On 30 May, the Public Book Club (AB, Almenna bókafélagid) held its 2026 general meeting at its new premises on Skeifan 8, 108 Reykjavík. The Public Book Club was founded on 17 June 1955 to defend national, liberal and democratic values against twentieth-century totalitarianism—national socialism and communism—which still operates under various names and in various guises.

One AB project has been the republication of anti-communist literature, before and during the Cold War, under the editorship of Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland. The books are printed and also accessible free of charge online, while some have been produced as audiobooks. They include Greinar um kommúnisma (Articles on communism) by philosopher Bertrand Russell, Konur í thraelakistum Stalíns (Women in Stalin’s Slave Camps) by Elinor Lipper and Aino Kuusinen, Úr álögum (Out of the Night) by Jan Valtin (Richard Krebs), Leyniraedan um Stalín (Khruschev’s Secret Speech on Stalin), El campesino  by Valentín Gonzáles and Julián Gorkin, Örlaganótt yfir Eystrasaltslöndum (Baltic Eclipse) by Ants Oras, Eistland. Smathjód undir oki erlends valds (Estland. En studie i imperialism) by Andres Küng, Thjónusta, Thrælkun, flótti (Service, Servitude, Escape) by Aatami Kuortti, Ég kaus frelsid (I Chose Freedom) by Victor Kravchenko, Nytsamur sakleysingi (Nightmare of the Innocents) by Otto Larsen, Til varnar vestrænni menningu (In Defence of the West) by six Icelandic writers, Rádstjórnarríkin: Godsagnir og veruleiki (Soviet Myths and Reality) by Arthur Koestler, Framtíd smáthjodanna (The Future of Small Nations) by Arnulf Øverland.

Another AB project has been, under the supervision of AB Managing Director, historian Jónas Sigurgeirsson, the publication of books about the traumatic 2008 Icelandic bank collapse:  Búsáhaldabyltingin: sjálfsprottin eða skipulögð? (The Pots and Pans Revolution: Spontaneous or Organised?) by historian Stefán Gunnar Sveinsson, Andersen-skjölin: rannsóknir eða ofsóknir? (The Andersen Files: Investigation or Persecution?) by journalist Eggert Skúlason,  Seðlabankinn gegn Samherja: Eftirlit eða eftirför? (The Central Bank Against Samherji: Supervision or Hunting Expedition) by lawyer Björn Jón Bragason, and Icesave-samningarnir: Afleikur aldarinnar? (The Icesave Deals: the Blunder of the Century?) by journalist Sigurdur Már Jónsson. https://www.rnh.is/?page_id=397These books have sold well and been praised by many, although the folks at the Public Broadcasting Service, RÚV, have ignored them.

Managing Director Jónas Sigurgeirsson presented the annual financial report of the Public Book Club, which did well in 2025. Subsequently, the shareholders and special guests enjoyed dinner at the restaurant Tides. From left: Sigríður Snævarr, Ármann Þorvaldsson, Karítas Kvaran, Kjartan Gunnarsson, Hannes H. Gissurarson, Baldur Guðlaugsson, Jónas Sigurgeirsson og Rósa  Guðbjartsdóttir.

Economics Professor Thráinn Eggertsson of the University of Iceland passed away on 18 June 2026 at the age of 85. He published two widely read economic treatises, Economic Behaviour and Institutions (1991), and Imperfect Institutions: Possibilities and Limits of Reform (2005). A third book is forthcoming, Digital Revolution and Institutional Change. He also published many research papers. Thráinn had a profound understanding of what economics should be: a searchlight illuminating reality, rather than a bucket into which to collect facts. He was, with Professor Rögnvaldur Hannesson of the Norwegian Business School in Bergen and Professor Ragnar Árnason of the University of Iceland, one of the three best-known Icelandic economists internationally.

