Browsing by Subject "Iceland"
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(2019)This thesis examines the language attitudes of immigrants in Iceland when their primary language is English. Immigrants in Iceland are approximately 12% of the population. Language attitudes of Icelanders towards the English language have been studied extensively. However, the language attitudes of immigrants in Iceland have not been studied. Previous studies on the English language in Iceland have mentioned the idea that Icelanders are becoming bilingual, Icelandic/English, and that the English knowledge that Icelandic children have is greater than expected. In this qualitative study, ten immigrants in Iceland were interviewed and asked about their language attitudes and how they felt about having to rely on English in Iceland in their everyday life. The interviews were semi structured, and the data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The aim of the thesis was to see what the language attitudes of immigrants in Iceland when their language of communication is English and if those attitudes were different depending on how long the person had lived in Iceland. The results from the interviews were that all of the informants felt that they wanted to learn Icelandic to be a part of the Icelandic society. The biggest hindrance, according to the informants, was being accepted into the society by Icelanders and being able to practice Icelandic with locals, since Icelanders would rather switch to English than speak Icelandic. The informants felt that Iceland was a bilingual country and that knowing English was almost as important as knowing Icelandic. Nonetheless, even though there were some complaints from the informants, they wanted all to stay in Iceland for the unforeseeable future.
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(2017)Population size is one of the most discussed topics historically in its relation to democracy. Interestingly, however, despite the plethora of debates and studies there seem to be little academic consensus on the topic, both theoretically and empirically. On the one hand, early theorists such as Aristotle, Plato, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, have considered a small population size as indispensable for a democracy, for utilities such as the citizens’ ability to participate, or comprehend the common affairs. On the other hand, later theorists have stressed the utility of large population size to democracy, due to an increased likelihood for a diversity of opinions, and thus more checks, balances, and safeguards against factions’ tyranny and minority abuse. In a similar manner, in contemporary studies there is a common notion of a formula that ‘small is democratic’, mainly referring to the larger share of representative democracies among small states in comparison to larger states. Contrastingly, several studies have highlighted other ‘informal’ and arguably detrimental impacts of small size on democracy, such as lack of political diversity, high personalization, weak separation of authorities, and extensive patronage. This state-of-art, in which there is a predominant academic disagreement about the relation between size and democracy, despite many years of studying and argumentation, calls for a further study of the topic. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to delve into the abundant content on the topic, in order to produce a qualified understanding of the possible relation between population size and democracy. The methodology of this study is a theoretical analysis, based on critical literature review of the contents on the topic. These are assessed using a lengthily-delineated definition of democracy, conceptualizing it as a system yet to be realized in our time, in which all people hold an adequate and equal capacity to make choices in governance. Using this definition, it is concluded that population size is strongly related to the potential realization of democracy, due to its cultivating effect on the various democratic capacities, and thus democracy may only be realized in a political unit of small population size. These conclusions are illustrated through a short case study of the political processes in Iceland since the financial crisis of 2008.
Now showing items 1-2 of 2