Saga - 2006, Page 89

Abstract
s v a n u r k r i s t j á n s s o n
I C E L A N D ’ S P A T H T O D E M O C R A C Y
Legislation on alcohol, 1887–1909
The art icle is divided into three main sect ions. The first sect ion discus ses the ories
of democracy. Ev eryo ne favo uring democracy has the comm on ideal of shap ing
and susta in ing a soci ety in which the gener al public will have as much control as
possi ble. Despite this, there have long been deep differ ences of op inion am ong
Western proponents of democracy reg ar ding how that should be achi eved, with
advocates of direct democracy oppos ed to those of repres enta ti ve democracy.
The idea of democracy was realised in quite differ ent ways am ong Western
countries; each nation has built on its part icul ar cult ure, tra ditions and hi story.
In Iceland, a strong tra dition of direct democracy seems to have developed
around 1900. In part icul ar, the role of women was signi ficant in direct democra-
cy, but extrem ely small in repres enta ti ve democracy.
The second sect ion of the art icle exa mines the coex istence of direct and
repres enta ti ve democracy, star t ing with an ana lys is of the fis hing act app roved
by the Alt hingi in 1877. Alt hough direct democracy as well as repres enta ti ve
democracy played ro les, ini ti ati ve for the fis hing agreem ents had to stem direct -
ly from people liv ing in local comm unities all around Iceland. Next, the mann er
is exa mined in which the Alt hingi app roached leg islation on alcohol, from pass -
ing a law on alcohol in 1887 until app rov ing prohi bition in 1909, af t er a majority
of the el ect ora te had vot ed for the ban in a national refer end um in 1908. The
majority of MPs app roached alcohol leg islation in the same way as the previ ous
fis hing act, find ing it app ropri ate for vot ers themselv es to decide what laws
should be esta bl is hed on import ant issu es. The MPs who supp orted the ories on
the super iority of repres enta ti ve democracy compos ed a minority.
The third sect ion seeks to ex pla in Iceland’s path to democracy. Ana lys is of
the alcohol leg islation shows a strong democrat ic tra dition to have developed in
Iceland, with hea vy emp has is on direct democracy and the build ing of men’s
and women’s soci al movem ents. While el ect ed repres enta ti ves were as signed an
import ant role in polit ics, direct democracy enjoyed more favo ur am ong com-
m on people than did repres enta ti ve govern ment. Ex planations for the develop -
ments are sought both in the gener al fact ors shap ing polit ics and in those
charact er ist ics of the per iod of Home Rule (1904–1918) which facilitated the
peaceful coex istence of direct democracy and repres enta ti ve democracy. Speci al
attention is called to the import ance of vari ous in flu enti al pa stors, polit ici ans,
and jo urna lists un stint ingly encourag ing Iceland ers to adopt the democrat ic
tra dition of the New World, direct democracy, as a mod el.
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