Thorvaldur Gylfason - openDemocracy

Iceland shows that a UK constitutional convention should involve politicians as little as possible

The people of Iceland drafted a new constitution. But their parliament has essentially ignored it.

/ 10 Nov 2014

Democracy on ice: a post-mortem of the Icelandic constitution

In spite of clear popular support, Iceland's new crowd-sourced constitution was recently killed by politicians. An ex-member of the constitutional council sheds some light on what happened - and why there might still be some hope for this unique experiment.

By Thorvaldur Gylfason

/ 19 Jun 2013

Democracy on ice: a post-mortem of the Icelandic constitution

In spite of clear popular support, Iceland's new crowd-sourced constitution was recently killed by politicians. An ex-member of the constitutional council sheds some light on what happened - and why there might still be some hope for this unique experiment.

By Thorvaldur Gylfason

/ 19 Jun 2013

Iceland: direct democracy in action

ARCHIVE: The Icelandic experiment raises many intriguing questions: how do citizens of a country get called to this office? How do they draft a new constitution? What sort of political forces do they have to balance? An insider view from a former member of the Constitutional Council.

By Thorvaldur Gylfason

/ 12 Nov 2012