On Finland’s journey to join NATO

Subject: International Relations

Section : Groupings

Concept :

Finland, on April 4, 2023, joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and became the 31st member of the Organization.

Background:

Finland has joined NATO due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has made its smaller neighbors feel the need for the powerful military backing that NATO provides. Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership after the invasion.
Finland which shares a 1,340-km border with Russia, has ended more than 70 years of military non-alignment — in fact, in the Cold War years, a policy of neutrality between the Soviet Union and the West was known as ‘Finlandisation’, and Finlandisation had been one of the options discussed for Ukraine before Russia invaded it.
Experts, however, believe that Finland is not the first and would not be the last neighbour of Russia to join NATO.
Before Finland, countries like Norway (1949, and a founding member), Latvia (2004), Estonia (2004), Poland (1999) and Lithuania (2004) joined NATO.

Impacts of Joining NATO:

Finland has gained better security, but it is losing out on significant trade and tourism revenue it was making from Russia, and its status as a confidence-building presence in the Baltic Sea and Europe at large is being threatened.
For NATO, the addition of Finland brings in a military trained to repel an attack from Russia and strengthens its position to station weapons closer to Russia.
However, Russia sees this as a dangerous historical mistake that could escalate the Ukraine conflict and has said it will strengthen its military capacity in its west and northwest.

Paasikivi’s line:

Post the Second World War, the skilful diplomacy and pragmatism displayed by Finnish President Juho Kusti Paasikivi helped the country to save itself from the spread of communist ideology.
In 1948, the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance was signed between the USSR and Finland.
Paasikivi’s line was based on the idea of peaceful coexistence with the USSR and neutrality was the key motive. This helped Finland address the complexities in global geopolitics post the Second World War.
This became popular as “Finland’s neutrality”.
About Finland
Finland is part of Scandinavia (a geographical region) in northern Europe, and shares land borders with Norway, Sweden, and Russia.
Finland is heavily forested, with over 70 percent of the country covered by thick woodlands.
Finland’s underlying structure is a huge worn-down shield composed of granite dating from Precambrian time.
The Baltic Sea borders the country to the south and southwest.
The coastline of the country is contains nearly 180,000 small islands. Finland’s remote northern province, known as Lapland, sits above the Arctic Circle.
The aurora borealis (northern lights) can be seen in the Lapland region regularly.