History of Finnish Foreign Policy

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History of Finnish Foreign Policy

• Lecture series Finnish Foreign Policy
• Autumn term 2009
• 10 September 2009
• Dept. of Politics, University of Helsinki
• Docent Juhana Aunesluoma
• http//www.valt.helsinki.fi/blogs/jauneslu/index.h
  tm

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This lecture

• A long view to the history of Finnish foreign
  policy
• historical continuities/discontinuities, patterns
  of thought, events and main phases
• 1 until 1945
• Finland in the Russian empire 1809-1917
• early independence 1917-1939
• Second World War 1939-45
• 2 from 1945 onwards
• the Cold War and its end 1945-1991

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Grand Duchy in the Russian empire

• How long are the roots of Finnish foreign policy?
• is there a Finnish foreign policy before 19th
  century?
• Finns in the Swedish kingdom
• Finlands position within the Russian empire two
  schools of thought
• 1 idealism
• 2 realism
• How far Finnish foreign policy in the 20th
  century was a synthesis of these traditions?
  After 1945? After 1995?

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Two schools western-oriented liberals

• Western oriented liberalism legalism,
  scandinavianism
• A. I. Arwidsson, Helsingfors Dagblad liberals,
  Swedish Party, constitutionalists
• Finlands connection with Scandinavia
• Western values, international norms, the rule of
  law

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Two Schools realism

• Realism, accomodation and adaptation
• Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, Johan Vilhelm Snellman,
  Yrjö-Sakari Yrjö-Koskinens Finnish Party
• Finlands position within the Russian Empire
• Loyalty to Russia
• The development of the Finnish nation-state

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Early independence

• Independence and the orientation towards Germany
  1917-18
• Finlands recognition by the Western powers 1919
• 1920 Tartu Peace treaty with Soviet Russia
• Border state orientation, 1922 Warzaw treaty
  rejected in the Finnish parliament
• League of Nations membership 1920
• international law, collective security, Leagues
  Council membership 1927-30
• Normalisation of relations with Soviet Union
  1932 non-aggression pact
• Main policy line in the 1930s reliance on
  neutrality and Nordic orientation
• Finland sought support from Sweden, with limited
  success

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The Second World War The Winter War

• Preceding events
• Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact August 1939 Finland
  within the Soviet sphere of influence
• Autumn 1939 Negotiations in Moscow on bases and
  territorial changes, Finns resist demands
• Winter War 1939-40
• Soviet attack on Finland 30 November, 3 month
  war, 28 000 Finns killed, 125 000 Soviet troops
• Moscow peace March 1940 territorial changes
  imposed on Finland
• 1940-41 interim peace
• Finns fearful of Soviet intentions
• revanchism
• Nazi Germany began to support Finland from the
  summer 1940 onwards
• Finns align themselves with Germany in the
  winter-spring 1941

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The Second World War The Continuation War

• Finns began their attack on the Soviet Union
  June 1941
• alongside and coordinated with Germanys
  Operation Barbarossa
• 1942-43 Trench warfare
• President Risto Ryti and the separate war
  -thesis
• no formal alliance with Germany
• co-belligerency, brothers in arms, Finland
  within Germanys coalition

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Out of the War

• The Stalingrad effect Finns began to seek a
  way out of the war in winter-spring 1943
• Spring 1944 first talks with the Soviets, Finns
  did not accept the terms
• Soviet offensive summer 1944 Soviet advance
  falls short allowing new negotiations
• Marshal Mannerheim became President 1944-46
• armistice talks renewed, end of hostilities in
  September 1944
• The Lappland War 1944-45 Finns turn against the
  Germans

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The Cold War

• In 1944 Finland lay within the Soviet sphere of
  influence
• Allied (Soviet) Control Commission in Helsinki
  1944-47
• Treaty structure
• 1947 Paris Peace Treaty
• 1948 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual
  Assistance (FCMA)
• Finlands international position anchored into
  the Cold War East-West division
• three spheres East-West relations, Nordic
  region, Europe
• Europe seen as a bipolar system under superpower
  hegemony
• bipolar superpower hegemony provided the European
  system with stability
• Finland accepted the systemic constraints on its
  foreign political behaviour
• allowing certain (adequate) room for Finnish
  autonomy, and the preservation of its core
  interests

