Iceland’s shelter options in the new millennium

The US departure from Iceland indicates the importance of multilateral shelter for small states. Iceland has sought to strengthen its conventional shelter relations with the Nordic states and member states of NATO and the European project. Iceland has also been looking towards non-traditional sources for support, namely China and Russia, and is performing a balancing act in the Arctic Council, in order to secure itself shelter provided by powerful world actors. However, Iceland has not been able to secure itself comprehensive shelter, as indicated by the country’s latest attempt to align itself with Britain in a post-Brexit world. The Icelandic government needs to closely examine the extent to which existing multilateral shelter arrangements may be more reliable during times of need, rather than relying on a single protector in the twenty-first century.