Finland
Alternative Title: Republic of Finland, Republiken Finland, Suomen Tasavalta, Suomi
Table of Contents
Introduction
Land
People
Economy
Government and society
Cultural life
History
A part of Sweden from the 12th century until 1809, Finland was then a Russian grand duchy until, following the Russian Revolution, the Finns declared independence on December 6, 1917. Finland�s area decreased by about one-tenth during the 1940s, when it ceded the Petsamo (Pechenga) area, which had been a corridor to the ice-free Arctic coast, and a large part of southeastern Karelia to the Soviet Union (ceded portions now in Russia).
Throughout the Cold War era, Finland skillfully maintained a neutral political position, although a 1948 treaty with the Soviet Union (terminated 1991) required Finland to repel any attack on the Soviet Union carried out through Finnish territory by Germany or any of its allies. Since World War II, Finland has steadily increased its trading and cultural relations with other countries. Under a U.S.-Soviet agreement, Finland was admitted to the United Nations in 1955. Since then, Finland has sent representatives to the Nordic Council, which makes suggestions to member countries on the coordination of policies.
Finland�s international activities became more widely known when the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which resulted in the creation of the Helsinki Accords, was held in that city in 1975. Finland has continued to have especially close ties with the other Scandinavian countries, sharing a free labour market and participating in various economic, cultural, and scientific projects. Finland became a full member of the European Union in 1995.
The landscape of ubiquitous forest and water has been a primary source of inspiration for Finnish arts and letters. Starting with Finland�s national epic, the
And the grass bids me welcome from foreign lands.
My head I recline in the grass: now finally home.
Now I turn my back on everything that lies behind me:
My only companions will be the forest and the shore and the lake.
The notion of nature as the true home of the Finn is expressed again and again in Finnish proverbs and folk wisdom. The harsh climate in the northern part of the country, however, has resulted in the concentration of the population in the southern third of Finland, with about one-fifth of the country�s population living in and around Helsinki, Finland�s largest city and continental Europe�s northernmost capital. Yet, despite the fact that most Finns live in towns and cities, nature�especially the forest�is never far from their minds and hearts. Land
Relief
Finland is heavily forested and contains some 56,000 lakes, numerous rivers, and extensive areas of marshland; viewed from the air, Finland looks like an intricate blue and green jigsaw puzzle. Except in the northwest, relief features do not vary greatly, and travelers on the ground or on the water can rarely see beyond the trees in their immediate vicinity. The landscape nevertheless possesses a striking�if sometimes bleak�beauty.
Finland�s underlying structure is a huge worn-down shield composed of ancient rock, mainly granite, dating from Precambrian time (from about 4 billion to 540 million years ago). The land is low-lying in the southern part of the country and higher in the centre and the northeast, while the few mountainous regions are in the extreme northwest, adjacent to Finland�s borders with Sweden and Norway. In this area there are several high peaks, including Mount Halti, which is, at 4,357 feet (1,328 metres), Finland�s highest mountain.
The coastline of Finland, some 2,760 miles (4,600 km) in length, is extremely indented and dotted with thousands of islands. The greatest number of these are to be found in the southwest, in the Turun (Turku; �bo) archipelago, which merges with the �land (Ahvenanmaa) Islands in the west. The southern islands in the Gulf of Finland are mainly of low elevation, while those lying along the southwest coastline may rise to heights of more than 400 feet (120 metres).
The relief of Finland was greatly affected by Ice Age glaciation.The retreating continental glacier left the bedrock littered with morainic deposits in formations of eskers, remarkable winding ridges of stratified gravel and sand, running northwest to southeast. One of the biggest formations is the Salpausselk� ridges, three parallel ridges running across southern Finland in an arc pattern. The weight of the glaciers, sometimes miles thick, depressed the Earth�s crust by many hundreds of feet. As a consequence, areas that have been released from the weight of the ice sheets have risen and continue to rise, and Finland is still emerging from the sea. Indeed, land rise of some 0.4 inch (10 mm) annually in the narrow part of the Gulf of Bothnia is gradually turning the old sea bottom into dry land. Drainage and soils
Finland�s inland waters occupy almost one-tenth of the country�s total area; there are 10 lakes of more than 100 square miles (250 square km) in area and tens of thousands of smaller ones. The largest lake, Saimaa, in the southeast, covers about 1,700 square miles (4,400 square km). There are many other large lakes near it, including P�ij�nne and Pielinen, while Oulu is near Kajaani in central Finland, and Inari is in the extreme north. Away from coastal regions, many of Finland�s rivers flow into the lakes, which are generally shallow�only three lakes are deeper than about 300 feet (90 metres). Saimaa itself drains into the much larger Lake Ladoga in Russian territory via the Vuoksi (Vuoksa) River. Drainage from Finland�s eastern uplands is through the lake system of Russian Karelia to the White Sea.
In the extreme north the Paats River and its tributaries drain large areas into the Arctic. On Finland�s western coast a series of rivers flow into the Gulf of Bothnia. These include the Tornio, which forms part of Finland�s border with Sweden, and the Kemi, which, at 343 miles (550 km), is Finland�s longest river. In the southwest the Kokem�en, one of Finland�s largest rivers, flows out past the city of Pori (Bj�rneborg). Other rivers flow southward into the Gulf of Finland.
Soils include those of the gravelly type found in the eskers, as well as extensive marine and lake postglacial deposits in the form of clays and silts, which provide the country�s most fertile soils. Almost one-third of Finland was once covered by bogs, fens, peatlands, and other swamplands, but many of these have been drained and are now forested. The northern third of Finland still has thick layers of peat, the humus soil of which continues to be reclaimed. In the �land Islands the soils are mainly clay and sand. Climate
The part of Finland north of the Arctic Circle suffers extremely severe and prolonged winters. Temperatures can fall as low as −22 �F (−30 �C). In these latitudes the snow never melts from the north-facing mountain slopes, but in the short summer (Lapland has about two months of the midnight sun), from May to July, temperatures can reach as high as 80 �F (27 �C). Farther south the temperature extremes are slightly less marked, as the Baltic Sea- and Gulf Stream-warmed airflow from the Atlantic keeps temperatures as much as 10 degrees higher than at similar latitudes in Siberia and Greenland. Winter is the longest season in Finland. North of the Arctic Circle the polar night lasts for more than 50 days; in southern Finland the shortest day lasts about six hours. Annual precipitation, about one-third of which falls as sleet or snow, is about 25 inches (600 mm) in the south and a little less in the north. All Finnish waters are subject to some surface freezing during the winter. Plant and animal life
Much of Finland is dominated by conifers, but in the extreme south there is a zone of deciduous trees comprising mainly birch, hazel, aspen, maple, elm, linden, and alder. The conifers are mainly pine and spruce. Pine extends to the extreme north, where it can be found among the dwarf arctic birch and pygmy willow. Lichens become increasingly common and varied in kind toward the north. In autumn the woods are rich in edible fungi. More than 1,000 species of flowering plants have been recorded. The sphagnum swamps, which are widespread in the northern tundra or bogland area, yield harvests of cloudberries, as well as plagues of mosquitoes.
Salmon, trout, and the much esteemed
The vegetation and wildlife of the �land Islands is much like that of coastal southern Finland. People Ethnic groups
Excavations undertaken in 1996 have led to a radical reconsideration of how long people have inhabited Finland. Finds in a cave near Kristinestad in the southwestern part of the country have led some to suggest that habitation of Finland goes back at least 100,000 years. Ancestors of the Sami apparently were present in Finland by about 7000 bce. As other groups began to enter Finland some 3,000 years later, the proto-Sami probably retreated northward. Archaeological remains suggest that this second wave of settlers came from or had contact with what was to become Russia and also Scandinavia and central Europe. Peoples of Uralic (specifically Finno-Ugric) stock dominated two settlement areas. Those who entered southwestern Finland across the Gulf of Finland were the ancestors of the H�m�l�iset (Tavastians, or Tavastlanders), the people of southern and western Finland (especially the historic region of H�me); those who entered from the southeast were the Karelians. Scandinavian peoples occupied the western coast and archipelagoes and the �land Islands.
Roughly half of Finland�s small Sami population live in the area known as the Sami Homeland (S�miid ruovttuguovlu), which consists of the northernmost portion of the region of Lappi. In 1995 the Finnish constitution was amended to recognize the status of the Sami as an indigenous people and their right to maintain and develop their own language and culture. (
Finland has two national languages, Finnish andSwedish" class="md-crosslink"> Swedish, and is officially bilingual. Nearly nine-tenths of the population speak Finnish; the language is an important nationalist feature, although it is spoken in strong regional dialects. The Swedish-speaking population is found mainly in the coastal area in the south, southwest, and west and in the �land Islands (where Swedish is the sole official language). According to the constitution of 2000, public authorities are required to provide for the needs of the Finnish- and Swedish-speaking populations of the country on an equal basis. Rights and obligations concerning the national languages were addressed in greater detail in the Language Act promulgated in 2004.
Russian and Estonian also are spoken by a very small percentage of Finns, and there is a tiny minority of Sami speakers in the extreme north of Finland. Of the 11 Sami languages, 3 are spoken in Finland: North Sami, Inari Sami (spoken only in Finland), and Skolt Sami. The Sami languages are related to Finnish, with North Sami being the most widely spoken, by almost four-fifths of the Sami population.
