Pejorative and Productive? The legacy of Finlandization at home and abroad

In the past few years Finlandization has been a hot topic in both domestic Finnish politics, with its accession to NATO, and internationally, in the case of Ukraine. This paper analyzes how the term has been applied to both contexts and how it will continue to be relevant in the future. Through an analysis of Finland’s practical actions with Western organizations and countries, the paper finds that claims of Finlandization continuing following the end of the Cold War are instead just part of the historical balancing act in Finnish foreign policy, one that is now oriented towards the U.S., and not completely a continuation of Kekkonen-style Finlandization. Additionally, the paper addresses the infatuation of international policy-makers to suggest the Soviet-era “Finnish model,” and instead suggests post-1992 actions as a more applicable example. The paper builds upon the work of Weislander (2022), Arter (2023), and Juntunen (2017), among others.