President of Iceland, Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, gives lecture at St Antony’s College

“Where you stand depends on where you sit: The challenge of being an academic turned Head of State“

On 27 February, Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, gave a lecture in the Investcorp Auditorium entitled ‘Where you stand depends on where you sit: The challenge of being an academic turned Head of State’.

Othon Anastasakis, Director of the European Studies Centre, chaired the event.

25 years ago, Gudni Jóhannesson was writing his doctoral dissertation in modern history at St Antony’s. He then worked in academia but in 2016, he became president of Iceland. That drastic shift provided unique opportunities but also unique challenges.As academics, we should strive for objectivity and detachment from the perceived interests of government and state. Can presidents enjoy that luxury or freedom? And what about independence and interdependence in a globalized world? Can we be proud patriots and global citizens at the same time? And in the speaker’s particular case: Can a historian turned president uphold ideals of academic freedom and objectivity on the one hand and the need for national unity and a spirit of endless optimism on the other hand?

The following day he wrote on his Facebook page:

“This afternoon I headed to Oxford where I delivered a lecture at my old school, St Anthony’s College. The headline was fun, even if I say so myself: “Where you stand depends on where you sit: The challenges of being an academic turned head of state. “I discussed nationalism, history-telling and other urgent issues of the same time, among other things based on the truth that everyone’s perspective can be different and attacked by position, interests and responsibilities. About this there were informative discussions and someone in the group became at least some indicator of the cod wars – which we Icelanders won even though they were not a real “war” in the sense that is usually put in that word.”