ABSTRACT
During the negotiations that led to the signing of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Finland’s role evolved from silent observer on the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee to an active bridge-builder at the United Nations (UN) in the spring of 1968. Anchored to its policy of aspirant neutralism, stemming from both historical experiences and its location in the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence, Finland’s fledgling nuclear disarmament diplomacy at the UN in the 1960s aimed to accommodate consensus between the leading Nuclear Weapon States. Thus, unlike its “older brother,” Sweden, who together with other neutral and nonaligned countries demanded more progressive steps toward nuclear disarmament, Finland emphasized the responsibility of great powers in maintaining stability within a hierarchically ordered international system. Archival records show that the Finnish foreign policy elite underlined the general political value of the NPT as a rare embodiment of the US-USSR rapprochement. This was also deemed to bring along positive repercussions for Finland’s immediate security environment by removing speculations over the prospect of nuclearized West Germany, something that the Soviet Union had used as a boogeyman argument to apply diplomatic pressure toward Finland.