Relationships between the various language groups in Finland are good, and the position of the minority languages is strong compared with that of minority groups in most other multilingual and multicultural countries. Although Sami is not a national language of Finland like Finnish and Swedish, its status as a regional minority language is guaranteed by the Sami Language Act (2004). Religion
A small minority of Finns belong to the Orthodox Church of Finland, the only other faith to have the status of a national church. It was granted autonomy from Moscow in 1920, and in 1923 it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople. It has one archbishop, with his see at Kuopio. Members of the Pentecostal church constitute another relatively small religious group in Finland, and even fewer Finns belong to independent Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church. Small Jewish and Muslim communities date from the 19th century, when Finland was one of the few parts of the Russian empire where Jews and Muslims could practice their religion more or less freely; however, Jews were granted full rights as citizens only after Finland became independent in 1918. With the founding of its first Islamic congregation in 1925, Finland became the first European country to officially recognize an Islamic congregation. The religious orientation of about one-fourth of Finns is unknown. Settlement patterns
Increased industrialization in Finland has steadily raised the proportion of the population living in urban areas; by the early 21st century, more than four-fifths of the total population lived in cities and towns. Farms are most commonly located in the meadowland regions of the southwest, where the fertile land is suitable for mixed agriculture. In the north farmers usually concentrate on small dairy herds and forestry. In Finnish Lapland there is some nomadic life based mainly on the reindeer industry.
The major urban settlements are all in the southern third of the country, with a large number of cities and towns concentrated on the coast, either on the Gulf of Finland, as is the capital, Helsinki, or on the Gulf of Bothnia, as are Vaasa and Oulu (Ule�borg). The only town of any size in the north is Rovaniemi, capital of the region of Lappi. Helsinki is the largest city, with a population that is significantly larger than those of Tampere (Tammerfors) and Turku, the country�s capital until 1812.
There are three principal regions in Finland: a coastal plain, an interior lake district, and an interior tract of higher land that rises to the fells (
The coastal plain comprises a narrow tract in the south, sloping from Salpausselk� to the Gulf of Finland; the plains in the southwestern part of the country; and the broad western coastal lowlands of the region of Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia) facing the Gulf of Bothnia. The coastal region has the most extensive stretches of farmland; this region also is the site of the longest continuous settlement and has the largest number of urban centres. Associated with it are the offshore islands, which are most numerous in the Turun archipelago off Turku on the southwest coast. Farther to the north in the Gulf of Bothnia another group of islands lies off Vaasa (Vasa).
The lake district, with its inland archipelagoes, is the heart of Finland. It has been less subject to external influences than the coastal region, but since the end of World War II its population has increased, and it has become considerably industrialized.
The higher land in the northeast and north constitutes what may still be called �colonial� Finland. These are the country�s areas of expansion and development where many economic and social interests conflict, including, in the far north, the area of
The �land Islands is a region entirely distinct from Finland, not only because of its geographic separation but also because it is surrounded by the sea. The islands�whose inhabitants are almost entirely Swedish-speaking�are autonomous, have their own parliament, and fly their own flag. On the islands farming is a more usual occupation than fishing; there are mixed farms, as in the southwest of Finland, but fruit is also grown. Mariehamn (Maarianhamina) is the capital and only large town. Demographic trends
Until the 1990s emigration exceeded immigration, with Sweden being one of the most attractive destinations for Finnish emigrants. Following World War II, hundreds of thousands of Finns emigrated, while immigration was practically nil, owing to government restrictions. Since 1990, however, Finland has become a country of net immigration. As a result of increasing Finnish prosperity, the fall of the Soviet Union, and a liberalization of Finnish asylum and immigration policy, the number of immigrants rose dramatically at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, with the largest numbers coming from Russia, Sweden, Estonia, and Somalia. Internal migration since the 1950s has been steadily toward the large towns and cities.
Finland�s economy is based primarily on private ownership and free enterprise; in some sectors, however, the government exercises a monopoly or a leading role. After World War II, Finland was not fully industrialized, and a large portion of the population was still engaged in agriculture, mining, and forestry. During the early postwar decades, primary production gave way to industrial development, which in turn yielded to a service- and information-oriented economy. The economy grew rapidly in the 1980s as the country exploited its strong trading relations with both eastern and western Europe. By the early 1990s, however, Finland was experiencing economic recession, reflecting both the loss of its principal trading partner with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and a general European economic slump. The economy began a slow recovery in the mid-1990s as Finland continued retooling its industry and refocused its trade primarily toward western Europe.
Unemployment was relatively low in Finland until 1991, when it increased rapidly. After peaking at nearly 20 percent of the workforce in 1994, the unemployment rate gradually began to decline again, falling in line with continental trends by the end of the 20th century.
Finland has subscribed to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade since 1949 and to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development since 1969. It became first an associate (1961) and later a full member (1986) of the European Free Trade Association before leaving that organization to join the European Union (EU) in 1995. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
The steadily decreasing portion of the labour force working in agriculture is indicative of the sector�s declining role in Finland�s economy. Much land has been taken out of agricultural production, and most farms consist of smallholdings. Finland has been self-supporting in basic foodstuffs since the early 1960s. Meat production roughly equals consumption, while egg and dairy output exceeds domestic needs. Grain production varies considerably; in general, bread grain (mainly wheat) is imported and fodder grain exported. The climate restricts grain farming to the southern and western regions of the country.
Animal husbandry in Finland traditionally concentrated on the raising of dairy cattle, but cuts were made after years of overproduction. As a result, the number of milk cows has declined. The keeping of pigs, poultry, and reindeer also is important, while sheep farming and beekeeping are of minor economic significance. The number of horses also declined until the late 1970s but then became generally stable, with the subsequent increase in the number of Thoroughbred horses raised.
Since World War II, fur farming has made great strides in Finland. Practically all furs are exported; Finland is one of the world�s main producers of farm-raised foxes, and its mink furs also have a very good reputation on international markets.
Finnish agriculture was heavily subsidized before the country entered the EU, and as a result of negotiation, Finland remains among the most subsidized under the EU�s Common Agricultural Policy. Finnish farmers rely heavily on direct payments based on the amount of land under cultivation. Those farmers north of the 62nd parallel receive especially generous subsidies.
Despite the abundance of forest resources, the forest industry faces increasing production costs. The private owners of more than four-fifths of Finland�s forests effectively control domestic timber prices; nonetheless, forest products (notably paper) are a major source of the country�s export earnings.
Commercial fishing has gradually become less significant to the economy. Among the fish in Finland�s catch are salmon, sea and rainbow trout, whitefish, pike, and char. River pollution, as well as dams built for hydroelectric works, have adversely affected natural spawning habits, especially those of salmon and sea trout, and Finland has established a large number of fish-breeding stations at which artificial spawning is induced. There is some trawling for Baltic herring, which also are taken in the winter by seine fishing (dragging nets under the ice) around the offshore islands. Resources and power
Trees are Finland�s most important natural resource. Some three-fourths of the total land area is forested, with pine, spruce, and birch being the predominant species. Government cultivation programs, among other measures, have prevented forest depletion; and acid rain, which has devastated forests in central Europe, has not had any serious consequences in Finland. About one-fifth of all energy consumed in Finland is still derived from wood, though over half this total is waste sludge from pulp mills, and roughly another one-fourth consists of other forest-industry waste (bark, sawdust, etc.) rather than logs.
Peat deposits cover nearly one-third of the country, but only a small fraction of that land is suitable for large-scale peat production. Although expensive to ship and store, peat nevertheless provides a small percentage of Finnish energy and is also used in agriculture.
A diversity of minerals occurs in the Precambrian bedrock, but mining output is modest, owing to the small size of the deposits and the low metal content of the ore. Most mines are located in the north. Iron is the most important of the industrial metals. The main nonferrous metals are nickel and zinc. Chromium, cobalt, and copper are also economically important. Gold, silver, cadmium, and titanium are obtained as by-products. There is no naturally occurring coal or oil in Finland. Some mica is quarried, mostly for export.
Because of the cold climate and the structure of the country�s industry, Finland�s per capita energy consumption ranks among the highest in the world. Industries account for about half of total energy consumption, a much higher proportion than the European average. Domestic energy sources meet only about one-third of Finland�s total energy requirement, and all fossil fuels must be imported.
Much of Finland�s power comes from hydroelectric plants, but the low fall of water makes dam building necessary. The loss in 1944 of Karelian hydroelectric resources turned attention to the north of the country, where plants were built on the Oulu and Kemi rivers. Thermal-generated power is also important. Wind power is of lesser importance than it is in some other Scandinavian countries, but it is becoming more prevalent in the windier coastal areas. Finland�s electricity grids are linked with those of Sweden and Russia, and electricity is imported. Fortum, the predominantly state-owned electric power company, operates a nuclear plant at Loviisa, east of Helsinki; nuclear power now constitutes about one-fourth of all power generated.
Manufacturing
Finland�s northern location imposes certain limitations on industrial activity; severe winter conditions make the costs of construction and heating high, and ice and snow are obstacles to transport. Industrialization in Finland began in the 1860s, but the pace was slow, and early in the 20th century only some 10 percent of the population derived its livelihood from manufacturing. It was not until the mid-1960s that manufacturing overtook farming and forestry together as an employer.
Forest products remain a vital sector of the Finnish economy. In the course of development, the traditional manufactures of vegetable tar and pitch have given way to sawn timber and pulp and later to converted paper products, building materials, and furniture.
Reparations payable to the Soviet Union after World War II, at first a desperate burden, eventually proved a boon to Finland; their payment necessitated the development of heavy industry, which later found markets in western as well as eastern Europe. The technology industry is the largest component of the industrial sector in Finland. Biotechnology has also come to play an increasingly important role in the Finnish economy. Metals and engineering constitute another large sector of Finnish industry. Finland holds a leading international position in the building of icebreakers, luxury liners, and other specialized ships and in the manufacture of paper-processing equipment. Finland�s chemical industry has also grown rapidly to become a very important part of the economy. An important branch of the chemical industry is oil refining, the production capacity of which currently exceeds domestic oil requirements.
