Neutrality as Identity? Finland's Quest for Security in the Cold War

Abstract

This article examines Finland's Cold War neutrality, highlighting its political and ideational dimensions. In contrast to other scholars who have stressed the pragmatic realpolitik considerations behind Finnish policymaking, the article demonstrates that political and ideological considerations were at least as important in shaping Finnish Cold War neutrality. The ideological and political identity dimensions are connected to the strong national consensus that lay behind Finnish neutrality policy and its wide, sustained public support. Paying attention to these dimensions helps us also to understand continuities in Finnish foreign and security policy that have continued into the post–Cold War period. The continuities of Cold War–era neutrality formulations are illustrated by a discussion of Finnish foreign policymaking in the final phase of the Cold War and the early 1990s.