ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Icelandic crash by transitional justice mechanisms and the politics of memory. The generic term transitional justice whether involving trials, truth commissions/reports, lustration, or apologies has been used to describe efforts to confront society tainted past, condemnation, and reconciliation between conflicting parties. While the crash was considered a national disaster, it was not the result of a civil war or of violence perpetrated by a dictatorial regime. There was never enough public support in Iceland for using extra-parliamentary means to challenge the political system itself. Political elites refrained, however, from creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, even if such bodies are meant to achieve political stability in the collective national interest after societal disasters. The specific formal political and judicial mechanisms that were adopted to deal with the Icelandic crash served both retributive and restorative aims. As a contribution to justice, however, the testimonies proved noticeably meager.