A Quota System for Mountain Pastures

One illuminating paper by Thráinn examined how the Icelanders escaped what has been called ‘the tragedy of the commons’. The original settlers, arriving between 874 and 930, found a subarctic island with green valleys reaching the coast, surrounded by mountain pastures. The interior of the country, however, was barren and uninhabitable. The land was mainly suitable for sheep farming. It was relatively easy to establish private property rights over the farms in the valleys, but during the summer, the farmers of each valley jointly utilised the mountain pastures for their sheep. This created a temptation for each farmer to graze more sheep than was optimal, since he alone enjoyed the profit of any additional sheep, whereas the commune bore the loss. The solution was to assign each farm a set number of sheep to graze in the mountain pastures, a quota. The total number of sheep was set so that, when they returned in the autumn, they were as fat as possible, which was the economically correct target.

The quota system in the mountain pastures was relatively efficient. But in another illuminating paper, Thráinn described a disaster: how the Icelanders starved for centuries despite living next to the most fertile fishing grounds in Europe. The reason was that Iceland was long under the Danish crown, which formed an alliance with the landowners (while most farmers were tenants) to stifle the growth of the fisheries: 1) by prohibiting foreigners from staying for the winter, 2) obliging everybody to work and register at a farm (bondage), and 3) issuing royal decrees that priced fish far below its market value. The crown did this to maintain its hold on the country, and the landowners to keep their access to cheap labour. The consequence was a series of famines that only ended in the nineteenth century with free trade, the abolition of bondage, and the growth of the fisheries.

Controversial Topics

Thráinn was a scholar, not a preacher, but he gave talks on controversial contemporary topics at two RNH international conferences in Reykjavík. One was in 2012, when a left-wing government was trying to dismantle the sustainable and profitable system of individual transferable quotas we had developed in fisheries (in some ways similar to the quota system in mountain pastures). Thráinn gave his full support to the system and sought to explain why some people were bent on reducing wealth. The other talk was at the retirement conference of Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson in 2023, when he spoke about the ‘dictator’s dilemma’ that China’s leader, Xi Jinping, faces. The dilemma is that an authoritarian ruler must choose between the free flow of information, which may weaken his hold on power, and its suppression, which may stifle economic growth. Xi is trying to overcome the problem by leveraging advanced technology and artificial intelligence, hoping to stimulate economic growth without accepting freedom. If he fails (which is likely), Thráinn predicted he would resort to warmongering.

European Students for Liberty held their annual conference, LibertyCon, in Madrid on 24–26 April 2026, where RNH Academic Director, Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland, presented a new book that he has edited and introduced, Conservative-Liberal Thought in the Nordic Countries, 946–1945: An Anthology. It is 468 pages long, of which Hannes’ introduction is 267 pages. It was published by the think tank New Direction in Brussels.

The book’s first selections are from the writings of Icelandic historians Ari the Learned and Snorri Sturluson. In a famous speech at the Icelandic Parliament in the year 1000, the Lawspeaker, Thorgeir from Brightlake District, emphasised, according to Ari the Learned, that the Icelanders had no king but the law, unlike the other Nordic nations where kings waged endless wars and imposed heavy taxes. The same theme was found in Snorri’s account of another famous speech, by the farmer Einar from Thverá at the Parliament in the year 1024. In Snorri’s Heimskringla, the history of the Norwegian kings, two ancient Germanic principles are taken for granted: government by consent and the right of rebellion. Later, the English philosopher John Locke built a systematic defence of liberty on those two principles.

Hannes said that the three most remarkable Nordic conservative-liberal thinkers were Snorri, the Swedish pastor and politician Anders Chydenius, and the Danish pastor and poet N. F. S. Grundtvig. In 1765, Chydenius had anticipated the two powerful ideas articulated eleven years later in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: that one man’s profit need not be another man’s loss; and that order could arise spontaneously, without commands. In the nineteenth century, Grundtvig had argued, much in the same manner as the French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, for free associations that could serve as both guardians and outlets for individuals, such as congregations, people’s high schools, various societies, collectives, cooperatives, and private companies.

