THE AMERICAN-SCAN DIN AVI AN REVIEW 
997 
A* ** l 
men thus possessed at once the legislative, executive, and judicial pow¬ 
ers. The system of government at present prevailing is, of course, 
not so autocratic in form as the one just described, being rather of 
the parliamentary type, but it is nevertheless in some respects decidedly 
reminiscent of the old regime. The unit of local government is the 
shire; over each shire is set a shireman, who unites the functions of 
sheriff and judge. The central government consists of a ministry— 
made up of three ministers with their assistants—and a Supreme Court, 
to which appeal may be taken from decisions of the shiremen. In 
addition to such officials there are of course others, as university pro¬ 
fessors, bank directors, postmasters, etc.; and all these, together with 
the body of clergymen and physicians, a few journalists, and a 
small proportion of the teachers, make up what may be called 
the bureaucratic or professional class, the members of which are alike 
characterized by the possession of a university education and by a 
consciousness of social and economic solidarity. This sense of sol¬ 
idarity is further strengthened by the influence of the bureaucratic 
tradition, which is indeed the most important factor, by virtue of 
the conformity and conservatism which it exacts and maintains within 
the group. 
By reason of their power, security of tenure, traditional authority, 
solidarity, ability, and education, the officials of Iceland are able to 
maintain a control almost amounting to domination of all forms of 
national activity. The legislative function, it is true, is in theory 
exercised by a national parliament elected by popular vote. There is, 
however, no law prohibiting an official from becoming a member of 
parliament, and in practice the membership consists mostly of officials 
and their natural allies. Parliament elects the three ministers, who 
are responsible to it in the usual way. The bureaucracy itself, how¬ 
ever—which does the actual work of governing—is practically irre¬ 
sponsible. Thus the shireman is not elected for a limited term of 
years by the people of his shire, but is appointed for life. Consequently 
lie is in practice not accountable to any one for his actions, and unless 
he commits offences such as to warrant impeachment proceedings his 
jiosition is permanently secure. 
The bureaucratic system described above is of course not peculiar 
to Iceland, but may be found more or less developed in all of the 
countries of continental Europe. Its chief virtue is the independence 
which it supposedly bestows upon the individual official, and it may 
be granted that in a sense this independence is real enough, and of 
great value to society. As a matter of fact, however, bureaucracies 
are usually not notable for genuine independence; on the contrary, 
they are in most cases little more than the instruments of definite 
socio-economic groups within the State. Thus, in France the bu¬ 
reaucracy is subservient to the banks; in Germany, to the agrarian 