At the end of the 20th century, Finnish industry embraced new technological developments with great enthusiasm. The manufacture of products related to information technology and telecommunications, led by such firms as Nokia, became increasingly important.
Textile factories are located at Turku, Tampere, Vaasa, Forssa, and Hyvink��. Helsinki has one of Europe�s largest porcelain factories, while Karhula (Kotka), Iittala, and Nuutaj�rvi are known internationally for glass. Leather and pewter goods, beer and vodka, and cement are among other important products. Food and drink, including functional foods (those that are both nutritious and prevent illness), constitute one of the country�s largest industries. Liqueurs, soft drinks, and various sweets are made from domestic cloudberries, currants, gooseberries, and lingonberries. Finance
From 1980 the Finnish financial market underwent rapid change. The state�s role in the money market declined, and the economy became more and more market-oriented. Foreign banks were first allowed to operate in Finland in the early 1980s and were permitted to open branch offices there in 1991.
The Bank of Finland (Suomen Pankki), established in 1811 and guaranteed and supervised by the parliament since 1868, is the country�s central bank and a member of the European System of Central Banks. In 2002, the EU�s common currency, the euro, replaced the markka, which had been Finland�s national currency since 1860. Compared with other European countries, Finland has relatively little currency in circulation because Finns are accustomed to banking electronically.Deposit banks are organized into three groups: commercial, cooperative, and savings. Securities trading is handled by the Helsinki Stock Exchange; foreign investors were first allowed to trade there in the early 1980s. Trade
Services
By the beginning of the 21st century, government services made up as much as one-third of the service sector in Finland, but private concerns, especially business and information technology (IT) services, grew at a faster rate than public services. Unlike most other European countries, the service sector�s share of Finland�s gross domestic product (GDP) and employment has not increased as quickly as that of manufacturing. The Finnish government uses indirect methods, such as grants, loans, and investments in equity, as well as employee development and retraining, to promote investment in areas deemed to be in need of development. Founded in 1983, the Technology Development Centre (now the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology) played an important role in the 1980s and �90s in Finnish technological advancement by funding research and development. By the end of the 20th century, the government had earmarked almost one-third of its total spending for research and development. Labour and taxation
By far the majority of Finns (roughly two-thirds) are employed in the service sector. The next largest source of employment and still significant is manufacturing, while the proportion of those involved in the increasingly marginalized agricultural sector is very small. Finland�s largest employer organization is the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (formerly called the Finnish Employers� Confederation); the largest trade union groups are the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions and the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals.
Employment has long been seen as a self-evident right for women in Finland, which has one of the highest rates of employment for women in Europe, with about nine-tenths of Finnish women employed full-time. On the whole, women workers are slightly better educated than their male counterparts and are more unionized; however, Finnish women are still paid only about seven-tenths of what men earn for the same job. To support the participation of women and parents in the workplace, Finland has a comprehensive system of maternal and paternal leave for new parents.
Income taxes in Finland are higher than those for many other industrialized countries, with the taxation of above-average incomes especially heavy. Finland�s value-added tax is among the highest in the European Union. Excise duties on liquid fuels, automobiles, alcohol, and tobacco are also high, while those on food, public transportation, books, and medicine are typically reduced. Transportation and telecommunications
Until the mid-20th century the problems posed for internal communications and transport by Finland�s difficult terrain and weather conditions had hardly been tackled, and many communities remained isolated. External communications were mainly by sea, which, especially as a result of the period of Swedish rule, accounts for the series of well-developed ports on the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland.
The country also has an extensive network of navigable waterways comprising lakes, rivers, and canals. Many thousands of miles of additional waterways are suitable for the flotage of felled timber, but truck and rail transport is rendering this practice obsolete in many areas. In 1963 the Soviet Union leased to Finland the Soviet end of the canal linking Lake Saimaa with the Gulf of Finland; it was opened in 1968. Most of Finland�s overseas cargoes are carried in its own merchant marine. The country has a passenger-liner service, and car ferries operate to Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Estonia, Russia, and Poland.
Finland now has a good system of highways and roads�of which about two-thirds are paved�but the lakes in the southeast tend to make routes indirect there, while north of the Arctic Circle the roads are still few. Bridges and car ferries assist road travel in the lakeland areas and in the island archipelagoes. The bus system is highly developed throughout Finland and is widely utilized.
The railway system is much less adequate than that of the roads; the southwestern part of the country is the best-served area. The railways, which provide connections with Russia, are state-owned; about one-third of the rail lines are electrified. In 1982 Finland�s first subway was inaugurated in Helsinki.
In addition to the international air terminal near Helsinki, Finland has domestic airports, the most northerly of which is at Ivalo, at Lake Inari. Finnair, the national airline, offers domestic and international service.
Not only was Finland quick to develop its telecommunications and information technology industry, but Finns also rapidly made new technology part of their lives. At the turn of the 21st century, Finland had the among the largest per capita numbers of mobile telephone and Internet users in the world. Government and society Constitutional framework
Finland adopted a republican constitution in 1919; it has been amended several times, notably in the mid-1990s. Legislative power rests in the unicameral parliament (Eduskunta), whose members are elected for four-year terms, and in the president, whose term is six years. Executive power is shared by the president and the Council of State, or cabinet, the meetings of which are chaired by the president. The president appoints the prime minister and the cabinet. A clause in the constitution stresses that government ministers are responsible to the parliament.
The six-year term of office and the possibility of reelection enhance the president�s powers and provide the country with an important source of stability, in view of the frequent changes of government caused by the multiparty system. In cases of complete deadlock, the president can appoint a nonpolitical caretaker government. Government bills can be introduced into the parliament in the president�s name; the president can refuse to sign a bill but must endorse it if it is passed in a subsequent parliament. The president also can dissolve the parliament, has certain decree-making powers, and is the head of the armed forces. Moreover, the president conducts the country�s foreign policy, but decisions on major treaties and questions of war and peace must be validated by the parliament. Local government
Finland is divided into 19
�land has special status as a demilitarized, self-governing region. The Act on the Autonomy of �land (1920), settled by a decision of the League of Nations (1921), provided for Finnish sovereignty over �land, predicated on a division of political power between the islands and the rest of Finland. �land has its own parliament (Lagtinget), flag, and representative on the Nordic Council. Justice
The Finnish judiciary is independent of the legislature and executive; judges are removable only by judicial sentence. There are local, municipal, and rural district courts (
Suffrage is universal in Finland for those age 18 or older. The president is directly elected. To be elected president, a candidate must win a majority of the vote in a first round of balloting; otherwise, a run-off is held between the two candidates receiving the most votes in the first round. Parliamentary elections are conducted by a system of proportional representation.
Proportional representation has led to a proliferation of political parties, including the Social Democratic Party, the Left-Wing Alliance (formed in 1990 from the People�s Democratic League and the Finnish Communist Party), the National Coalition Party, and the Centre Party (or Finnish Centre; formerly the Agrarian Union). The People�s Democratic League and its successor have been important parts of the government since World War II. Minor parties include the Swedish People�s Party, the environmentalist Green League, and the True Finn Party (formerly the Finnish Rural Party, a splinter of the former Agrarian Union). Women have played a crucial role in Finnish politics since 1906, when they first became eligible not only to vote but to serve in the parliament. In the early 21st century women held some two-fifths of the seats in the parliament, and in 2003 Finland became the first European country to have a woman president (Tarja Halonen) and a woman prime minister (Anneli J��tteenm�ki) hold office at the same time. Security
By the Treaty of Paris (1947), made with the Allied Powers after World War II, Finland was permitted to maintain an army of 34,400 individuals, an air force of 3,000 individuals and 60 combat aircraft, and a navy of 4,500 individuals, with ships totaling 10,000 tons. The transformation of Russia, the EU, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st has affected security and stability in Finland�s environs in northern Europe. The NATO membership of the country�s Baltic neighbours Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is generally viewed by Finns as a stabilizing factor. All male Finns between the ages of 17 and 60 are liable for military service, but civil service duty is available to conscientious objectors.
The police authorities are subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. The cities pay to the state a part of the expenses for local police forces. Health and welfare
Health centres, run by local authorities, supply free medical treatment to Finns, but there are also licensed private practitioners. The country is divided into hospital districts, each with a central hospital maintained by intermunicipal corporations. There are also smaller regional hospitals and a few private hospitals. The patient pays only a small daily hospital charge. In addition the state reimburses a large percentage of the patient�s expenditures on drugs. The Finns are known as a healthy and vigorous people and are characterized by their penchant for sauna baths. Indeed, the life expectancy for Finns is among the highest in the world.
Social security in Finland comprises a system of pensions and care for the aged, unemployment benefits, health care, and family welfare plans. The state pays disability pensions and old-age pensions to persons age 65 and older. The cost of these pensions is met from premiums originally paid by the beneficiaries and payments by employers and by the central and local governments. The Central Pensions Security Institute administers an additional earnings-related old-age pension, which is also available to farmers and other self-employed people. The National Board of Social Welfare provides care and attention for the elderly, including recreational centres to provide social amenities. Other social programs include unemployment benefits and compensation for industrial accidents, maternity benefits, and family allowances for all children under age 16. Housing
The National Board of Housing addresses problems of housing supply and development. There is a general housing shortage in Helsinki. About three-fifths of Finns own their own houses or flats, and the right to adequate housing was incorporated as an amendment into the Finnish constitution. Low-income families in Finland are eligible to obtain state-subsidized flats, and government loans for mortgages are also obtainable. Brick and concrete are surpassing wood as building materials, although many Finnish families have vacation cottages, typically modest lakeside dwellings of traditional log or timber construction. Education
All Finnish municipalities are required to provide preschool instruction for all six-year-old children, but attendance is voluntary; school attendance in Finland is compulsory beginning at age seven. The national and local governments support the schools, and tuition is free. The introduction of a new nine-year comprehensive school system, consisting of a six-year primary stage and a three-year secondary stage, was completed during the 1970s. The English language is taught beginning in the third year, but students can also have the choice of studying other foreign languages. Finland�s nine-year comprehensive school system is followed by either a three-year upper secondary school or a vocational school.
