Finlandization as a Problem or an Opportunity?

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 512, Issue 1, p. 33-45

Abstract

While the concept of Finlandization was often used in the past by NATO spokesmen to refer to a problem, the possible intimidation of Western democracies by Soviet military power, it may also suggest a number of positive possibilities for the Baltic republics. An examination of recent history offers a number of analytical insights for comparing the fate of Finland with countries like Poland, subjected to Communist rule, and with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, actually incorporated into the Soviet Union. Models are offered of military and other resistance to foreign pressure, of concessions and withdrawals, and of delicate balances, involving all the Scandinavian countries.