The Nordic Model: Scandinavia since 1945 (Contemporary Worlds) by Hilson Mary

Author:Hilson, Mary [Hilson, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: 2011-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

The extent to which Finnish independence was compromised has been widely debated in Finland since the end of the Cold War, even to the extent that the term ‘finlandization’ has been adopted into the Finnish language (suomettuminen; in Swedish finlandisering).42 Where Kekkonen differed from his predecessor Paasikivi was in his recognition that Finnish foreign policy was unavoidably intertwined with domestic politics, and his critics have suggested that he skilfully manipulated his foreign policy concerns to suit his own domestic political interests. An example of this was the so-called Note Crisis of 1961–2 when the intervention of the Soviet Union apparently prevented a successful electoral challenge to Kekkonen’s presidency.43 Others have pointed to the apparent compliance of the Finnish political elite with Soviet wishes in security matters and the lack of a truly independent and critical media. By the 1970s self-censorship was practised widely throughout the mass media, and in some cases it went beyond pragmatic caution to include flattery, embellishment and distortion of the truth.44 Against this, it could be pointed out that although the Finnish political and media elite were deferential, the rest of Finnish society was not ‘finlandized’. Finland was never behind the Iron Curtain; it retained an uncensored cultural and intellectual life; and despite its long history as a grand duchy, Russian and Soviet culture had little impact. Indeed, American popular culture and patterns of consumption were as influential in Finland as elsewhere in the Nordic countries.45

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