ABSTRACT
Since joining the European Union (EU) in 1995 Finland has carefully coordinated its foreign policy with the evolving EU common foreign and security policies. Accordingly, in its statements mapping shifts in the European security environment, the Finnish government has systematically employed and elaborated on the principles and key concepts of EU external relations documents. The lack of deeper discussion is surprising as Niinistö himself has clearly deliberately challenged traditional readings. In contrast with the usual Cold War rhetoric of the West as a clear-cut security community he has openly questioned the meanings given to the concept. The investigation of conceptual shifts in Finnish political language strives primarily to unpack the outspoken and hidden grammars of Finland’s geopolitical positioning. Political identification with the West enjoyed even rarer reference in the major Finnish political actors’ programmes. Research on Finnish Cold War policy has focused much on the role of the long-serving President Urho Kekkonen and his relations with the Soviet leadership.