The Finnish higher-education system is composed of two parallel sectors: universities and polytechnics. The only higher-education institutions in Finland that were founded before the country achieved independence are the University of Helsinki, founded at Turku in 1640 and transferred to Helsinki in 1828, and the Helsinki University of Technology, founded in 1849. Instruction is offered in Finnish, Swedish, and often in English. State aid for higher education is available. Adult education and continuing education are also popular in Finland, with adult education leading to certification and reemployment education free of charge. Cultural life Cultural milieu
Finland is one of the most ethnically and culturally homogeneous countries in Europe. Nevertheless, Finns have been quick to incorporate ideas and impulses from Russia, elsewhere in Scandinavia, and continental Europe, particularly in the arts, music, architecture, and the sciences, but in each instance these influences have evolved into a form that is typically Finnish.
Despite their strong neighbours to the east and west, Finns have preserved and developed the Finnish language, while adapting it to new terminology as needed; for example, the word
Finns also have kept their cultural identity intact despite the powerful outside influences of neighbouring Finnic, Baltic, and Germanic peoples. Indeed, the traditional region of Karelia (now divided between Finland and Russia), where the songs of the Finnish national epic
The best-known Finnish regional groups are the Savolainen, Karjalainen, H�m�l�inen, and Pohjalainen (from the Savo, Karelia, Hame, and Ostrobothnia regions, respectively). These groups are often characterized with standard descriptors; for example, the Karjalainen are frequently referred to as �talkative.� Other regional stereotypes exist for those from Kainuu, Finland proper, and the Satakunta region, but these characterizations are not nearly as common in popular media as are those for the first four groups. Daily life and social customs
Many Finnish customs are closely associated with forests, which Finns have historically seen not as dark foreboding places but rather as offering refuge and shelter. In one of Finland�s signature literary works,
Other customs associated with trees and wood are alive and well in Finland. Bonfires are lit at Midsummer, the doorways of houses are decorated with birches, and leafy birch whisks are still used in the traditional wooden sauna. On Easter,
Although Finns consider Santa Claus to have his permanent home in Korvatunturi, in northern Finland, the spruce Christmas tree is a relative newcomer to the country, having made its first appearance in the 1820s. Now the Christmas tree is a fixture of Finnish Christmas celebrations, which also involve special foods, including rice porridge (made with milk and cinnamon), a baked glazed ham, and a potato and carrot or rutabaga gratin. The holiday is not complete without a Christmas sauna bath.
New Year�s Eve is celebrated with private and public fireworks displays. Large crowds also gather in Helsinki�s Senate Square to hear speeches and music. Perhaps the most-interesting Finnish New Year�s Eve tradition is the melting of tin: small bits of tin (or lead), usually shaped like horseshoes, are melted and then thrown into cold water, with the resulting shape or its shadow interpreted as a symbolic harbinger of the future.
Another of the most important holidays in Scandinavia, Midsummer�which celebrates the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice�is known in Finland as Juhannus (a name that is derived from the feast of St. John the Baptist). The solstice falls on June 20 or 21 and is officially celebrated in Finland on the Saturday that falls between June 20th and 26th, with the three-day weekend national holiday beginning on Friday, Midsummer�s Eve. Typically, the celebration involves music, dance, and the lighting of bonfires, as well as trips to the country for city dwellers.
Vappu, which effectively combines the celebration of Walpurgis Night and May Day, is yet another important holiday in Finland. The celebration of that holiday, which dates to at least the 18th century, begins on the evening of April 30, usually with merrymaking related to the drinking of alcoholic beverages, and continues the following day, including more family-related activities.
Wood is an essential component of the typical Finnish sauna, which is almost universally constructed out of birch or other sturdy wood beams. Bathers sit on wooden benches, splashing water on the hot stones of the stove and whisking each other with birch branches, just as their ancestors would have done millennia earlier. Traditionally, the sauna was a sacred place for the Finns, used not only for the weekly sauna bath but also for ritual purposes. This was particularly the case for those rituals performed by women, such as healing the sick and preparing the dead for burial. The sauna was also used for doing laundry and for key farming activities, such as curing meat and fermenting and drying malt. Given its importance to the farm economy, it is logical that the sauna was originally built within the enclosure surrounding the farm�s outbuildings. The current placement of most saunas on a lakeside or coastal inlet goes back only to the early 20th century, following the fashion of the gentry�s villas.
For a long time the sauna (whose name comes from a Finnish-Sami word) was usually heated only once a week, because it took a whole day to prepare it to stand several rounds of bathers (with men and women bathing separately). Many Finns believe sauna baths provide healing for the mind and body, and they are taken with almost religious reverence. Although not playing the central role it does in Finnish culture, the custom of sauna bathing is also widespread among the other Finnic peoples in the Baltic region�the Estonians, Karelians, Veps, and Livonians�as well as among Latvians and Lithuanians.
Finland�s national epic, the
Drama in Finland is truly popular in the sense that vast numbers act in, as well as watch, theatrical productions. Besides the dozens of theatre companies in which all the actors are professionals, there are some in which a few professionals or even the producer alone are supplemented by amateur performers. And there are amateur theatrical companies in almost every commune.
The country�s most important theatre is the National Theatre of Finland, established in 1872 with Kaarlo Bergbom as producer and manager; its granite building in Helsinki was built in 1902. There are also several other municipal theatres. One of the most exciting in the country is the Pyynikki Open Air Theatre of Tampere, the revolving auditorium of which can be moved to face any of the natural sets. There are innumerable institutions connected with the theatre in Finland, including the Central Federation of Finnish Theatrical Organizations. There is a wide repertory of Finnish as well as international plays. The Finnish theatre receives some degree of government assistance.
The main centre for opera is the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki; the Savonlinna Opera Festival takes place every summer. The international success of Finnish singers such as Karita Mattila, Jorma Hynninen, and Soile Isokoski has added to the continuing national enthusiasm for opera. Several Finnish operas, including
The dominant figure in Finnish music during the first half of the 20th century was Jean Sibelius, the country�s best-known composer, who brought Finnish music into the repertoire of concert halls worldwide. Other renowned composers include Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, and Einojuhani Rautavaara. The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki is a world-famous centre of musical study. The city is also the location of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Sibelius violin competition and Mirjam Helin song competition are held there every five years. There are annual music festivals in Helsinki and several other cities. Internationally known Finnish conductors include Paavo Berglund, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Osmo V�nsk�. Literature
Epic prose has played and continues to play an important role in Finnish literature.
Literature written in Swedish has had a long tradition in Finland. Among 19th-century writers, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the national poet, and Zacharias Topelius played leading roles. Later 20th-century poets such as Edith S�dergran had a strong influence on the modern poetry of both Finland and Scandinavia. One of Finland�s most beloved and widely translated authors, Tove Jansson, wrote her many books about the Moomin family in Swedish. The Swedish language continues to be used in Finnish literature, and writers such as Kjell West�, M�rta Tikkanen, Monika Fagerholm, and J�rn Donner are widely read in Finland and abroad. Art, architecture, and design
From the time that the
Modern Finnish architecture is among the most imaginative and exciting in the world. Its development was closely allied to the nationalist movement, and among its pioneers were the internationally renowned Eliel Saarinen, whose work is exemplified by the National Museum and the Helsinki railway station, and Lars Sonck, whose churches in Helsinki and Tampere are particularly notable. Finnish women were also early innovators as architects, including Wiwi L�nn and Signe Hornborg, the latter one of the first formally trained female architects in the world.
In the 20th century the idea of functionalism was developed by Gustaf Strengell. In the 1920s Alvar Aalto and Erik Bryggman began experimenting with regional variations on the International Style. Among the most striking examples of Aalto�s work are the Paimio Sanatorium, the library at Viipuri, and Finlandia Hall, a concert and congress hall in Helsinki. There is general experimentation, using concrete and metals, in Finnish industrial buildings and flats and in environmental design, as at the garden town of Tapiola outside Helsinki. The new generation of architects has continued these standards. Architects such as Juha Ilmari Leivisk�, known for his innovative churches, and Pekka Helin and Tuomo Siitonen, whose flexible and adaptive working spaces are intended to encourage creative thinking, have been lauded at home and abroad.
Finnish design�especially in glass, porcelain, and textiles�became internationally known during the postwar period. Factories such as the well-known Arabia and Marimekko in Helsinki have given artists a free hand to develop their ideas and skills. Tapio Wirkkala, Kaj Franck, and Timo Sarpaneva in glassware, Marjatta Metsovaara in textiles, and Dora Ljung in
Finland�s public cultural institutions are made up of a big, varied, and comprehensive network. The institutions are largely supported, planned, and organized by national and local authorities. The planning of cultural policies is in the purview of the Finnish Ministry of Education. Finnish arts and cultural activities are considered important not only to a strong national identity but as a valuable export and source of international interest. Since 1969, Finland has administered a system of artists� grants that allocate a tax-free monthly stipend (for a variety of periods) to artists working in architecture, motion pictures, crafts and design, dance, literature, music, theatre, photography, and other visual arts. Public support for artists is also made available through grants and subsidies for �high-quality productions��including films, photographic art books, and crafts and design�and by purchasing works of art for public buildings and spaces.