The audience included the Icelandic Ambassador to Spain, Kristján Andri Stefánsson, and a lively discussion followed Hannes’ talk. The Czech student Jonáš Kurus asked about the connection of religion to the Germanic political tradition. Hannes replied that the roots of Germanic tribal self-government were pre-Christian, just as the Roman chronicler Tacitus had described in the first century AD. Admittedly, a principle of Roman law was that what affected all should be decided by all, Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur, but this had not been a general principle as in the customary law of the Germanic tribes. However, St. Thomas Aquinas accepted the right to rebel if and when kings became tyrants. Natural law in the Thomist tradition certainly had acted as a restraint on kings, but not to the same extent as Germanic customary law.

From left: Hannes, Breki, Schweiger and Tyler.

The German student Anne Struffmann asked what other nations could learn from the Nordic example. Hannes replied that the relative success of the Nordic countries was not because, but in spite of, social democracy. The Nordic heritage of liberty had been strong enough to withstand both the past assaults by kings invoking the grace of God and the modern assaults by social democrats invoking the will of the People. The success of the Nordic countries rested, Hannes said, on three pillars: the rule of law, including strong protection of private property rights, free trade, and social cohesion, which implied a robust civic spirit. But such a social cohesion could not be constructed. It developed over a long time, through compromises and mutual adjustments.  Nevertheless, newly liberated nations in the South could learn from Grundtvig to try and transform peasants into responsible citizens and the masses into self-conscious nations by means of people’s high schools.

Other speakers at the conferences included three friends of Iceland who have often visited: Professor David D. Friedman, Dr. Tom G. Palmer 0f the Atlas Network, and Robert Tyler of New Direction. They have all studied the Icelandic chronicles and sagas. The conference was attended by two other Icelanders, Lukas Schweiger, former Chairman of European Students for Liberty, and Breki Atlason, the Icelandic coordinator of European Students for Liberty.

On 26 April 2026, the Brussels think tank New Direction published a book, edited and introduced by RNH Academic Director, Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland, Conservative-Liberal Thought in the Nordic Countries 946–1945: An Anthology. The authors of the selections are the three Icelandic chroniclers Ari the Learned Thorgilsson, Snorri Sturluson, and an anonymous author of the ‘Tale of Halldór Snorrason’; the Danish bishop Gunnar of Viborg, author of the Preamble to the Law of Jutland; Danish King Eric Clipping (unwillingly), signatory to the royal charter of 1281; the Swedish bishop Thomas Simonsson, author of a poem on freedom; the Swedish polymath Olaus Petri, author of ‘Rules for Judges’; the Swedish pastor and politician Anders Chydenius, author of pamphlets in support of free trade and freedom of expression; the Swedish poet and professor of history Erik Gustaf Geijer, author of poems and essays on individual freedom and spontaneous order; the Danish pastor and poet N. F. S. Grundtvig, author of poems and speeches in support of liberal nationalism and civic education; the Swedish professor of economics Gustav Cassel, author of a forceful attack on central economic planning; the Danish professor of economics Jens Warming, a pioneer in resource economics and welfare economics; the Swedish professor of economics Eli F. Heckscher, author of a thoughtful critique of central economic planning; the Swedish law professor Nils Herlitz, author of an article on the Nordic legal heritage; the Danish law professor Poul Andersen, author of an article defending freedom of expression; and the Norwegian economist and journalist Trygve Hoff, arguing for the competitive economy.

The oldest event described in the book took place in 946, when Norwegian King Haakon the Good returned to his subjects the land that his father, King Harold Fairhair, had expropriated, and promised to uphold the ancient law of the land, which could be traced back thousands of years to the customary law of the Germanic tribes, as described by the Roman chronicler Tacitus. The most recent event was in 1945, when Danish communists tried to restrict freedom of expression just to those who accepted democratic values, while Poul Andersen recalled Grundtvig’s exclamation that freedom was for Loki as well as for Thor. Snorri Sturluson, Anders Chydenius, and N. F. S. Grundtvig contribute most to the anthology, which contains 468 pages, of which 267 pages are the introduction.

