– Safety, absolutely safety.
This is the answer of a person living in Kangasala Johanna Kinnunenwhen we ask passers-by in the shopping center Tripla in Helsinki what Finland’s joining NATO means to them.
The majority answers the same: Joining NATO means security.
But does NATO also shape our self-image, our national identity?
– In Finland, national identity is strongly linked to security because of history, political scientist Johanna Vuorelma says.
It is about the centuries-old Russian threat.
Vuorelma examines this year’s NATO debate. The national story that creates Finns’ self-image is now changing in at least three themes.
At the end point is the narrative that we are militarily non-aligned and stay out of military conflicts.
Joining NATO is considered to mean the end of the shameful dependence on Russia or Finnishness.
NATO is also seen as finally joining Finland to the West.
However, our old national story will not end and be replaced by a completely new one, but the new phase will be adapted into a part of the old one, Vuorelma says.
The NATO part of the story is just beginning, and we can’t be sure where it will lead.
1. History professor: The nation did not take Finland to NATO
Finns’ opinions changed unprecedentedly quickly when Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The majority of the people turned to the position of joining NATO in a few days.
– Yes, last spring, I suddenly started to sneeze, even though I didn’t do it before, from Helsinki Kimmo Lukkari says.
The events of last spring have also been interpreted as the fact that the people took Finland to NATO, drove the state leadership to apply for a defense alliance.
Professor of History at the University of Helsinki Henrik Meinander has reached a different conclusion.
– What was decisive was the transfers of the state leadership or how the state leadership communicated about issues.
The professor refers to, among other things, the president Sauli Niinistön to the United States shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Meinander estimates that the government must have concluded by December 2021 at the latest that Finland’s NATO option is nearing its end. In this case, the president Vladimir Putin claim a guarantee (you switch to another service) that NATO will no longer expand to the east. Therefore, Russia would not accept the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden either.
According to Meinander, the people in Finland traditionally strongly trust the security policy vision of the state leadership.
– It has been learned that the state leadership knows best. Since then, however, there has been a tacit understanding that Finland is constantly getting closer to the Western community.
The people’s rapid change of heart revealed that the Finns ultimately have a very practical, even unrealistic attitude towards security policy solutions. The eastern threat to the nation’s existence reawakened overnight.
– Putin’s Russia acted so irrationally that there was really no other way but to formalize the already very close and systematic cooperation with NATO, Professor Meinander says.
2. The final step to the west – “Finland doesn’t have to pretend anymore”
In the recent debate, NATO has also represented to Finns the right to self-determination, liberation from the perceived shameful dependence on Russia, Finnishization, political researcher Johanna Vuorelma says.
According to him, it has also come up in President Niinistö’s statements. The president has said that the masks have now been taken off and urged the Russian leadership to look in the mirror.
– They have had the idea that Finland can be itself, there is no need to pretend anymore, says Vuorelma.
In the NATO discussions, membership is also accompanied by a promise that the unclear, wavering national identity will be left behind and we will know clearly what we are.
Many see NATO membership as Finland’s final step towards the West.
– Finns think they belong to the west and that’s cool. NATO sealed it, cultural researcher, docent Jari Ehrnrooth says.
The historian estimates that NATO will still not significantly change our national identity, because Finns have long felt that they clearly belong to Western civilization.
– You have to remember that the border between Finland and Russia is the steepest border of civilization in Europe. The world of values is so drastically different from Russia, that is, Finns’ trust in state power, says history professor Henrik Meinander.
3. The story of a small neutral country has ended
– For me, joining NATO means that we join superpower politics and lose our right to self-determination, says one passerby in the shopping center. He doesn’t want to give his name.
Joining NATO has been opposed in Finland precisely on this basis for decades.
Finns’ self-image has included that Finland is a neutral or at least militarily non-aligned country. It has also been considered the secret of Finland’s success, says Johanna Vuorelma.
President Urho Kekkonen summarized this as Finland is a doctor, not a judge. Paasikiven-Kekkonen’s line was that Finland cannot pursue a foreign policy directed against the Soviet Union.
The national story is now being modified in this regard. The interpretation of the Finns is that NATO membership does not threaten Russia, but is only done to strengthen Finland’s defense.
In Finland, it is also thought that we have a special relationship with Russia and a special understanding of the thinking of the Russian leadership.
– After all, the war has made that perception pretty much empty, says Johanna Vuorelma.
4. Professor: “NATO membership is a consequence of the weakening of the Russian empire”
The researchers interviewed by see joining NATO more as a natural continuation than a major breakthrough.
– I am one of those who have insisted that the road to NATO has not been surprising or steep, but that it started already in 1992, Professor Henrik Meinander says.
In the same year, the Yya agreement was replaced by a state agreement with Russia that had no military obligations, Finland applied for EU membership and decided to buy 64 Hornet fighters from the United States.
– You can say that NATO membership is a consequence of the fact that the Russian empire has gradually weakened, Meinander says.
Joining NATO can still be a wild experience, especially for older generations.
– It’s quite a turning point for my generation, which has experienced the Kekkonen era, Yya-Finland, the Soviet Union’s sense of power and the tensions of the Cold War, Professor of European History at the University of Helsinki Laura Kolbe says.
With the accession to NATO, the year 2023 will certainly be a new important milestone in Finnish history books. Professor Meinander compares it to independence in 1917 and joining the European Union in 1995.
5. Geography does not change – “Doors to neighbors cannot be closed to the peg of world history”
Based on the discussion of a few months, it cannot be said that NATO membership changes the national identity, but that it changes more slowly.
The Russian attack on Ukraine last February and the subsequent application for NATO membership was a very dramatic phase for Finns, which gave rise to strong emotions and strong language images, Johanna Vuorelma estimates.
The magnitude of the change can therefore be exaggerated even when it is fresh.
-Joining NATO will hardly change your day-to-day life, Vantaa resident Tomi Lehto states in a shopping center in Helsinki.
The NATO story may take on more critical tones when everyday life begins. A foretaste of that has already been given when Turkey has put a wedge in Finland’s and Sweden’s carts.
It has already been asked whether Finnishization in NATO will take new forms. When Finland gets rid of its dependence on Russia, will it have to quietly accept the similar actions of Turkey, another authoritarian state, in NATO.
The actions of Turkey and Hungary also show that the unity and strength of NATO is not guaranteed.
– How long can NATO remain strong and united if it does not share the same values, political researcher Johanna Vuorelma thinks.
Geography remains the same in NATO as well. Professor Laura Kolbe says that a longer perspective must also be kept in mind when it comes to Russia.
– Now we are in that threat bubble, one day the opportunity bubble will open. The doors to the neighbor cannot be closed to the pin of world history.
What does NATO membership mean to you? You can discuss the topic until Wednesday, December 7 at 11 p.m.