Olafur Grimsson: Iceland Bounces Back
Olafur Grimsson is the President of Iceland. He describes how his country encountered social and democratic upheaval after the economic crisis of 2008. By combining wide-scale systemic inquiry into governance and judicial systems and investing in clean energy and technology, Iceland has been able to bounce back with remarkable economic vitality.
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ABOUT Olafur Grimsson
” Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is the fifth President of the Republic of Iceland. He took his BA degree in Economics and Political Science at the University of Manchester in 1965 and completed his Ph.D. in Political Science at the same university in 1970, becoming the first Icelander to earn a Doctorate in this discipline.
He was appointed a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Iceland in 1970 and created the foundations for the teaching of the subject, then a new addition to the syllabus of the university.
In 1973 he was appointed the first Professor of Political Science at the same university and during the period 1970-1988 he built up the Political Science Department. In most of his research he focused on the Icelandic Governmental System, and on the smaller European democracies, participating with local and international experts in the field.
Early in his career, he played a role in public affairs in Iceland, directing radio and television programmes in the years 1966-1971 that were an innovation in mass media in Iceland and aroused a great deal of public attention. Among the many international awards he has received is the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize that he received on behalf of PGA.
Ólafur Grímsson identified the 2009 financial crisis, the need for a green energy revolution, and climate change as the three most pressing issues in today’s world. Declaring these three problems to be interconnected, he has said, “None of these three crises can be solved without solving the other.”
The VIDEO
1. Wikipedia 2. Article: Iceland Leader Vetoes Bank Repayments Bill
