Tyngdpunkter i finsk utrikespolitik; fyra decennier, fyra indikatorer

Authors

• Marko Joas

Abstract

Finnish foreign policy is usually seen as a classic example of realism, despite long democratic traditions. According to the constitution, the president has a strong position in the making of foreign affairs policy. This article challenges this realistic tradition and concentrates on some quantitative indicators of Finnish foreign policy from the 1950’s to the middle of the 1980’s: official and other political visits from and to Finland, foreign-policy debates in parliament and treaties between Finland and other countries. This article argues that international interdependence is so strong as to challenge old patterns of high politics. Quantitative evidence shows that Eastern Europe was the most important focus of Finnish foreign policy, closely followed by the Nordic countries and Western Europe. The pattern is nevertheless changing with a relative decline of Eastern and Western Europe in favour of new areas, for example Asia.