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The Centre for Small State Studies, established in 2001, is run under the auspices of the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland. The main goal of the Centre is to promote research and education on small states and to promote the progress of small state studies in Iceland and in international co-operation.
What we do →

Small States Summer School

The Nordplus funded, Small States Summer School has been hosted by the Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland in 2024 and 2025. The summer school will be hosted again in August of 2026.

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Projects

Navigating the Storm (NAS)

Post-Brexit Europe (PELEEA)

Leadership in Small States (LIST)

Towards a Cross-Disciplinary Approach (TCDA)

Small States: Online Courses

Small States and the New Security Environment (SSANSE)

CMC-19

Small States and Current Security Challenges in the North Atlantic

Publications

Small elite network and less formal governance structure: Efficient knowledge sharing and rapid policy responses?

M. Ackrén, N. Hokkala, P. Lægreid, E. Palmujoki, A. Trengereid, Á. E. Bernhardsdóttir, M. Koraeus, R. Olavson, B. Thorhallsson and K. Vrangbæk (pages 423-440)

This paper analyzes whether the seven Nordic countries, by virtue of their limited administrative size and less formalized governance arrangements, were particularly well-suited to fostering rapid …

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Cooperation problems and bureaucratic infighting in small states: Lack of planning and unclear rules?

M. Ackrén, N. Hokkala, P. Lægreid, E. Palmujoki, A. Trengereid, Á. E. Bernhardsdóttir, M. Koraeus, R. Olavson, B. Thorhallsson and K. Vrangbæk (pages 409-422)

This comparative study of the seven Nordic countries supports the assumption that cooperation problems and bureaucratic infighting in small states during the early stages of the …

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The effect of size and the Nordic states’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: Reactive or proactive?

M. Ackrén, N. Hokkala, P. Lægreid, E. Palmujoki, A. Trengereid, Á. E. Bernhardsdóttir, M. Koraeus, R. Olavson, B. Thorhallsson and K. Vrangbæk (pages 389-408)

This paper examines whether the small size of the public administration of the seven Nordic countries affected the nature of their crisis responses, focusing on the …

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Introduction: Nordic countries’ crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic: The effect of size

The effect of size – Á. E. Bernhardsdóttir and B. Thorhallsson (pages 375-388).

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A Special Section - The Nordic Countries’ crisis management of the Covid-19 pandemic: The effect of size

Guest Editors: Ásthildur Elva Bernhardsdóttir and Baldur Thorhallsson in the journal Small States & Territories (ISSN: 2616-8006), Vol. 8, No. 2, November 2025, (pages 375-440).

This special section in SST deals with size-related challenges and opportunities in the seven Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe …

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Economic Adaptability in the Absence of Democratic Corporatism: Explaining Lithuania’s Export Performance

Vytautas Kuokštis and Ramūnas Vilpišauskas - Vilnius University

Project: NAS

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Lilliputian Encounters with Gulliver: Sino-Icelandic Relations from 1995 to 2021

Report by Baldur Thorhallsson, Professor of Political Science, and Snæfríður Grímsdóttir, Adjunct in Chinese Studies, on Sino-Icelandic Relations from 1995-2021

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The Grand Strategies of Small States

Anders Wivel - University of Copenhagen

Project: NAS

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