Small States - States of Peace? A Case-Study of Iceland

Abstract

In recent years small states have been given special interest in the field of international relations, mainly regarding their tendency to be peaceful. The aim of this thesis is toexamine, through theory and discussion, the peacefulness of small states. Peace itselfwill be discussed and what it means for a country to be peaceful, based on the basicidea of negative peace but also the more modern idea of positive peace. Those findingswill then be applied to small states, and with a view to that the case of Iceland will beexamined. The discussion will be firmly placed in the 21st century and therefore focusedupon recent events.The final conclusion of the thesis is that small states might have structuraladvantages when it comes to achieving internal and external peace, but they are notnaturally more peaceful than other states. This can be seen through the case of Iceland.Ultimately, conflict is not inevitable and by ministering to the self-reinforcingrelationship of peace and prosperity, a peaceful state can be maintained. Small states do have characteristics that help them be peaceful, but like any other states they have to constantly work at staying peaceful.