History and International Relationships of Finland

Franziska Schwarzs4118294franziska.schwarz@student.ru.nl

Symposium Studytour Sk+MLW

Overview

• General introduction

• History• Swedish Government• Russian Government• Finnish Independence• History Turku• History Tampere• History Helsinki

• International Relationships• Political System• Finland and the European Union• Russian influence

• Conclusion

General introduction

• Official Name: Suomen tasavalta/Republiken Finland

• Most northern member of EU

• Between 60th and 70th Northern degree of latitude

• Between 20th and 30th Eastern degree of longitude

• Neighbor countries: Russia, Norway and Sweden

• Official languages: Finnish and Swedish

• National Church: Evangelical Lutheran and Orthodox

Fig. 1: Geographical map of Finlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

Comparison Helsinki, Turku, Tampere

Finland Helsinki Turku Tampere

Population 5,455,580 620,982 183,811 222,512

Area 338,434.7 km² 715.55 km² 306.41 km² 689.59 km²

Area on land 213.66 km² 245.70 km² 525.03 km²

Population density

16,04 inhabitants/km²

2,906.4 inhabitants/km²

748.1 inhabitants/km²

423.8 inhabitants/km²

HISTORY

Swedish government

• 1155: annexed by King Erik IX of Sweden

• 1248: Grand Duchy

• Christianization from Sweden / orthodox faith from Russia

• 1323: Division of border region Karelia

Fig. 2: Swedish empirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

Russian government

• 1808: Finnish war

• Grand Duchy of Russiatsar Alexander I. was sovereign

• Swedish law

• Own senate

• Official language: Swedish

• 1892: Finnish becomes official language

• Restriction Finnish freedoms

• 1905: national strike

Finnish independence

• 1906: autonomy restored, first parliament, right to vote for females

• 6 December 1917: independence

• Finnish civil war 1918 “Red Guards” against “White Guards” more than 20.000 people die

• 1919: democratic constitution of Finnish republic• first president: Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg

• 1939: Winter war loss of Karelia• Finland allied Germany get back the lost areas

peace treaty: loss of Karelia 400,000 people lost their homes

• Political Neutrality

Fig. 3: Lost areas during winter war.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

History Turku

• Founded in 1229

• bishopric

• 1640: Royal Akademy of Turku

• 1812: lost title as capital to Helsinki

• 1827: large section of Turku destroyed by a fire

• University transferred to Helsinki

• 1918: Åbo Akademi

• 1920: University of Turku

• 2011: European Capital of Culture, together with TallinnFig. 4: Cathedral of Turkuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turku

History Tampere

• Founded in 1779 by Gustav III. of Sweden

• Industrial pioneer: – first papermill, – first cotton factory, – first electric light in Nordic countries lit in

Finlayson’s modern production facilities 1882

• Centre of Finnish industry today

Fig. 5: a) Cathedral of Tamperehttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere

Fig. 5: b) The old Finlayson workshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere

History Helsinki

• Founded 1550 by Swedish king Gustav to compete with Tallinn

• 1809 Russia took control of Helsinki Helsinki appointed capital in 1812

• Royal Academy of Turku transferred to Helsinki

• 19th to 20th century: progression in all economic aspects

• 1952 hosted Olympics

• 2000 European Capital of Culture

Fig. 6: a) Uspenski cathedral in Helsinki (left)b) Helsinki Cathedral (right)http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Political System

• Parliamentary republic

• President: head of state– Elected for 6 years

• Prime minister: head of government– Appointed by the president

• Parliament: Eduskunta– Tenure of 4 years

• Juridicy– No constitutional court

- Constitutional Committee– Civil law system based on Swedish law

• Court system– Local courts– Regional appellate courts– Supreme court

Fig. 7: The Parliament of Finlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

Finland in the European Union

• 1955: member of UN• 1995: member EU• 1999: member of Eurozone

• Stabilization of Eurozone

• Development economic and currency union

• Strengthening of competitiveness, growth and employment

• Cooperation in Foreign and Security Policy

• Member of Conference of Disarmament

• VERIFIN member of CHEMSEA

VERIFIN = Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons ConventionCHEMSEA = chemical munitions search and assessment

Russian Influence

• Important economic partner– Export: 2nd place– Import: 1st place

• Helsinki cathedral, Uspenski cathedral

• Finnish-Russian Cross-border University

• Aleksanteri Institute

• Finnish universities have partner universities in Russia and Western Europe

• Language of science?

Fig 8: Russian-orthodox Cathedral of Tampere http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere

Conclusion

• History of dependence

• Lutheran and Orthodox churches

• Member of Schengen area and Eurozone

• Finnish-Russian Cross Border University

• Important economical relation to Russia

References

Pictures:•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turku•http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere •http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere•http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki

Comparison to the Netherlands

Finland The Netherlands

Constitution 1919 1815

Political System Parliamentary republic Parliamentary constitutional monarchy

Parliament Unicameral parliament Two chamber parliament

Main export partners Sweden, Russia, Germany Germany, Belgium, France

Main import partners Russia, Germany, Sweden Germany, China, Belgium

Member NATO No Yes

Member UN Yes Yes

Member EU Yes (1995) Yes (1957)

Member Eurozone Yes (1999) Yes (1999)

Member Schengen area Yes (1986) Yes (1985)

Population 5,455,580 inhabitants 16,730,348 inhabitants

Area 338,434.7 km² 41,540.4 km²

Population density 16,04 inhabitants/km² 406.8 inhabitants/km²