“We’re a small country but we have a lot of natural strengths,” said Kristrún Frostadóttir, the prime minister of Iceland, at a September 25 event at Yale Jackson School.
The country is small, both in size and population. With just around 400,000 inhabitants, its population is close to that of the greater New Haven area – and Frostadóttir, as a 2016 graduate of the Jackson School (then Jackson Institute), may be the best person in the world to understand the two vastly different places.
“These were my best years,” Frostadóttir (pronounced FROHS-tah-doh-teer) said of her time in New Haven. “I felt like I had such freedom here at Jackson, it was such a safe space. It was a close, tight-knit community.”
Frostadóttir returned to Jackson for a discussion hosted by the Blue Center for Global Strategic Assessment. In conversation with the center’s executive director Phil Kaplan, the prime minister discussed the ways in which Iceland has strengths – as a member of NATO and a close ally of the U.S., and in its geographic position in the Arctic Circle.
In just nine years since graduating from Jackson, Frostadóttir has rapidly ascended the political ladder. She was elected to the Althing, Iceland’s national parliament, in 2021, became the leader of the country’s Social Democratic Alliance in 2022, and was appointed prime minister in 2024 after her party won a snap election. At 37, she is the world’s youngest serving state leader.
Frostadóttir was asked about Iceland’s economy, which is heavily reliant on its natural resources, like geothermal power, and fishing. An economist by training, she said a major concern is high inflation, and in particular the inflation expectations of Icelanders. She added that the government has sought public input for areas where the government can save money, an effort she said is aimed less at cutting the budget and more about how the economy benefits the population.
“In this position, the biggest challenge is figuring out how to get systems to work properly,” Frostadóttir said. “That means spending money more wisely, but it also means having an opinion on how the economy is run, in general.”
Iceland does not currently have armed forces, and Frostadóttir was asked about Iceland’s defense and national security policy. The prime minister said that while the country is unlikely to build a military in the near term, Iceland still has an important role to play as a “good host” for its partner NATO forces in the increasingly contested Arctic. Frostadóttir emphasized that Iceland’s defense has always been rooted in a strong relationship with the U.S., and a strategic positioning in the North Atlantic
“Our strengths rely on infrastructure, airports, ports, technology, energy,” she went on. “We don’t need boots, but we have the resources for the boots that come here. I think that’s important for our allies to hear… We want the Arctic to be a low-tension zone, but we can’t be naïve about it.”
Asked to reflect on her political rise, Frostadóttir called her decision to enter public office “very random,” spurred on by a personal request by a member of her political party and a professional crossroads. She encouraged the present students interested in pursuing political office to use their “privilege” as Yale students “as a drive, to do what you do well, don’t overthink things, and let things happen.”
And she added that there is no age limit on when those things can happen. “When you’re young, you have a little bit more room to be courageous.”