Icelandic Constitutional Reform

Ágúst Þór Árnason (1954–2019) was one of the leading figures of Icelandic constitutionalism. He taught at the University of Akureyri, where he contributed to setting up the Law School, and founded the Polar Law Programme in 2008 with Professor Guðmundur Alfreðsson. He was directly involved in the initial stage of the constitutional reform process as a member of the 2010–2011 Constitutional Commission. Catherine Dupré is Associate Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Exeter. She has studied the processes of constitutional change and reform in Hungary (post-communism and since 2010) and in the UK since 1998. She has been following Icelandic constitutional developments since 2008 when she first visited the University of Akureyri as a guest lecturer. She is the author of Importing the Law in Post-Communist Transitions: The Hungarian Constitutional Court and the Right to Human Dignity (Hart Publishing 2003) and of The Age of Dignity: Human Rights and Constitutionalism in Europe (Hart Publishing 2015).

Preface

Acknowledgements

In Memoriam: Ágúst Þór Árnason

Contributors and editors

The constitutional reform at a glance

1. Introduction: making sense of the Icelandic constitutional reform

CATHERINE DUPRÉ

PART I: Contexts

2. The President and the Constitution

GUÐNI TH. JÓHANNESSON

3. The reform of the 1944 Constitution and Icelandic constitutionalism

ÁGÚST ÞÓR ÁRNASON AND CATHERINE DUPRÉ

4. Iceland’s near-death experience

KRISTRÚN HEIMISDÓTTIR

PART II: Drafters and drafting processes

5. The role and impact of the Constitutional Commission in preparing the constitutional revision

BJÖRG THORARENSEN

6. The work of the 2011 Constitutional Council: a democratic experiment institution-making

SALVÖR NORDAL

7. Crowdsourcing the 2011 Proposal for a New Constitution: when experts and the crowd disagree

JÓN ÓLAFSSON

PART III: Constitutional proposals and bills

8. The 2011 Proposal for a New Constitution: analysis and critical comments

SKÚLI MAGNÚSSON

9. The 2016 Bill of the Constitutional Committee: three proposals for reforming the 1944 Constitution

PÁLL ÞÓRHALLSSON

10. Natural resources and the reform of the Icelandic Constitution

RAGNHEIÐUR ELFA ÞORSTEINSDÓTTIR

11. Would Article 79 of the 2016 Bill make much difference? Some considerations on the legal consequences of the proposed constitutional environmental provision

AÐALHEIÐUR JÓHANNSDÓTTIR

PART IV: Reflections

12. Iceland’s new constitution is not solely a local concern

THORVALDUR GYLFASON

13. A politician’s perspective

KATRÍN JAKOBSDÓTTIR

14. Conclusion: what has changed?

CATHERINE DUPRÉ