Finns are also active in creating culture on an amateur basis. People participate eagerly in cultural clubs and organizations, local choirs and orchestras, and local dance, theatre, and dramatic societies, along with other similar groups. These groups organize a wide variety of year-round local and regional cultural events throughout the country.
Libraries are especially important cultural institutions in Finland, and Finns are among the world�s most avid library users. Since the founding of its first library, in 1794 in Vaasa, Finland has developed a comprehensive network of tens of millions of books and other items in its plentiful public libraries, including a seagoing library to serve the needs of islanders. Because of their important role in public education and service, especially in their use as civic meeting places and cultural centres, libraries are highly regarded and well funded by the Finns. The Helsinki University Library is also the National Library of Finland. Sports and recreation
In Finland the basic national sport�which originally was a necessary means of winter transportation�is cross-country skiing. Nationalism also encouraged the development of special proficiency, which was fostered by ski fairs and competitions held at Oulu beginning in the late 1890s. A century later, Finns were still making their mark on the sport, not least being Marja-Liisa H�m�l�inen, who won seven Olympic gold medals in the 1980s and �90s.
An interest in other athletics developed from the time that the Finns took part in the interim Olympic Games held in Athens in 1906. Finland has excelled in Olympic track and field as well as winter sports, especially in distance running, in which the tradition of �Flying Finns� includes Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola, Lasse Vir�n, and Paavo Nurmi, who won nine gold medals in Olympic middle- and long-distance running events in the 1920s, becoming a national hero. Other popular sports are waterskiing, riding, fishing, shooting, ice hockey, and
Freedom of the press is guaranteed by the 1919 constitution and the Freedom of the Press Act (also 1919); both contain provisions safeguarding editorial rights and outlining press responsibilities. The Supreme Court can suppress publications under certain circumstances, but in general there are few restrictions apart from those governing libel and copyright.
Newspaper publication began in Finland in 1771 by the learned Aurora Society, and the
The state-run Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio Oy [YLE]; established 1926) operates a number of nationwide television networks�both public service and commercial�along with several digital channels and offers programming in Swedish. YLE also owns Radio Finland, which broadcasts in Finnish, Swedish, English, and Russian. Jointly owned by Finland, Sweden, and Norway, S�mi Radio provides radio service to the Sami areas in northern Lapland. Carl Fredrik Sandelin Ilmari Sundblad Susan Ruth Larson History Earliest peoples
The first people arrived in Finland about 9,000 years ago. They probably represented several groups and tribes, including the ancestors of the present Sami. Lured by the plenitude of game, particularly fur-bearing animals and fish, they followed the melting ice northward. The first people perhaps came to hunt only for the summer, but gradually more and more of them stayed over the winter. Apparently berries played a significant role in their diet.
Another group probably arrived some 3,000 years later from the southeast. They possibly spoke a Finno-Ugric language and may have been related to the ancestors of the present Finns, if they were not actually of the same group. Other peoples�including the ancestors of the Tavastians�followed from the southwest and central Europe, eventually adopting the Finno-Ugric tongue.
During the 1st millennium bce several more groups arrived, among them the ancestors of the present Finns. The nomadic Sami, who had been scattered over the greater part of Finland, withdrew to the north. Most other groups intermarried and assimilated with the newcomers, and settlement spread across the south of Finland. The population was still extremely sparse, but three loose unities seem to have crystallized: the Finns proper, the Tavastians, and the Karelians. These each had their own chiefs, and they waged war on one another.
Even before the beginning of the Viking Age (8th�11th century ce), Swedes had settled on the southwestern coast. During the Viking Age, Finland lay along the northern boundary of the trade routes to Russia, and the inhabitants of the area served as suppliers of furs. The Finns apparently did not take part in the Viking expeditions. The end of the Viking Age was a time of unrest in Finland, and Swedish and Danish raids were made on the area, where Russians and Germans also traded. Competition for trade and converts
From the 12th century, Finland was a battleground between Russia and Sweden. The economic rivalry of the powers in the Baltic was turned into a religious rivalry, and the Swedish expeditions took on the character of crusades. Finland is mentioned together with Estonia in a list of Swedish provinces drawn up for the pope in 1120, apparently as a Swedish missionary area. The first crusade, according to tradition, was undertaken in about 1157 by King Erik, who was accompanied by an English bishop named Henry. Henry remained in Finland to organize the affairs of the church and was murdered by a Finnish yeoman; by the end of the 12th century, he was revered as a saint, and he later became Finland�s patron. In a papal bull (
By the end of the 12th century, competition for influence in the Gulf of Finland had intensified: German traders had regular contacts with Novgorod via Gotland, and Denmark tried to establish bases on the gulf. The Danes reportedly invaded Finland in 1191 and again in 1202; in 1209 the pope authorized the archbishop of Lund to appoint a minister stationed in Finland. The Swedish king counterattacked, and in 1216 he received confirmation from the pope of his title to the lands won by himself and his predecessors from the heathens. He was also authorized to establish a seat for one or two bishops in the Finnish missionary territory. In eastern Finland the Russian church attempted to win converts, and in 1227 Duke Jaroslav undertook a program of forced baptisms, designed to tie Karelia closer to Novgorod. In response the pope placed Finland under apostolic protection and invoked a commercial blockade against Russia (1229). A large force, led by Birger, a Swedish jarl (a noble ranking immediately below the king), and including Swedes, Finns, and crusaders from various countries, was defeated in 1240 by a duke of Novgorod, and the advance of Western Christendom into Russia was halted, while the religious division of Finland was sealed, with the Karelians in the Eastern sphere. The bishop of Finland, Thomas, resigned in 1245, and the mission territory was left without leadership until 1249, when the Dominicans founded a monastery in Turku. Finland under Swedish rule
Birger Jarl decided that a full effort was necessary to bring Finland into the Swedish sphere; in 1249 he led an expedition to Tavastia (now H�me), an area already Christianized. Birger built a fortress in Tavastia and some fortifications along the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland, where Swedish settlement on a mass scale began. Swedes also moved to the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. In 1293 Torgils Knutsson launched an expedition in an attempt to conquer all of Karelia and built a fortress in Viipuri. The war lasted until 1323, when the Treaty of P�hkin�saari (N�teborg; now Petrokrepost) drew the boundary between the Russian and Swedish spheres of influence in a vague line from the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland through the middle of Karelia northwest to the Gulf of Bothnia, and the crusades were ended, with Finland a part of the Swedish realm.
The Swedes began to administer Finland in accordance with Swedish traditions. Castles were built and taxes were collected, mainly in furs and, later, in grain, butter, and money. During the early Middle Ages, Finland was often given to members of the royal family as a duchy. Two new estates, the clergy and the nobility, evolved, with the nobility increased by transplantation from Sweden and the clergy containing a large native element. The first native bishop was appointed in 1291. Union with Sweden
In 1362 King Haakon of Sweden established the right of the Finns to participate in royal elections and the equal status of Finland with the other parts of the kingdom. Several years later Haakon was overthrown and Albert of Mecklenburg was crowned. Albert was unpopular with the Finns, and by 1374 a Swedish nobleman, Bo Jonsson Grip, had gained title to all of Finland. Grip died in 1386, and Finland soon after became part of the Kalmar Union. Henrik Enander Markku Ilmari Henriksson The 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries
Under Swedish sovereignty the Finnish tribes gradually developed a sense of unity, which was encouraged by the bishops of Turku. Study in universities brought Finnish scholars into direct touch with the cultural centres of Europe, and Mikael Agricola (
On its eastern frontier Finland was harassed by constant warfare, and the danger became more serious when Novgorod, at the end of the medieval period, was succeeded by a more powerful neighbour, the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In 1595, however, by the Peace of T�ysin�, the existing de facto boundary, up to the Arctic Ocean, was granted official recognition by the Russians. By the Peace of Stolbovo (Stolbova; 1617), Russia ceded Ingermanland and part of Karelia to the kingdom of Sweden-Finland. The population of the ceded territories was of the Greek Orthodox faith, and when the Swedish government began forceful conversion to Lutheranism many fled to Russia and were replaced by Lutheran Finns. After Stolbovo, Sweden found new outlets for expansion in the south and west and developed into one of the leading powers of Europe. Though Finnish conscripts played their part in making Sweden a great power, the role of Finland in the kingdom steadily decreased in importance. The 18th century
In Charles XII�s reign, Sweden lost its position as a great power. During the Great Northern War, Russians occupied Finland for eight years (1713�21), and, under the Peace of Uusikaupunki (Nystad) in 1721, Sweden had to cede the southeastern part of Finland with Viipuri as well as the Baltic provinces. Sweden�s capacity to defend Finland had weakened, and the years of hostile occupation had given the Finns a permanent feeling of insecurity.