Brazil’s southernmost state is Rio Grande do Sul, whose capital is Porto Alegre on the South Atlantic Ocean. In the state, young entrepreneurs, investors, and businessmen form an association that annually holds a well-attended conference, Fórum da liberdade (Liberty Forum), where speakers from around the world discuss economic freedom and free enterprise.

At the 2026 Liberty Forum, RNH Academic Director, Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland, presented on 9 April a forthcoming book that he edits and introduces, Conservative-Liberal Thought in the Nordic Countries, 946–1945: An Anthology. It is 468 pages, of which 267 are his introduction. The first selections from the writings of Nordic authors are by the Icelandic chroniclers Ari the Learned and Snorri Sturluson, and the last ones by the Norwegian economist Trygve Hoff and the Danish law professor Poul Andersen. The anthology is published by the Brussels think tank New Direction.

In his talk in Porto Alegre, Hannes Gissurarson said that the success of the Nordic countries was despite, and not because of, social democracy. Its three main explanations were: a strong tradition of the rule of law; a firm commitment to free trade; and social cohesion, reflected in a high level of trust. Hannes also suggested an explanation of the tradition of hard work in the Nordic countries (possibly now being eroded by sloth, made possible by generous welfare benefits). It is that, over the centuries, the Nordic nations had to prepare for and endure harsh winters through hard work, unable to collect low-hanging fruit from trees in milder climates.

Oddsson addressing in 2016 a meeting celebrating 25 years since Iceland renewed her recognition of the Baltic countries.

The most successful Icelandic politician of all time, Davíd Oddsson, passed away on 1 March 2026. He was Mayor of Reykjavik for 9 years, Prime Minister for almost 14 years, Foreign Minister for a year, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland for four years, and Chief Editor of Morgunbladid, the only remaining daily in Iceland, for almost 17 years, from 2009 to his death. No Icelandic politician has done more to increase individual freedom and protect citizens’ rights against the state. On the day of Davíd’s funeral, 13 March, Morgunbladid printed many articles about him, including a long one by one of his closest friends, Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland. Hannes offered three explanations of Davíd’s great success as a politician. First, the circumstances worked in his favour, he was the right man at the right time, riding on the same wave as Thatcher in Great Britain and Reagan in the United States. Secondly, his political views were deeply rooted in the Icelandic national spirit; he was an extraordinary man with ordinary beliefs. Thirdly, he had the personal qualities of an effective politician. He had great charisma, and he was, in Machiavelli’s phrase, brave as a lion and sly as a fox. From the beginning, he was seen as a born leader. Hannes also published two articles in The Conservative on Davíd, an obituary, and a defence of his legacy on the occasion of leftist attacks.

Davíd was given a full state funeral in Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík, with a sermon delivered by the Rev. Geir Waage (the father-in-law of Davíd’s son Thorsteinn, a judge in the Reykjavík District Court). The ten pallbearers were (from right): Davíd’s loyal supporter, businessman Kjartan Gunnarsson; Davíd’s schoolmate and friend, the poet Thórarinn Eldjárn; Davíd’s loyal supporter, businessman Thórólfur Gíslason; Davíd’s colleague at Morgunbladid, Editor Haraldur Johannessen; Hannes H. Gissurarson; the surgeon Eiríkur Jónsson, who successfully treated Davíd for cancer; Davíd’s former adviser on international affairs, Albert Jónsson; Davíd’s cousin, Supreme Court Judge Ólafur Börkur Thorvaldsson; Central Bank Governor Dr. Ásgeir Jónsson; and Davíd’s loyal supporter, businessman Gunnlaugur Sævar Gunnlaugsson. Immediately following them were Davíd’s widow, Ástrídur Thorarensen, and their son, Thorsteinn Davídsson.