"Ómarsdóttir has produced something rare: a security study built on genuine empirical depth. Twenty-one focus groups, three waves of national survey data from 2016 to 2023, and a close reading of nearly two decades of parliamentary debate expose a persistent gap between elite and public security imaginaries. Iceland is the case here, but this is a template others should follow." --Andreas Østhagen, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway " Security Imaginaries of an Unarmed People provides poignant insight into the development of Iceland's national security policy, revealing both Icelanders' perceptions of 'everyday' security grounded in human resilience, economic stability, and community welfare, and elite discourse on geopolitics and military alliances. It is essential reading in this time of heightened focus on the North Atlantic and Circumpolar Arctic." --P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Trent University, Canada "An insightful analysis of how Iceland has redefined its understanding of security in a rapidly changing international environment. Combining political analysis with public opinion, this book makes an original and important contribution to the study of small states, security policy and contemporary European security.

It highlights the gap between public and elite perceptions of security and traces Iceland's shift towards greater emphasis on military security and international cooperation." --Baldur Thorhallsson, Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland.