The Evolution of Official Finnish Development Policy
| Date | 01 November 1978 |
| DOI | 10.1177/001083677801300304 |
| Author | Esko Antola |
| Published date | 01 November 1978 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The
Evolution
of
Official
Finnish
Development
Policy
ESKO
ANTOLA
Department
of
Political
Science,
University
of
Turku
Antola,
E.
The
Evolution
of
Official
Finnish
Development
Policy.
Cooperation
and
Conflict,
XIII
,
1978,
231-241.
The
author
begins
by
noting
that
the
problems
connected
with
development
policy
did
not
become
salient
to
Finnish
foreign
policy-makers
until
Finland
joined
the
UN
in
1955.
In
the
1960’s
diplomatic
relations
with
the
developing
countries
expanded
signific-
antly,
and
an
independent
development
policy
began
to
be
formulated.
The
author
ana-
lyses
three
official
committee
reports
on
development
policy
from
1963,1968-69,
and
1978,
respectively,
and
concludes
that
official
policy
has
contained
three
stable
elements:
a
linkage
to
the
UN
system,
a
tie-up
with
Scandinavian
cooperation,
and
a
concentration
on
bilateral
aid.
In
conclusion
some
major
problems
connected
with
these
stable
elements
are
discussed,
among
them
the
gap
between
promise
and
performance
which
poten-
tially
threatens
the
credibility
of
Finland’s
development
policy.
1.
THE
BACKGROUND
The
developing
countries
have
for
ob-
vious
reasons
traditionally
played
only
a
minor
role
in
the
formulation
of
Fin-
nish
foreign
policy:
as
a
semi-colony
of
Sweden
and
Russia
up
to
the
year
1917,
Finland
only
started
making
her
own
systematic
foreign
policy
in
the
1920’s;
between
the
World
Wars
she
concentrat-
ed
on
foreign
relations
with
her
neigh-
bour
countries
and
with
the
great
powers
of the
time;
after
World
War
II,
Europe-
an
problems
and
relations
with
her
neigh-
bour
countries
dominated
Finnish
for-
eign
policy
up
to
the
1960’s.
Finland’s
foreign
policy
may
be
theo-
rized
within
a
framework
consisting
of
four
major
components:
Finnish-Soviet
relations,
Scandinavian
cooperation,
Eu-
ropean
security
and
disarmament,
and
the
activities
of
the
United
Nations
system.’
Issues of
international
develop-
ment
and
developing
countries
in
general
play a
small
independent
role
in
Finnish
foreign
policy
compared
with
that
played
by
the
four
basic
components
mentioned
above.
When
the
developing
countries
finally
became
salient
to
foreign
policy-
makers,
this
was
first
expressed
in
the
Finnish
UN
policy.
In
this
respect
the
late
1960’s
meant
a
turning-point
in
the
for-
eign
policy
of
Finland.
This
increase
of
interest
in
the
problems
of
development
was
partly
due
to
certain
trends
in
Finnish
foreign
policy
itself,
but
partly
also
to
the
fact
that
Finland
was
activated
by
the
changing
world
situation
to
take
a
stand
on
these
questions.
So
it
was
really
a
combination
of
the
two
factors
which
finally
activated
Finnish
foreign
policy.
Finland’s
main
foreign
policy
line,
i.e.
that
of
neutrality,
was
established
after
World
War
II.
It
is
based
on
friendly
relations
and
cooperation
with
all
neigh-
bouring
nations
in
the
first
place,
but
also
includes
an
explicit
willingness
to
keep
the
country
outside
great
power
conflicts.
This
policy
orientation
was
re-
cognized
by
the
great
powers
at
the
be-
ginning
of the
1960’s
while
the
major
internal
political
forces
gave
their
com-
plete
acceptance
at
the
same
time.
As
a
result,
Finland
activated
her
foreign
poli-
cy
with
respect
to
both
scope
and
inten-
sity.
At
the
end
of
the
1960’s
Finland
was
elected
to
the
UN
Security
Council
as
a
non-permanent
member
and
took
the
initiative
in
the
European
security
pro-
cess.2
The
activation
of
foreign
policy
was
also
reflected
in
relations
with
the
de-
veloping
countries.
This
was
seen
in
many
sectors
of
foreign
policy:
in
the
UN,
Finland
began
to
take
active
stand-
points
in
favour
of
the
developing
coun-
tries
in
issues
of
colonialism
and
self-
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