In the course of the next Russo-Swedish War (1741�43), the Russian empress Elizabeth declared to the Finnish people her intention of making Finland a separate state under Russian suzerainty, but she failed to follow up the idea and at the peace settlement of Turku in 1743 contented herself with annexing a piece of Finland. Meanwhile, however, her original idea had found favour with some Finns. During the next bout of hostilities (1788�90), a number of Finnish officers involved themselves in the activities of G�ran Magnus Sprengtporten, a Finnish colonel who had fled to Russia and who wanted to detach Finland from Sweden; this movement won little general support, however. Autonomous grand duchy
As a part of the Swedish monarchy, Finland had been accorded practically no institutions of its own, but from the middle of the 18th century the majority of officials and intellectuals were of Finnish origin. In those circles there was a growing feeling that Finland had to bear the cost of Swedish extravagances in foreign policy. The feeling was not unfounded. Swedish strategic directives of 1785 implied that, in case of Russian attack, Swedish forces should retire from the frontier, leaving Finnish detachments behind, and that under extreme danger the whole of Finland should be evacuated. This strategy was put into effect in 1808�09. Even the treachery of the Anjala association in 1788 was repeated in 1808, when Sveaborg (Viapori; now Suomenlinna) near Helsinki capitulated to the Russians. In 1809 the Finns themselves had to carry the responsibility of coming to terms with Russia. Alexander I offered to recognize constitutional developments in Finland and to give it autonomy as a grand duchy under his throne. Gudmund Sandvik Markku Ilmari Henriksson The era of bureaucracy
The political framework of Finland under Russia was laid down by the Porvoo (Borg�) Diet in 1809. Finland was still formally a part of Sweden until the peace treaty of Hamina (Fredrikshamn) later that year, but most of the Finnish leaders had already grown tired of Swedish control and wanted to acquire as much self-government as possible under Russian protection. In Porvoo, Finland as a whole was for the first time established as a united political entity�a nation.
In recognition of Finnish autonomy, Alexander I promised to respect the religion and fundamental laws of Finland, as well as the privileges and rights of the inhabitants (that is to say, the Swedish constitution of 1772 as amended in 1789, by which the regent alone had the executive power while the consent of the Diet was required for legislation and the imposition of new taxes). The grand duke (the emperor) was not obliged to convene the Diet at regular intervals, and as a result it did not meet until 1863. From 1809 to 1863 Finland was ruled by a bureaucracy chosen by the Russian emperor, who was represented in Finland by a governor-general. Some holders of this office were Finns in the early period of the Russian regime. The highest administrative organ during the period was the Senate, which consisted of a judicial department and an economic department. The former was the country�s supreme court, while the latter became a sort of ministry. A ministerial state secretary in St. Petersburg represented Finnish affairs to the emperor. Reforms of the Russian period
For most Finns the �era of bureaucracy� was a time of growing prosperity, favourable economic conditions, and no warfare except during the Crimean War (in Finland, the War of �land). At that time an Anglo-French fleet attacked the �land Islands, the fortress of Viapori in Helsinki, and some coastal towns on the Gulf of Bothnia. On its separation from Sweden in accordance with the Treaty of Hamina, Finland had a population of more than 900,000. As elsewhere in the Nordic countries, population growth was rapid, and by 1908 the figure had exceeded 2,000,000. Most of the population lived off the land. Manufacture of wooden articles, export of timber, shipbuilding, and merchant shipping were practiced in the small coastal towns.
Despite the strongly authoritarian and bureaucratic form of government, a number of important reforms were implemented. In 1812 the Emperor was induced to restore those areas of Finnish territory that Sweden had ceded to Russia by the treaties of Uusikaupunki (1721) and Turku (1743). Furthermore, in 1812 Helsinki was chosen as the capital, and the monumental buildings in its centre stem from this period. But the vast rural population and purely agrarian structure prevented the spread of liberal and national ideas to any great extent during the first part of the 19th century. The language problem
The reaction reached its climax with the Finnish language ordinance of 1850, which forbade the publication in Finnish of books other than those that aimed at religious edification or economic benefit. Since Finnish was the only language understood by the majority of the population, the ordinance smacked of an attempt to maintain class differences and was well suited to preserve the existing bureaucracy.
As late as the mid-19th century, Swedish was the only language allowed within the Finnish administration. There was an almost total lack of literature in Finnish, and teaching at both the secondary and university levels was in Swedish. The division between the two languages became not only of national and cultural significance but also a social distinction. This is one of the reasons why the language controversy in Finland created such bitterness. To begin with, the advocates of a Finnish-speaking Finland, or Fennomans, were successful. By recording folk songs and writings, a Finnish literature was developed during the latter part of the 19th century. The first purely Finnish-speaking grammar school appeared in 1858. In 1863 Alexander II (ruled 1855�81) issued a decree stating that, after a 20-year interim period, Finnish was to be placed on an equal footing with Swedish in the administration and in the law courts, as far as their relations with the public were concerned. Swedish, however, remained the language of internal administration, and it was not until 1902 that Swedish and Finnish were placed on an equal footing as official languages. Reform of the Diet and other reforms
During the reign of Alexander II other reforms were begun. The most important was his convening of the Diet in 1863, and the promulgation of a new act in 1869 providing that it thereafter should be convened regularly. The next great reform period came after the Russian defeat in the war against Japan (1904�05).
Until the 1890s, Russia respected Finland�s special position within the Russian Empire in all essentials. In addition to the Diet ordinance of 1869, the country acquired its own monetary system (1865), and a law on conscription, which laid the foundations for the Finnish Army, was passed in 1878. The struggle for independence
Nationalism had already begun to raise its head in Russia before the end of Alexander II�s reign, but his strong-minded successor, Alexander III, who had a personal liking for Finland, was able to resist the demands of the Russian nationalists for the abolition of Finnish autonomy and the absorption of the Finns into the Russian nation. The emergence of a united Germany south of the Baltic also worried the Russians, who wanted to secure the loyalty of Finland. Russian jurists took the line that, though Alexander I in virtue of his supreme powers had granted Finland autonomous rights, any Russian emperor exercising the same supreme powers was entitled to take them back whenever he wished. Applying this principle, Nicholas II issued a manifesto on February 15, 1899, according to which he was entitled, without the Finnish Diet�s consent, to enact laws enforceable in Finland if such laws affected Russian interests. Direct attempts at Russification were then made. The gradual imposition of Russian as the third official language was ordered in 1900, and in 1901 it was decreed that Finns should serve in Russian units and that Finland�s own army should be disbanded. Increasing executive power was conferred on the ultranationalist governor-general, General Nikolay Bobrikov. Faced with this situation, two opposing factions crystallized out of Finland�s political parties: the Constitutionalists (the Swedish Party and the Young Finnish Party), who demanded that no one observe the illegal enactments; and the Compliers (the Old Finnish Party), who were ready to give way in everything that did not, in their opinion, affect Finland�s vital interest. The Constitutionalists were dismissed from their offices and their leaders were exiled. Young men of Constitutionalist views refused to report for service when called, and at last the Emperor had to give in: the Finnish Army remained disbanded, but no Finns were drafted into the Russian Army. A more extreme group, known as the Activists, was prepared to endorse even acts of violence, and Bobrikov was assassinated by them. Resistance and reform
Further opposition came from the Labour Party, which was founded in 1899 and which in 1903 adopted Marxist tenets, changing its name to the Social Democratic Party. Unwilling to compromise with tsarist Russia, the party was developing along revolutionary lines. When the Constitutionalists, availing themselves of Russia�s momentary weakness, combined with the Social Democrats to organize a national strike, the Emperor restored the situation that had prevailed before 1899 (November 4, 1905)�but not for long. Another result of the strike was a complete reform of the parliamentary system (July 20, 1906). This had been the Social Democrats� most insistent demand. The old four-chamber Diet was changed to a unicameral Parliament elected by equal and universal suffrage. Thus, from having one of Europe�s most unrepresentative political systems, Finland had, at one stroke, acquired the most modern. The parliamentary reform polarized the political factions, and the ground was laid for the modern party system. The introduction of universal and equal suffrage meant that the farmers and workers potentially commanded a great majority. The Social Democrats became the largest party in Parliament, obtaining 80 seats out of 200 in the very first elections (1907). Nevertheless, the importance of Parliament remained very small, as it was constantly being dissolved by the Emperor; thus the assault on Finnish autonomy soon began afresh. The Constitutionalists resigned from the government, and the Compliers soon followed their example, since even in their opinion the extreme limit had been overstepped. In the end an illegal Senate composed of Russians was formed. In 1910 the responsibility for all important legislation was transferred to the Russian Duma. Return to autonomy
During World War I the Finnish liberation movement sought support from Germany, and a number of young volunteers received military training and formed the J�gar Battalion. After the Russian Revolution in March 1917, Finland obtained its autonomy again, and a Senate, or coalition government, assumed rule of the country. By a law of July 1917 it was decided that all the authority previously wielded by the emperor (apart from defense and foreign policy) should be exercised by the Finnish Parliament. After Russia was taken over by the Bolsheviks in November 1917 Parliament issued a declaration of independence for Finland on December 6, 1917, which was recognized by Lenin and his government on the last day of the year. Early independence
Although the liberation from Russia occurred peacefully, Finland was unable to avert a violent internal conflict. After the revolutionary Reds had won control of the Social Democratic Party, they went into action and on January 28, 1918, seized Helsinki and the larger industrial towns in southern Finland. The right-wing government led by the Conservative Pehr Evind Svinhufvud fled to the western part of the country, where a counterattack was organized under the leadership of General Carl Gustaf Mannerheim. At the beginning of April the White Army under his command won the Battle of Tampere. German troops came to the aid of the White forces in securing Helsinki; by May the rebellion had been suppressed, bringing to an end the Finnish Civil War. It was followed by trials in which harsh sentences were passed. During the summer and fall of 1918 some 20,000 former revolutionaries either were executed or died in prison camps, bringing the total losses of the war to more than 30,000 lives. A few of the revolutionary leaders, however, managed to escape to Soviet Russia, where a small contingent founded the Finnish Communist Party in Moscow; others continued their flight to the United States and western Europe, some gradually returning to Finland. Political change
When the Civil War ended, it was decided, during the summer of 1918, to make Finland a monarchy, and in October the German prince Frederick Charles of Hessen was chosen as king. With Germany�s defeat in the war, however, General Mannerheim was designated regent, with the task of submitting a proposal for a new constitution. As it was obvious that Finland was to be a republic, the struggle now concerned presidential power. The liberal parties and the reorganized Social Democratic Party wanted power to be invested in Parliament, while the Conservatives wanted the president to have powers independent of Parliament. The strong position held by the Conservatives after the Civil War enabled them to force through their motion that the president should be chosen by popularly elected representatives, independent of Parliament, and also that he should possess a great deal more authority, especially regarding foreign policy, than at that time was usual for a head of state. After the new constitution had been confirmed on July 17, 1919, the Social Democrats positioned themselves behind the liberal National Progressive Party leader, Kaarlo Juho St�hlberg, to make him the first president of Finland and to defeat the Conservative candidate Mannerheim, who had not convinced them of his loyalty to republicanism. Agrarian reform
During the interwar years Finland, to a much greater extent than the rest of the Nordic countries, was an agrarian country. In 1918, 70 percent of the population was employed in agriculture and forestry, and by 1940 the figure was still as high as 57 percent. Paper and wooden articles were Finland�s most important export commodities. By the Smallholdings Law of 1918 and by land reform in 1922, which allowed the expropriation of estates of more than 495 acres (200 hectares), an attempt was made to give tenant farmers and landless labourers their own smallholdings. More than 90,000 smallholdings were created, and since then the independent smallholders, who form the majority of the Agrarian Party (now the Centre Party), have been a major factor in Finnish politics. Political parties
During St�hlberg�s presidency (1919�25), the right-wing parties and the Agrarian Party held power by means of coalitions. The president tried determinedly to minimize the recriminations of the Civil War, and in the course of time he granted amnesty to those who had received long terms of imprisonment. At the same time, the Social Democratic Party was reorganized under the leadership of V�in� Tanner with an exclusively reformist program. When Tanner in 1926 formed a Social Democratic minority government, which granted a general amnesty, the old differences from the Civil War had been almost eliminated. Lauri Kristian Relander, the Agrarian Party�s candidate, was elected president in 1925.
