In 1999, the population of Iceland was estimated at approximately 280,000 people. The economy of the country is based largely on fishing and tourism. Its main industries are aluminum smelting, fish processing, hydropower and geothermal power. Iceland has a long history of strong foreign relations with other countries in Europe and beyond. In terms of politics, Iceland has had a parliamentary system with Davíð Oddsson as Prime Minister since 1991. His Independence Party continued to hold a majority in Parliament after their victory in the 1999 elections. See ethnicityology for Iceland in the year of 2018.
Yearbook 1999
Iceland. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Iceland. The coalition government between the Independent Party, the Independence Party, and the Progressive Party, the Progress Party, retained its majority after the general election in May. The Conservative Independence Party went ahead with a mandate of 26, while the Center Party Progress Party lost three seats and stayed at 12. Everything has a total of 63 members. Prime Minister David Oddsson continued in his post after the election, after his independence party captured more than 40% of the vote. The good economic development favored the government parties. In 1999, I’s growth was expected to be above 5% in 1999 for the fourth year in a row, and unemployment was only 2.5%.
- Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of ISL which stands for Iceland and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.
A hot social debate was held during the year about everything decided before the turn of the year 1998/99 to allow an agreement between the government and the multinational company deCode Genetics. The unique agreement has given the company access to the patient information in all of I’s health records. The company, which will establish a central database of these data unidentified, has also built up a gene database using voluntary DNA testing. At the same time, a huge family register with a total of 750,000 Icelanders has been created throughout history. With this information as a basis, deCode believes that one can find the key to the genes behind a wide range of hereditary diseases. depression, diabetes and MS. The pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche has invested approximately SEK 1.6 billion in deCode’s gene research project. The genetic homogeneity of Icelanders, together with their more than millennial genealogy, makes people’s health data a goldmine for biotechnologists. Many critical doctors fear that the project’s personal protection will not work, that codes will be broken and that sensitive information about individuals will be in the wrong hands.
A broad popular movement with former President Vigdis Finnbogadóttir protested during the year against Norsk Hydro’s plans at an aluminum smelter in Reyðarfjörður in northeastern Iceland and the government’s plans for a hydroelectric power plant in the same area. The criticism mainly concerned the major environmental interventions in Western Europe’s largest unspoilt wilderness area. After a tough political debate, in December everything said yes to the government’s proposal for the power plant.
Households
As housewives, women have controlled household consumption, while men have led production to the market. The role of women is characterized by the rapid upheaval in society. Those who grew up before the war have more than realized the material wishes they had. The women were able to equip their homes properly, while the men were able to provide for their household without having to travel much from home. At the same time, the position of households has changed. This applies not least to the housewives’ key position within the genus and among neighbors. The basis for this was their daily chores, informal contacts and socializing in the kitchen and living room that originated from the housework.
Private insurance broke through in the inter-war years, and since then, social welfare has been increasingly expanded. The insurance system, both public and private, has been significantly less important than in the rest of Scandinavia – especially in the countryside.
Women and children
In 1915, the Icelandic women were granted the same rights as men for participation in elections as voters and electors. This was a consequence of the implementation of similar legislation in the colonial power Denmark. In 1980, women made up 43.4% of the economically active workforce in the country.
In 1980, the independent candidate, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, won with 34% of the vote over her 3 male counter-candidates and thus became Iceland’s first female president. In her campaign, she had gone against the US military base in the country and was supported by the left. Due. however, the limitations of her constitutional power limited her ability to change government policy in this area. She was re-elected without counter-candidates in 1984 and 88.
If you compare the legislation on women’s rights in the Nordic countries, you will be surprised how well this one appears to have been designed for Iceland, despite the men’s assembly that has historically been the Alting. The latest example is the law of equality between the sexes. Other laws that show what is perceived as a typical woman’s vision have been passed without any problems. This applies, for example. the ban on boxing. The men have formally controlled most of what has been going on outside the home, but the housewives have had no stronger sense that their position was downplayed. In ancient society it gave them a great deal of power that the men were often gone fishing. More recently, general prosperity has paved the way for women in the labor market. Today, it is normal – both in the working families and in the middle classes – that housewives look for paid work.
Public organization of childcare arrangements is still under construction. The shift from rural to urban, from household to family to industrial, money and wage-earning societies has taken place so quickly that middle-aged and older people – those in charge – have not really wanted to realize the burden that children face in the new environment.
Social Capitalism
Icelanders are increasingly familiar with the conditions of other countries and are comparing themselves to their own communities. The dominant yardstick is: Money wages and public social benefits. In short, the rewards of social capitalism. This is what one is trying to develop further. So to say, all political cases have the effect of promoting industrial social capitalism, whether they come from the political parties on the right or the left or from the labor union organizations. For the trade union movement, money is the unifying point of interest. The schemes they are struggling with are therefore likely to increase the importance of capital – in the first place the public – in society. This applies for example. the unemployment benefit. It has led to accumulation of a huge fund capital for lending; Later, pension funds have developed similarly. These funds and the 1966 agreement on housing construction for workers capitalized and industrialized house construction and reduced house building based on self-construction. The bourgeoisie has been somewhat hesitant to meet the requirement for more public kindergartens, preferring instead to base this benefit on the private initiative.
In ancient Icelandic society, the ideal was to be independent among peers. In our time, personal independence is increasingly being realized. This is done in the homes by people buying what they previously tried to satisfy through joint efforts in households – possibly with the help of neighbors or relatives. It also happens through public social insurance where people automatically receive compensation and compensation under difficult conditions. At the same time, people are increasingly left to themselves – a sign that there are still fewer family pictures in homes – and are therefore even more focused on what can be obtained with money, industrial goods and public social insurance.
Technical upheaval and industrial social capitalism have gradually destroyed the conditions for daily mutually beneficial ways of socializing. The increased opportunities for industrialized music and the like make socializing more and more bothersome. The upheavals have taken place under the leadership of people in politics and government, business management and trade union movement, who like to appreciate the traditional forms of interaction and popular oral culture; Many of them themselves have had much to contribute in this regard. Of course, it has varied how important it has been for the individual to preserve this culture. Notwithstanding this, the main political notion has been that it was about leading society towards international, preferably Scandinavian, standards by exploiting all opportunities within technical, economic and social organization. For the various leaders, the metropolitan area has set the standard. In this way, there has been a combination of technical and economic openness with a somewhat conservative concern for the non-material national cultural forms of the old society.
