History of International Relations, Diplomacy and Intelligence, 17 (History of International Relations Library, 25) This book explores U.S.-Icelandic relations, 1945-2006. It explains how Iceland became one of the most strategically important countries for the United States in the Cold War and details the efforts of the "American Empire" to maintain Iceland as a loyal partner. It assesses resistance to U.S. interests in Iceland - resistance that led to crises in NATO, especially when they became tied up in the "Cod Wars" with Britain. It also analyzes attempts to minimize the impact of the American presence by closing off the U.S. military base in Iceland, clamping down on fraternization between U.S. soldiers and Icelandic women and by insisting on a ban on the stationing of black troops. Finally, it explains the disintegration of the bilateral relationship in the post-Cold War period, resulting in the withdrawal of U.S. forces, and assesses the development of Icelandic foreign and security policy in a post-American setting. Peer-reviewed by academic specialists in the field, the book, which is based on rich archival material, seeks to fill a gap in the scholarly literature through its focus on the key role of Iceland in U.S. Cold War strategy. Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION II. FROM WORLD WAR II TO THE COLD WAR: THE QUESTION OF U.S. MILITARY RIGHTS IN ICELAND Iceland's Role in American Military Plans A U.S. Request for Base Rights Domestic Resistance to Foreign Troops A Compromise Solution: The Granting of Landing Rights Iceland and the Marshall Plan III. AN UNARMED COUNTRY JOINS A MILITARY ALLIANCE: A RELUCTANT ENTRY INTO NATO Probing U.S. Defense Plans Iceland Joins NATO IV. "EMPIRE BY INVITATION": THE KOREAN WAR AND THE REINTRODUCTION OF U.S. TROOPS TO ICELAND Abandoning the Principle of Demilitarization The Conclusion of the U.S.-Icelandic Defense Agreement V. THE POLITICS OF GENDER AND RACE: POLICING U.S. TROOPS Patriarchal Notions: "Protecting" Women from the Military Protectors Excluding Black Soldiers from Iceland Enforcing Racial Discrimination VI. TAKING ON THE WORLD POWER: A CHALLENGE TO THE MILITARY PRESENCE Resisting the U.S. Strategic Air Command A Domestic Realignment: A Parliamentary Resolution on U.S. Withdrawal Playing off East against the West VII. THE STABILIZATION OF U.S.-ICELANDIC RELATIONS: THE POLITICS OF AFFLUENCE. The Nuclear Question and the Keflavik Base Pro-American Policies under Scrutiny VIII. COLD WARS AND "COD WARS": THE CRISIS IN ICELAND'S RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES AND NATO Reassembling a Left-Wing Coalition to Challenge Western Interests Raising the Ante: The Fishery Dispute with Britain Engaging the Americans: The Base Issue as a Domestic Political Game A Time of Reckoning: The "Cod War," the U.S. Base, and NATO A Showdown with the United States The Third "Cod War" as Cold War Brinkmanship IX. FROM A COLD WAR ENDAME TO THE DISSOLUTION OF A SECURITY COMMUNITY" The Revival of the Nuclear Question in the 1980s The End of the Cold War and the Evaporation of Iceland's Military Importance X. TOWARDS EUROPE: ICELAND'S POST-AMERICAN SECURITY POLICIES The Domestic Angle: The Evolution of a Contested Security Discourse The External Dimension: Responding to American Disinterest NATO Air Policing and Bilateral Security Arrangements Russian Geopolitics: From Strategic Aviation to the Financial Crisis A Strategic Discourse on Territory: Icelandic Security and the Arctic Question XI. CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY About the Author(s)/Editor(s) Valur Ingimundarson, Ph.D. (1993) in History Columbia University in New York, is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Iceland. He has published extensively on U.S.-European relations and Icelandic foreign and security policy, including Reconfiguring Iceland's Security and Foreign Policy (Icelandic Literary Society, 2008).