Through the first decade of Finnish independence the Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the Parliament. In the early 1920s the leftist wing of the Social Democrats separated from the party to preach Communism and succeeded in winning 27 seats in the 1922 election. It later changed its name from Socialist Labour Party to Labour Party, but this did not stop the police from arresting all of its parliamentary representatives for treason on the grounds of the party�s revolutionary intent. The Communists, however, once more reorganized and worked closely with the Finnish Communist Party in the Soviet Union. In the following elections they were able to win about 20 seats in Parliament.
As a reaction to the growing Finnish Communist Party, the Lapua (Lappo) Movement emerged and in the years 1929�32 attempted to force its demands through actions against Communist newspapers, acts of terrorism against individual citizens, and mass demonstrations. These actions, which were supported by the Conservatives and many members of the Agrarian Party, were at first successful. The Communists were prevented from taking part in the 1930 election, and the 66 Social Democrats were one too few in the Parliament to prevent the passage of an anti-Communist law. This law banned the public activities of the Communist Party, forced its members underground, and stripped them of their right to vote, virtually eliminating their influence on Finnish politics. In 1931 Svinhufvud was elected president with the help of the Lapua Movement. When the Lapua Movement shortly afterward turned its activities against the Social Democrats and tried to seize power by force in the M�nts�l� coup attempt in 1932, the president intervened and managed in a radio speech to calm the rebellion. Another failure at this time was the law on the total prohibition of alcohol, introduced in 1919. As in the United States, the law resulted in a sharp increase in organized crime and smuggling, and after a referendum in 1932 it was repealed. The language question
The 1919 constitution provided that both Finnish and Swedish should be the national languages. A younger radical generation now raised the demand for the supremacy of Finnish, and the language controversy was a bitterly contested issue during the interwar period. The position of the Swedish language was progressively weakened toward the end of the 1930s, as more Finnish speakers moved into positions of economic and cultural power. The enmity of the language issues was not healed until after the unifying effects of World War II. Following the war, the laws governing language were revised, first in 1947 and again in 1961. The constitution of 2000 guaranteed equal status for Swedish, which remains an official language of the country and a required subject in Finnish schools. For the first time the right of the Roma and Sami to maintain and preserve their cultures was also made explicit and constitutionally binding. Foreign policy
After the recognition of Finland as a sovereign state, two problems had to be faced. The first was in connection with the eastern boundary, where influential groups wished to annex eastern Karelia. By the Treaty of Tartu (Dorpat) in 1920, however, the boundary was unchanged except in the north, where Finland acquired the harbour of Petsamo and a route to the Arctic Ocean. The other problem concerned the �land Islands (Finnish: Ahvenanmaa), which Sweden had temporarily occupied during the Finnish Civil War. The demands of the population of the islands to be united with Sweden were firmly rejected. The League of Nations settled the question in 1921 in accordance with Finland�s wishes.
Finland�s main security problems resulted from the threat from the Soviet Union. An attempt to solve this by a defense alliance with Estonia, Latvia, and Poland in 1922 failed when Parliament refused to ratify the agreement, and in 1932 a Finnish-Soviet nonaggression pact was signed. Despite this, relations between the two countries did not really improve, and they remained �neighbours against their will.� During the second half of the 1930s, a Finnish-Swedish defense association was planned that, among other things, would have brought about the rearming of �land, but the Soviet Union objected to these plans, and they could not be realized. Finland during World War IIThe Winter War
After Poland�s defeat in the autumn of 1939, the Soviet Union, wishing to safeguard Leningrad, demanded from Finland a minor part of the Karelian Isthmus, a naval base at Hanko (Hang�), and some islands in the Gulf of Finland. When Finland rejected the demand, the Soviet Union launched an attack on November 30, 1939, beginning the Russo-Finnish War. Immediately after the attack a coalition government formed under Risto Ryti. Despite courageous resistance and a number of successful defense actions, the defense of the Karelian Isthmus broke down, and Finland had to initiate peace negotiations. By the Treaty of Moscow of March 12, 1940, Finland surrendered a large area of southeastern Finland, including the city of Viipuri (renamed Vyborg), and leased the peninsula of Hanko to the Soviet Union for 30 years. Cooperation with Germany
After the Treaty of Moscow the plan for a Nordic defense union was resumed. The Soviet Union still objected, however, and the plan was thus abandoned. In December 1940 President Ky�sti Kallio resigned, and Ryti was elected in his place. When the tension between Germany and the Soviet Union grew in the spring of 1941, Finland approached Germany but did not conclude a formal agreement. Nevertheless, Finland, like Sweden after Norway�s capitulation, allowed the transit of German troops. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, therefore, German troops were already on Finnish territory, and Finland was ready for war; its submarines, in fact, were operating in Soviet waters. The �War of Continuation� (1941�44) began with a successful Finnish offensive that led to the capture of large areas of eastern Karelia. Some Finns were reluctant, however, to cross the old border of 1939, and the spirit of the Winter War that had united the Finns began to weaken. From the winter of 1942�43, Germany�s defeats gave rise to a growing demand for peace in Finland. After the breakthrough of the Red Army on the Karelian Isthmus in June 1944, President Ryti resigned on August 1. He was succeeded by Marshal Gustaf Mannerheim, who began negotiations for an armistice. This was signed on September 19, 1944, on condition that Finland recognize the Treaty of Moscow of 1940 and that all foreign (German) forces be evacuated. A pledge was given, moreover, to cede Petsamo; to lease an area near Porkkala, southwest of Helsinki, for a period of 50 years (in place of Hanko); and within 6 years to pay the equivalent of $300 million in goods for war reparations. In the meantime, however, the German army refused to leave the country, and, in the series of clashes that followed, it devastated great areas of northern Finland in its retreat. The final peace treaty, signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, reiterated the conditions of the armistice agreement. J�rgen Weibull Markku Ilmari Henriksson The postwar period
After the armistice in 1944 a coalition government was formed under the leadership of Juho Kusti Paasikivi. When conditions had been stabilized, Mannerheim resigned, and Paasikivi was elected president in his place in 1946. In 1956 the leader of the Agrarian Party, Urho Kekkonen, who acted as prime minister a number of times during the period from 1950 to 1956, was elected president. He was reelected three times to the office, with an extension of his third term by the Parliament. When he resigned in 1981 because of ill health, he was succeeded by the Social Democrat Mauno Koivisto, who was reelected in 1988. Koivisto was in turn succeeded in 1994 by another Social Democrat, Martti Ahtisaari. Foreign policy
Under the leadership of Paasikivi and Kekkonen, relations with the Soviet Union were stabilized by a consistently friendly policy on the part of Finland. A concrete expression of the new foreign policy�designated the Paasikivi-Kekkonen line�was the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance concluded between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1948 and extended in 1955, 1970, and 1983. The agreement included a mutual defense provision and prohibited Finland from joining any organization considered hostile to the U.S.S.R. After war reparations had been paid in full, trade with the Soviet Union continued, rising to more than 25 percent of Finland�s total during the 1980s. Further signs of the d�tente were evident when the Soviet Union returned its base at Porkkala in 1955.
Relations with the Soviet Union, however, were not entirely without complications. After the elections of 1958, a coalition government under the leadership of the Social Democrat Karl August Fagerholm was formed, in which certain members considered anti-Soviet were included. The Soviet Union responded by recalling its ambassador and canceling credits and orders in Finland. When the Finnish government was reconstructed, relations were again stabilized. During the autumn of 1961, when international relations were severely strained because of the Berlin crisis, the Soviet Union requested consultations in accordance with the 1948 agreement. President Kekkonen succeeded in solving the �Note Crisis� by inducing the Soviet Union to abandon its request. In 1985 the Soviets warned that a split in the Finnish Communist Party between the nationalist-reformist majority and the pro-Moscow minority would jeopardize Soviet-Finnish relations, but the split occurred in 1986 without incident.