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Paasikivi-Kekkonen line

• Realism, geopolitical facts
• Finland must act and face the Soviet Union alone
• acceptance of legitimate Soviet security
  interests
• reaassurance (appeasement) of the Soviet Union
• Foreign policy adjusted to accomodate Soviet
  interests, with the hope that internally Finland
  remains free
• Finns do this adjustment voluntarily
• Primacy of military-security issues in foreign
  policy
• other sectors and dimensions evaluated from that
  perspective
• Centralisation of foreign policy decision-making
  into the hands of the President
• following centralising developments during the
  Second World War

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Paasikivi

• J. K. Paasikivis presidency 1946-1956
• Finlands first post-war elections 1945
• no to Marshall Plan in 1947
• 1947 Peace treaty
• 1948 FCMA treaty
• 1955 United Nations Membership

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The struggle for neutrality

• Evolution of neutrality policy from mid-1950s
  onwards
• Nikita Khrushchev accepts Finnish neutrality 1956
• Western powers acknowledge Finnish neutrality
  also, suspicions over Soviet influence
• Changing currents in Soviet thinking
• increased criticism towards Finland foreign
  polucy Soviet pressure on Finnish neutrality
  policy from 1968 onwards
• Pressure relaxes after 1978
• Western powers supportive of Finnish foreign
  policy 1970s
• Finlands low profile foreign policy in the 1980s
• cultivation of contacts to the West, multilateral
  diplomacy, science, education, culture, UN

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Kekkonen

• Urho Kekkonens presidency 1956-1981
• the crises of 1958-61
• Finlands economic integration agreements 1961
  (free trade with EFTA) and 1973 (free trade with
  EEC)
• 1975 Conference for Security and Cooperation in
  Europe
• the debate on Finlandization in the 1970s

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Finlandization

• Two different aspects of Finlandization
• 1 Domestic political culture
• how was the Soviet card played in Finnish
  domestic politics Soviet influence in Finland
• self-censorship open criticism of the Soviet
  Union a sensitive issue
• 2 Foreign policy
• as a legitimate foreign policy strategy of
  reassurance (or appeasement)

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Koivisto

• President Mauno Koivistos (1981-1994) careful
  policy
• careful, low key continuation of the
  Paasikivi-Kekkonen line
• the parliamentarisation of Finnish domestic
  politics
• support to Mikhail Gorbachev and superpower
  détente all the way to the end
• careful widening of the scope of Finnish
  neutrality policy 1989-1991

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Finland and the end of the Cold War

• When did the Cold War end?
• on Finlands behalf in September 1990
• the unilateral abrogation of the restrictions of
  the 1947 and 1948 treaties, so called Operation
  PAX
• Decision to apply for EU-membership 1991-92
• following Sweden and Austria
• negotiation process 1992-94
• following referendum membership in 1995

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Further Reading

• Tuomo Polvinen, Between East and West. Finland in
  International Politics, 1944-1947 (1986)
• Max Jakobson, Finland in the New Europe (1998)
• Klaus Törnudd, Finnish Neutrality Policy During
  the Cold War, SAIS Review 2/2005, 43-52
• Klaus Törnudd, Ties that Bind to the Recent
  Past. Debating Security Policy in Finland within
  the Context of Membership of the European Union,
  Cooperation and Conflict 1/1996, 37-68.
• Norbert Götz, In a Class by Itself. Cold War
  Politics and Finlands Position vis-à-vis the
  United Nations, 1945-1956, Journal of Cold War
  Studies, 2/2008, 71-96.
• Mikko Majander, The paradoxes of
  Finlandisation, RUSI Journal, August 1999,
  76-83.
• Kimmo Rentola, From Half-Adversary to Half-Ally
  Finland in Soviet Policy, 1953-58, Cold War
  History 1/2000, 75-102.
• Seppo Hentilä, Maintaining Neutrality between
  the Two German States Finland and Divided
  Germany until 1973, Contemporary European
  History 4/2006, 473-493.
• Esko Antola, The Burden of History. Finland as a
  Status Quo Country, The International Spectator
  (1994)
• Jussi Hanhimäki, Scandinavia and the United
  States (1997)
• Mauno Koivisto, Witness to History (1997)

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