Since it gained independence in 1944, Iceland has been very reluctant to integrate with international institutions. It has preferred different forms of partial integration to European Union (EU) membership and did not play an active role in those institutions it joined such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. This paper argues that Iceland’s reluctance to integrate can be explained by the hegemony of a postcolonial discourse on independence which associates with independence the exclusive sovereignty over one’s territory and affairs. The paper traces the evolution of this discourse in Iceland after the financial crisis in 2008 and analyses whether or not the crisis brought about an end to its hegemony and thus made EU membership a more legitimate foreign policy option. The investigation shows that the financial crisis only initially affected the legitimacy of the postcolonial discourse on independence. Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009, but when the immediate shock of the financial crisis subsided, the discourse, strengthened by the Icesave dispute and the Euro crisis, gradually revived. The paper therefore concludes that the hegemony of the postcolonial discourse on independence has survived the crisis. This has significantly reduced the likelihood that Iceland’s accession negotiations will actually result in EU membership.