Following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Finland moved to end the old mutual defense agreement. A new agreement was reached with Russia in 1992, in which the two countries simply pledged to settle disputes between them peacefully. Finland, now freed from any restrictions, applied for membership to the European Community (from 1993 the European Union [EU]), which it joined in 1995. In 1999 it adopted the euro, the common currency of the EU, phasing out its
Finland became a member of the United Nations and of the Nordic Council in 1955. Nordic cooperation has led to many legislative and political similarities between Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. These include free movement across the borders of these five countries, the gradual development of a common and free labour market, and other similar measures in the fields of politics, economics, and culture. In 1986 Finland became a full member of the European Free Trade Association. It left that organization in 1995 when it became a member of the EU. Tensions arose within the country when its Baltic Sea neighbours joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999 (Poland) and 2004 (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Finland initially resisted pressure from the other Nordic countries to join the international ban on antipersonnel land mines but then declared its intention to join by 2012. Domestic affairs
During the early postwar years, Finland�s domestic affairs were marked by economic difficulties. After World War II the country was left with the task of absorbing about 300,000 refugees from the areas ceded to the Soviet Union and at the same time paying war reparations. Despite these obstacles, Finland quickly recovered. The war reparations brought about rapid expansion in the metal and shipbuilding industries, and the timber trade soon resumed exporting and quickly exceeded its prewar level. The rebuilding and colonization required to resettle the refugees, however, were such a drain on the country�s economic resources that inflation could not be avoided; as a result Finland had to devaluate its currency on a number of occasions.
After the armistice, the new Finnish Communist Party held a strong position, which it retained in the subsequent government. When in the spring of 1948 it was alleged that the party had planned a coup, Parliament forced the Communist minister of the interior to resign. After the parliamentary elections in the autumn of 1948, a Social Democratic government came to power under the leadership of Fagerholm. Governments changed rapidly and consisted of various party coalitions during the 1950s, in most cases under the leadership of the Agrarian Party or the Social Democrats. During this period, however, both the Conservative National Coalition Party and the leftist Finnish People�s Democratic League, which included the Finnish Communist Party, were excluded from the government.
Forming and keeping a government in Finland is very difficult because of the proliferation of political parties; no one party, and often no party group, can command a majority in Parliament. As a consequence, there have been many nonpolitical cabinets composed of civil servants appointed by the president. With continuing economic growth and because of internal disputes, Communist Party influence diminished after the 1970s, and after the party�s split in the mid-1980s the Communists suffered severe losses in the 1987 election. The Conservatives gained a long-desired victory, and, with a compromise aided by President Koivisto, the Social Democrats and Conservatives, together with some smaller parties, formed a coalition government under Conservative Prime Minister Harri Holkeri. This allowed the Conservatives to return to the cabinet after more than 20 years and forced the Centre Party into opposition for the first time since independence. The Conservative�Social Democratic coalition did not satisfy the traditional constituencies of the two parties, however, and in 1991 the Centre Party reemerged as the largest party.
A new cabinet, formed by major nonsocialist parties and with the Centre�s Esko Aho as prime minister, immediately faced Finland�s worst peacetime economic recession. During the early 1990s production dropped sharply and unemployment skyrocketed, largely because trade with Russia had shrunk to a fraction of the Soviet-era level. There was also a general policy of privatizing state-owned assets throughout the 1990s, which promoted rationalization in many industries. Recovery came slowly, as export markets shifted toward the EU countries. The government also tried to cut expenditures, notably on social programs. The public expressed its displeasure with the slow pace of recovery by again ousting the Centre from the government in the elections of 1995. Social Democrat Paavo Lipponen formed a cabinet from a broad-based coalition that included, for the first time, members of the environmentalist Green Union.
Economic recovery continued into the 21st century, as did the generally positive benefits of EU membership. Unemployment was brought under control, perhaps in part because of the tremendous success of the high-tech industry, notably the manufacturing of mobile telephones. Food prices and interest rates dropped and even agriculture was not as severely affected as some economists had feared.
Finland�s integration into Europe also continued on the political front, as the country assumed the revolving EU presidency at the end of the 1990s. The new constitution, adopted in 2000, reflected both changing concepts of sovereignty in light of Finland�s membership in the EU and the Finns� cautious approach to internationalization. In 2000 Finland also elected its first female president, Tarja Halonen of the Social Democratic Party. When Anneli J��tteenm�ki, of the Centre Party, was appointed prime minister in April 2003, Finland became the first European country with women as both president and prime minister. However, after J��tteenm�ki was accused of having shared with the press confidential information on Finland�s policy toward Iraq, Matti Vanhanen replaced her as prime minister in June. Vanhanen retained his position when the Centre Party won a narrow victory in the 2007 parliamentary elections. The National Coalition Party finished a close second, while the Social Democrats suffered significant losses. J�rgen Weibull Markku Ilmari Henriksson Susan Ruth Larson
In 2009 a funding scandal tarnished the reputation and popularity of the Centre Party, and Vanhanen was pressured to step down. After first relinquishing the party leadership, he resigned as prime minister in June 2010 and was replaced by Mari Kiviniemi, who had already succeeded him as Centre Party leader. She became the second woman to hold the post of Finnish prime minister. In parliamentary elections in April 2011 the Centre Party dropped from 51 to 35 seats, tumbling to fourth place and out of the government. Its former coalition partner, the National Coalition Party (NCP), won the election by capturing 44 seats (a drop of six seats from the 2007 election) but faced the prospect of coalition rule with one of the main opposition parties�either the Social Democrats, who finished second with 42 seats, or the anti-immigrant, Euroskeptic True Finn Party, which proved to be the election�s biggest surprise as it vaulted from the five seats it won in the 2007 election to 39 seats and third place in 2011.
At the centre of True Finn policy was strong opposition to the EU�s bailout of countries such as Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, which were hard-hit by the euro-zone debt crisis that began in 2009. Ultimately, the True Finns chose to remain in opposition. However, the Social Democrats joined what ultimately became the five-party coalition government led by Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen (the head of the NCP) but only on the condition that collateral be introduced as a prerequisite for the Greek bailout. Although Finland negotiated collateral unilaterally with Greece, other EU countries refused to accept the plan, and in September 2011 Finland agreed to join the bailout package. Finland was later granted a collateral plan but only for 20 percent of its share of the bailout (�1.44 billion [about $2 billion]), which the Finns were required to pay in a single installment.
In the first round of voting in January 2012 to replace Halonen (who was constitutionally limited to two terms as president), the True Finn candidate, Timo Soini, and the similarly Euroskeptic Centre Party candidate, Paavo V�yrynen, finished fourth and third, respectively. In the runoff election held in February, the NCP�s pro-EU candidate, Sauli Niinist�, a former finance minister, became the first conservative to serve as Finland�s head of state in decades. He won the office by defeating the country�s first openly gay candidate for the presidency, Pekka Haavisto, of the Green Party. Later in the year Finland agreed to participate in the EU�s bailout of Spain, again on the condition that it receive collateral for its contribution.
In the meantime, Finland�s export-oriented economy had been rocked hard by the first blast of the euro-zone debt crisis, with the national gross domestic product (GDP) shrinking by 8.5 percent in 2009. Although the GDP rebounded to growth in 2010�11, the economy tumbled into recession in 2012�13. In June 2014 Katainen stepped down as NCP leader and prime minister to pursue high-level office in the EU. He was replaced as party leader by the ardently pro-EU Alexander Stubb, the minister for European affairs, who ascended to prime minister on June 24 despite volatility within the governing coalition.
With the economy still in peril and all the major parties calling for some form of austerity, voters in Finland went to the polls in April 2015 to elect a new parliament. The Centre Party, led by Juha Sipil�, fared best, capturing 49 seats, followed by the Finns (the renamed True Finns), who secured 38 seats, the NCP with 37 seats, and the Social Democrats with 34. When negotiations ended in May, Sipil� assumed the post of prime minister, having formed a new right-leaning governing coalition that included the Finns, whose Euroskeptic leader Soini became foreign minister, and the NCP.
On March 22, 2016, Finland�s Ministry of Defense was the target of a �distributed denial of service� (DDoS) cyber attack, which attempted to crash the ministry�s main Web site by overwhelming it with user traffic. The attack lasted about three hours and followed a similar attack in February. It also coincided with a meeting between Finnish Pres. Sauli Niinist� and Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin. There was wide suspicion that the attack was Russian in origin and intended to discourage Finland from pursuing greater military cooperation with NATO. In the wake of Russia�s annexation of the breakaway Ukrainian republic of Crimea in 2014, its continued support of ethnic Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and aggressive Russian posturing in the Baltic region, Finland not only had expanded cooperation with NATO but was considering applying for full membership in the organization, a potential course of action that polarized opinion in Finland.
Citation Information
Article Title: Finland
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 13 August 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/Finland
Access Date: August 17, 2019
Additional Reading General works
Overviews are provided in Laura Kolbe (ed.),
W.R. Mead,
Ethnological studies include Aur�lien Sauvageot,
Finland�s economy is discussed in Fred Singleton,
Government and politics are analyzed in D.G. Kirby,
Finnish architecture and design are discussed in J.M. Richards,
General works on Finnish history include Henrik Meinander,
More detailed discussions of events in the 19th and 20th centuries are available in Juhani Paasivirta,
Foreign relations are the main topic of Tuomo Polvinen,