Shifting concepts of the Finnish-Russian border in the post-Cold War period (original) (raw)
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Conceptual Change of Finnish-Russian Border
Political turbulence in Europe in the early 1990s challenged the fundaments of Finnish foreign policy. The reunification of Germany, democratisation processes in Central and Eastern Europe and mostly the dissolution of Soviet Union did not only challenge the neutral-orientation of Finland, but also conceptualisation of borders and bordering became under the scrutiny. A stabile, bloc-based international order of Cold War was transmuting and the place of the neutral states was also redefined during the first years of the 1990s. (Brommesson 2010, 224; Murray&Holmes 1998, 2-6; Wæver 1992) Re-bordering of post-Soviet and post-Socialist space occurred in parallel with European integration process and first post-Cold War enlargement round of European Community (EC). Europeanisation is highly contested and discussed concept in contemporary research. (Olsen 2002; Graziano&Vink 2007) Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeir defines it narrowly as “states adopt EU-rules” (2005, 7), while it can be seen in very broad sense as any kind of processes related on Europe (Radaelli 2000) or as multidimensional notion linked various process, diffusions and constructions of rules, shared beliefs and political practices in Europe. (Katzenstein 2006, 20; Subotic 2011, 311) In this paper I use the term “Europeanisation” in very broad sense for illustrating processes of bordering and identity building in post-Cold War Europe. Firstly this paper reviews the state of art in field of Europeanisation and especially its relation to border studies in the post-Cold War period. Secondly, this paper take a closer look on Finnish public and political debates on border and bordering. The paper presents preliminary results of empirical analysis of texts published in Helsingin Sanomat (HS) during three major contextual events: the dissolution of Soviet Union, the enlargements of EU and NATO, and the Ukrainian Crisis. The empirical material is collected on the framework of EUBorderscapes-project and its work package Reconfiguration of Post-Soviet Borders and Conceptual Change. Thirdly, the paper reflects the public discourse of HS to broader and general discussion of Europeanisation. Through the contested conceptualisations of the border, the paper illustrates how Europeanisation was affected on national border discourses in media on the one hand, and interpret different meanings and definitions of Europeanisation on the other. Key documents related on border policies of EU have been used reflective material and for illustrating the EU’s attempts to re-define and re-conceptualise the border in post-Cold War context.
Incommodious border? Rethinking the function of the Finnish-Russian border
Fennia-International Journal of Geography, 2007
. Incommodious border? Rethinking the function of the Finnish-Russian border. Fennia 185: 1, pp. 49-62. Helsinki. ISSN 0015-0010. This article examines the manner in which the often-mentioned barrier effect of the Finnish-Russian border as well as the greater interaction, enabled by the gradual opening of the border, is perceived among actors involved in crossborder co-operation or border management. The discussion surrounding the impacts of borders on the areas they divide provides the analytical basis on which this article is built. It is a composition of several proposals, which taken together suggest that, first and foremost, borders are barriers for interaction, which have several different roles, some of which are more resistant to change. The empirical data consists of 81 questionnaires, originally collected for the EXLINEA research project from North and South Karelia, in Finland and in the Republic of Karelia and the Leningrad Oblast in Russia. The basic assertion of this article is that despite the benefits gained from its partial opening, the Finnish-Russian border and its side-effects still function as a barrier, separating the two sides from each other and hindering interaction. Given the role that the border plays this is not, however, a purely negative thing. A majority on both sides perceives the border as a necessary and useful institution that is sufficiently transparent to enable the two neighbours to interact in a mutually beneficial manner.
2007
In the aftermath of the Cold War, Finland has been involved in a geopolitical transition from the Soviet sphere of influence towards the core of the European integration process. The Finnish-Russian border has consequently transformed: primarily a segment of the Iron Curtain, it has thereafter turned into an external border, a frontier, of the European Union. As a result, a whole set of EU policies have been implemented, with the aim of converting this line of exclusion into an area of cross border cooperation. Due to the intensifying cross-border flows, the stress is often put on ongoing identity hybridization. Nonetheless, the impact of EU public policies should not be overestimated, nor should the national dimension of cross-bordering be omitted 1. Instead of relying on the hegemony of geopolitics, this paper will focus on the consequences of border's restructuring in regard to national memories and historiographies.
Journal of Finnish Studies
In 1958, the last train transporting war reparations left Parikkala, a southeast border town in Finland, for the Soviet Union. This marked the end of any normal cross-border traffic. Today, Parikkala is negotiating to change its border-crossing status from temporary to international. This article explores local and regional newspaper coverage of Parikkala's effort to get its new cross-border policy approved. Utilizing frame analysis, trauma studies, and border studies, the article aims to answer the following questions: Do any distinguishable frames emerge from the news texts? What is the message they convey? What kind of social, cultural, and historical trauma and its processes are involved in locally situated border narratives, and what is their place in border politics, information production, and distribution? Parikkala's situation raises complex questions about the role of the nation-state(s) in bordering practices and control as well as local border peoples’ chances to...
Changing perceptions of the Finnish-Russian border in the post-Cold War context
Post-Cold War Borders: Reframing Political Space in the EU’s Eastern Europe. Routledge: London., 2018
Since 1995 the Finnish-Russian border has been the longest border shared by any European Union (EU) member state and the Russian Federation. Before then it had been the borderline between a Nordic state presumed to be neutral and a socialist superpower, symbolising the ideological and political division of the Cold War era. The border has a long history, and has been the scene of several wars and conflicts between the Swedish and Russian Empires – between West and East, as it has been often framed. Historically, the border has been fluid and relocated several times. Since Finnish independence in 1917 the border has been redrawn four times, most recently by the 1947 Treaty of Paris, which confirmed the incorporation of Karelia, Pechanga, and the eastern part of the Salla-Kuusamo region into the Soviet Union. Throughout history the border has been more or less permeable, and various forms of collaboration have developed across the borderland. After the Second World War, however, the border was virtually closed and heavily guarded, as a result of which crossing the border was highly restricted. Nevertheless, the official friendship policy shared by Finland and the Soviet Union allowed a limited number of visits across the border, as well as of outside official delegations (see e.g. Laine 2017a).
