NATO did not face the same opposition in Norway and Denmark as it did in Iceland.