Finland is starting a new type of investment in the competition for soft power in Africa.
Finland may soon have two new cultural and scientific institutes in different parts of the huge continent.
The Finance Committee of the Parliament granted it at the end of last year in the so-called Christmas gift money 250,000 euros for the latest project. The money went to an association that is preparing to establish a new institute in Namibia, southern Africa.
Already earlier last year, Finland got its first institute in Africa. The status of the cultural center Villa Karo, which had been operating for a long time in Benin, changed to the Finnish Institute of West Africa. This made it the first cultural institute in all of the Nordic countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
– Finland’s actions are timely, as the number of cultural institutes from different countries in Africa has grown explosively, says the researcher Liisa Laakso.
Laakso is a senior researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute. He has followed the way in which foreign countries have been competing to establish their institutes in Africa.
The number of Confucius Institutes in China has grown the fastest in the 21st century. Russia is also building in different countries their own cultural centers. Turkey and the Persian Gulf countries do the same.
In Africa, institutes operate as part of intensifying political, economic and military competition. Through institutions, countries exercise soft power. They therefore strive to shape people’s and society’s values with the help of cultural and scientific cooperation.
The European Union and Finland, as part of it, have wanted to appear as a defender of democratic values in Africa. However, the EU’s messages have fallen at the feet of authoritarian countries in recent years.
The Finnish brand helps to sell values
Finland cultural and scientific institutes the task is to promote the international mobility of researchers and artists. Science institutes also conduct academic research and teaching.
A long presence in target countries increases trust capital. The work also conveys the values that Finland wants – for example, to Africa’s future elite.
– Cooperation goes along with the model of Finnish political organization, human rights and liberal values, says Liisa Laakso.
Finland has done soft influence in Africa before, for example by supporting civil society. According to Laakso, Finland and the other Nordic countries have a good brand in many African countries, which should be used in influencing work. According to him, European cooperation would also benefit from it.
Namely, the institutes of countries like China and Russia spread the full carbon monoxide message that they are a counter force specifically to the African policy of the Western countries, which they describe as colonialist.
Russia in particular has been adept at using colonial history to its advantage in Africa. Russia’s message is bought by many of those who consider Europe’s democracy speeches to be dictating and insist more and more strictly on dismantling the remnants of colonial rule.
The credibility of the Nordic countries is supported by the fact that they do not have the same history of conquest in Africa as many other European countries, says Laakso.
The effectiveness of soft influence is more difficult to measure than, for example, arms or foreign trade. For example, the network of cultural institutes can however be represented on a map:
The map shows which countries have the Chinese Confucius Institute and the French Institut français or Alliance française. The Finnish institute is in Grand-Popo, Benin, and another is planned for Windhoek, Namibia.
The US is also spreading soft power in Africa, but the president Donald Trump’s there is no information about the future policy yet.
“If Africa is doing badly, it won’t make Europe’s situation any easier”
Finland currently has 17 cultural and scientific institutes in different parts of the world. Only four of them are located outside of Europe.
However, even before Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the fact that Africa’s geopolitical importance is growing has been awakened in Finland as well.
Like everyone else, Finland also wants both new kinds of political partnerships and trade from Africa. Previous, Sanna Marini (sd.) the government drew up an Africa strategy for Finland, in which it was planned to double trade with Africa by 2030.
The graphic shows how Finland’s trade with African countries has developed in recent years:
Finland finances new institutes in Africa at the same time as the current one, Petteri Orpon (total) the government cuts about one billion euros from development cooperation.
asked the Minister of Science and Culture for an interview for this story Sari from Multala (collect.). The minister communicated that he has nothing to comment on.
Other parties interviewed by say that in Finland it has been considered that it makes strategic sense to increase cultural and scientific cooperation outside of Europe.
This is also what one of the leaders of the new Namibia project, the rector emeritus of the University of Turku, says Kalervo Väänänen. According to Väänänen, Europe’s success is connected to Africa.
– If Africa is doing badly, it will not make Europe’s situation any easier. Positive economic development in Africa opens up opportunities, says Väänänen.
Many Finnish universities have had connections with countries in southern Africa for a long time. According to Väänänen, the purpose of the new Namibian Institute would be to develop and expand these relationships.
– The focus would be on applying science and research to problems that can be solved together. It means Finnish know-how and technology, says Väänänen.
Namibia has a tough aspiration into a green hydrogen superpowerand large European investments in renewable energy are expected in the country.
Would the goal of Finland’s new institute be above all to promote the opportunities of Finnish companies?
The project must be a plus for Finns, Väänänen answers. According to him, the goal is at the same time to raise the level of education and improve the quality of life in the countries of southern Africa.
Close cooperation with universities makes sense in any case, says researcher Liisa Laakso.
That’s exactly how authoritarian states also work. For example, institutes in China are located specifically on university campuses, allowing them to directly influence the education of the future elite.
For Finland, history can also be a burden
Namibia is planned as the location of the new southern African institute partly because the country is politically stable and corruption is relatively low.
Another reason is the long shared history. Finnish missionaries have been working in Namibia since the 1870s. In the second half of the 20th century, Finland supported the independence of Namibia, which Martti Ahtisaari too was negotiating as a UN representative. Many of the eye-openers of independent Namibia had studied in Finland.
For the younger generations of Namibia, Finland does not necessarily say much. According to Kalervo Väänänen, the image of Finland in Namibia is still almost embarrassingly positive.
– If we are thinking about developing connections and trade relations, it is worth increasing our presence where we are generally thought of positively, says Väänänen.
The long history in Namibia can also be a burden for Finland, when authoritarian countries keep the colonialism of Europeans on display in Africa.
Even though Finland had no colonies, the newer one according to the study missionary work in Namibia also had colonialist features. It displaced the local culture in northern Namibia.
According to Kalervo Väänänen, it was clear to those who prepared the Namibian Institute that the topic would come up. That is why the new institute must be established in good cooperation with Namibian actors, he says.
– You have to live with history, whether it’s good or bad.