The changes to Finland's national borders as a result of World War II was a traumatic event which had a profound effect on Finnish national identity. Despite the Finnish (EU)-Russian border having been relatively open for the last 25 years the mental borders in Finland towards Russia and Russians remain high and strong. This paper examines how processes of bordering and imaginaries of the Finnish nation state shape Finnish national identity and the 'othering' of Russia and Russians. The paper also argues that forced political border change amounts to an extreme geographical event especially when, as in the Finnish case, such border change also entails mass, forced population movement. The paper takes the case study of the lost Finnish city of Viipuri (now Vyborg, Russia) as emblematic of the traumatic loss of Finnish territory to the Soviet Union, an event which still resonates over 70 years later. The study uses theories from Human Geography, Border Studies and Memory Studies as well as being grounded in Finnish History.
PAASI A. (1999) Boundaries as social practice and discourse: the Finnish-Russian border, Reg. Studies 33 , 669-680. Boundaries are a key concept in political geography, where they are typically understood as empirical manifestations of state power and territoriality. This paper suggests a multidimensional approach to the analysis of boundaries in a world of de-territorialization and re-territorialization. Boundaries are understood as institutions and symbols that are produced and reproduced in social practices and discourses. The meanings of the Finnish-Russian border are discussed at the scale of both the Finnish state and a locality that was divided by the new border after World War Two. The roles of this border have been highly varied, reflecting not only Finnish-Russian relations but also changes in global geopolitics. Current economic practices and discourses strive to open up borders and permit freer movement of capital and people, but in terms of Finnish foreign policy, security discourses and territorial control, this border is still a relatively closed one. PAASI A. (1999) Les frontières en tant que facteur d'habitude et de discours sociaux: la frontière entre la Finlande et la Russie, Reg. Studies 33 , 669-680. Les frontières sont des concepts clés de la géographie politique, étant considérées comme des preuves empiriques du pouvoir d'Etat et du territoire. Cet article avance une façon multidimensionnelle d'aborder l'analyse de la notion de frontières dans un monde de démantèlement et de reconstruction de frontières. Les frontières sont considérées des institutions et des symboles qui se produisent et se reproduisent à partir des habitudes et des discours sociaux. Les significations de la frontière entre la Finlande et la Russie se voient discuter à l'échelle de l'Etat finlandais et du point de vue d'une région divisée par la nouvelle frontière suitè a la deuxième guerre mondiale. Les rôles de cette frontière ont varié sensiblement, ce qui reflète non seulement les rapports entre les Finlandais et les Russes, mais aussi l'évolution de la géopolitique sur le plan mondial. Les habitudes et les discours économiques en vigueur cherchent à ouvrir des frontières et à faciliter la libre circulation du capital et des personnes. Toujours est-il que, vu la politique étrangère du gouvernement finlandais, étant donné les discours concernant la sécurité et quant au contrôle des territoires, cette frontière reste relativement fermée. PAASI A. (1999) Grenzen als gesellschaftliche Praxis und Diskurs: die finnisch-russische Grenze, Reg. Studies 33 , 669‐680. Grenzen sind ein Grundbegriff der politischen Geografie, in der sie typisch als empirische Bekundung der Staatsgewalt und dem Raumbedürfnis der Bewohner aufgefaßt werden. In einer Welt der Gebietsauflösung und erneuten Gebietsbildung regt dieser Aufsatz ein multidimensionales Angehen der Analyse von Grenzen an. Grenzen werden als Institutionen und als Symbole verstanden, die in der gesellschaftlichen Praxis und Diskursen gezogen und nachvollzogen werden. Die Bedeutungen der finnischrussischen Grenze werden sowohl auf der Ebene des finnischen Staates wie der eines Ortes diskutiert, der nach dem 2. Weltkrieg durch eine neu festelegte Grenze geteilt wurde. Die Rollen dieser Grenze sind sehr verschieden gewesen, und spiegeln nicht nur finnisch-russische Beziehungen wider, sondern auch Wandel in der globalen Geopolitik. Gegenwärtige wirtschaftliche Praxis und Meinungen gehen dahin, Grenzen zuöffnen und den Austausch von Menschen und Kapital zu erleichtern, aber für die finnische Außenpolitik, Sicherheitsbesprechungen und Gebietskontrolle bleibt die Grenze nach wie vor verhältnismäßig geschlossen.
Borders have become increasingly complex and multifaceted in the contemporary world. In spite of accelerating globalisation, flows of refugees, efforts at lowering the internal borders within the EU and general statements on the disappearance of borders, the state-centric system of territories and their borders still channels, through inclusion and exclusion, the ways in which most human beings recognise national practices and in which their daily lives are patterned at both the individual and the institutional levels. This paper aims at contributing to the on-going debates on European regional dynamics and the shaping of territories and will look critically at the current roles of borders as objects of research. It analyses the history of the Finnish–Swedish border and the co-operation taking place there at present as a contextual example in order to look at whether national practices and meanings still structure the way in which this border is shaped in its new EU context. It will first scrutinise the historical roles of this border, which has been one of the EU internal borders since 1995, and will then look at how local people have led their daily lives in this context. The empirical observations show that, in spite of increasing interaction and co-operation, this national border still structures a certain regionalisation of everyday life and identities and provides a socio-spatial framework for organising and performing daily routines in a national context.