Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on issues that contrast sharply with the experience of other countries. As part of the European Economic Area (EEA), Iceland had full access to European and global capital markets during a period of exceptionally low interest rates for borrowers and lax lending practices by banks. The protest leaders were also concerned with framing their main demand in broad consensual terms; hence the emphasis on the resignation of the government rather than on more radical political and social goals. Iceland has also been praised for being the only country that brought those responsible for the financial crisis to justice. The task of constitutional revisions was given to a commission controlled by political elites in 2013, even if some still hold out hope that the original experiment can be revived under different circumstances.