ABSTRACT
For almost half a century Finland had a unique position in European foreign and security policy. In the context of the Cold War confrontation between the East and the West, Finland claimed a neutral status in the late 1950s, yet it was the only neutral country with a security pact with the Soviet Union.1 This gave the policy of neutrality a particular meaning. On the one hand it was meant to limit further Soviet involvement in Finnish foreign and security policy, and on the other it acknowledged Finland’s special importance to Soviet security interests. Significantly, it limited Finland’s participation in Western European integration. Indeed, full involvement in Western economic and political organizations was said to undermine Finland’s neutrality and as such it was construed as detrimental to good neighbourly relations with the Soviet Union. Although many Finnish state officials and scholars suggest that neutrality was a pragmatic policy in the challenging Cold War context, it is argued in this chapter that over time it constituted a key feature of the Finnish state identity.
