1. History and International Relationships of Finland Franziska Schwarz s4118294 franziska.schwarz@student.ru.nl Symposium Studytour Sk+MLW

2. 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

3. General introduction Official Name: Suomen tasavalta/Republiken Finland Most northern member of EU Between 60 th and 70 th Northern degree of latitude Between 20 th and 30 th 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 Finland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

4. Comparison Helsinki, Turku, Tampere FinlandHelsinkiTurkuTampere Population5,455,580620,982183,811222,512 Area338,434.7 km² 715.55 km² 306.41 km² 689.59 km² Area on land213.66 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

5. HISTORY

6. 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 empire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

7. Russian government 1808: Finnish war Grand Duchy of Russia tsar Alexander I. was sovereign Swedish law Own senate Official language: Swedish 1892: Finnish becomes official language Restriction Finnish freedoms 1905: national strike

8. 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

9. 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 Tallinn Fig. 4: Cathedral of Turku http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turku

10. 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 Tampere http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere Fig. 5: b) The old Finlayson works http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere

11. 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 19 th to 20 th 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

12. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

13. 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 Finland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

14. 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 Convention CHEMSEA = chemical munitions search and assessment

15. Russian Influence Important economic partner –Export: 2 nd place –Import: 1 st 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

16. Conclusion History of dependence Lutheran and Orthodox churches Member of Schengen area and Eurozone Finnish-Russian Cross Border University Important economical relation to Russia

17. 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

18. Comparison to the Netherlands FinlandThe Netherlands Constitution19191815 Political SystemParliamentary republicParliamentary constitutional monarchy ParliamentUnicameral parliamentTwo chamber parliament Main export partnersSweden, Russia, GermanyGermany, Belgium, France Main import partnersRussia, Germany, SwedenGermany, China, Belgium Member NATONoYes Member UNYes Member EUYes (1995)Yes (1957) Member EurozoneYes (1999) Member Schengen areaYes (1986)Yes (1985) Population5,455,580 inhabitants16,730,348 inhabitants Area338,434.7 km²41,540.4 km² Population density16,04 inhabitants/km²406.8 inhabitants/km²