FISH VS. NATIONAL IDENTITY: ICELAND AND THE EU FROM CONSTRUCTIVIST POINT OF VIEW

In this article the author is looking for alternative explanation, why is Iceland still not a member of the European Union. He argues that the traditional arguments like dependency on fish export or economic reasons in general are no more valid and cannot fully explain Icelandic reluctance towards the EU. Iceland has changed and so did European Union. Export (and therefore also importance) of fish, as the main constraint on the way towards membership, decreased, but reluctance stayed the same. Therefore he assumes that we have to examine also other factors, for instance the traditions, norms, values or elites to get the whole picture. The author is using two theoretical approaches to support his assumptions. He claims that rational choice of neoinstitutionalism is a useful theory, but it is also convenient to use constructivist approach, which can explain also phenomena like the traditions, norms, values etc. The author applies these two approaches on the case of Iceland. He finds support for his hypothesis that there are the other reasons for Iceland for not taking part in integration into the European Union and those reasons can be explained in the constructivist terms. This article has three parts, in the first theoretical approaches are examined and in the second author shows, why the traditional arguments cannot fully explain Icelandic reluctance towards the EU. The third part examines the constructivist arguments and also offers several implications.