Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia. Finland covers an area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 sq mi) and has a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages, with Swedish being the native language of 5.2% of the population. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to boreal in the north. The land cover is predominantly boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.
The foreign relations of Finland are the responsibility of the president of Finland, who leads foreign policy in cooperation with the government. Implicitly the government is responsible for internal policy and decision making in the European Union. Within the government, preparative discussions are conducted in the government committee of foreign and security policy, which includes the Prime Minister and at least the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence, and at most four other ministers as necessary. The committee meets with the President as necessary. Laws concerning foreign relations are discussed in the parliamentary committee of foreign relations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implements the foreign policy.
Yleisradio Oy, abbreviated as Yle, translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock company, which is 99.98% owned by the Finnish state and employs around 3,200 people in Finland. Yle shares many of its organisational characteristics with its British counterpart, the BBC, on which it was largely modelled.
The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party.
The University of Oulu is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 13,000 students and 2,900 staff. 21 International Master's Programmes are offered at the university. The university is often ranked as one of the best universities in Finland and in the top 400 worldwide.
Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. He rose to politics as a researcher specialized in the affairs of the European Union and was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 as a member of the National Coalition Party. In 2008, Stubb was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs following a scandal surrounding his predecessor, Ilkka Kanerva. In 2011 Stubb stood for election to the Finnish Parliament for the first time and was elected MP with the second highest vote count in the election, which led to Stubb becoming the Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet.
Giannis Valinakis is a Greek politician and university professor. He is the former Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is currently President of the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence at the University of Athens, Jean Monnet Professor ad Personam, and a member of the Executive Board of the Centre for European Studies in Brussels.
The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute and an independent body of the European Union with juridical personality, established by the member states to contribute to cultural and scientific development in the social sciences, in a European perspective. EUI is designated as an international organisation. It is located in the hills above Florence in Fiesole, Italy. In 2021, EUI's School of Transnational Governance, with its graduate and executive programmes, moved to the Casino Mediceo di San Marco, which is a late-Renaissance or Mannerist style palace in the historic centre of Florence.
Pekka Olavi Haavisto is a Finnish politician of the Green League who served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2023.
The European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN) is a network of 31 think tanks from most EU member states and beyond. Its main focus is on current EU and European political and policy debates. EPIN aims to contribute to the debate on the future of Europe through up to the minute, expert analysis and commentary and through providing easy access to understanding the different national debates. EPIN is coordinated by the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, Belgium.
The Pan-European Institute (PEI) is a Finnish research institute operating at Turku School of Economics (TSE), which is part of the University of Turku. PEI focuses on the research and observation of the economic and social development, particularly in the Baltic Sea region economies and in the EU’s eastern neighbouring countries.
Israel-Finland relations are diplomatic, commercial and cultural ties between Finland and Israel. Finland maintains an embassy in Tel Aviv and Israel maintains an embassy in Helsinki. Both countries are full members of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Elisa Aaltola is a Finnish philosopher, specialised in animal philosophy, moral psychology and environmental philosophy.
Monika Panayotova is a Doctor of Political Science, with interests in the field of the EU security and defence policy. Bulgarian politician – Monika Panayotova has been appointed as Deputy Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2018, responsible for the relations with the European Parliament during the Bulgaria's presidency since June 28, 2017.
Ulkopolitiikka is a Finnish-language magazine of international relations studies published by The Finnish Institute of International Affairs. The quarterly has been in circulation since 1961. It provides a significant forum on global politics and economics in Finland and is one of the leading magazines in the country.
Elina Maria Valtonen is a Finnish politician who has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Petteri Orpo since 2023. A member of the National Coalition Party (NCP), she has represented the constituency of Uusimaa in the Parliament of Finland since 2014. In the 2021 muicipal election she collected the second-highest number of votes in Helsinki and was elected a member of its city council.
The Latvian Institute of International Affairs is a think tank in Latvia. Founded on May 20, 1992, the organization seeks to provide “Latvia's decision-makers, experts, and the wider public with analysis, recommendations, and information about international developments, regional security issues, and foreign policy strategy and choices”. They achieve this by publishing original research, hosting conferences, and partnering with other institutions in these tasks. Their research focuses on important topics such as Latvian foreign policy; transatlantic relations; European Union policies, including its neighborhood policy and Eastern Partnership; and multilateral and bilateral relations with Russia. The LIIA is a nonprofit and does not receive regular government funding. Its funding primarily comes from its partners for individual projects. While the LIIA is a non-governmental organization, they do advise the Latvian Parliament, as well as other decision-making bodies within and outside of Latvia. The current director (2011) of LIIA is Andris Sprūds.
Presidential elections were held in Finland on 28 January 2024, with a second round to be held on 11 February. Voters will elect a President of the Republic for a six-year term. Incumbent President Sauli Niinistö is term-limited and cannot run for re-election, having served the maximum two terms, ensuring the president elected will be the country's thirteenth.
Mika Petteri Aaltola is a Finnish political scientist and director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. He has gained media attention during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he follows and regularly comments on. Aaltola holds a doctorate in social sciences. He works as docent at Tampere University, and is a part-time professor at Tallinn University. In 2024, he ran as an independent candidate for President of Finland.
Sinikukka Saari is a Finnish political scientist in the field of foreign and security policy.
