ABSTRACT
the chapter focuses on Finish Icebreaker Diplomacy during the Cold War and explores the politicization of technology in the asymmetric relationship between small and neutral Finland and its superpower neighbor, the Soviet Union. Since most icebreakers produced in Finland were bought by the USSR, the Finns endeavored to become more independent from their main customer by attempting to sell icebreakers to US authorities. Multinational archival research presented in the chapter reveals how Helsinki recognized this particular industrial niche as a symbol of Finnish industrial modernization and used it as a political tool to address the superpowers’ geopolitical interests. As a result, national security concerns became interwoven with matters of national prestige and national welfare. In addition, the chapter also demonstrates that international technology trade during the Cold War was an arena in which state and private business interests were inextricably linked.
