Small Nation to Great Power: Take Finland for example

• Main Authors: Ci-Yu Tseng, 曾期毓
• Other Authors: 何思因
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/60245050647985781455

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 國際事務與戰略研究所碩士班 === 103 === In today''s international politics, research tends to focus on relationships among the major powers and great power, with smaller countries often being overlooked. In the international political system, larger countries indeed have a greater influence when compared with small countries. But in studying international politics, if one only discusses the large countries and completely ignores the small countries, he cannot obtain a comprehensive international study. In general, the gap between the strength of the great powers and the strength of the small countries is very large. If at the same time there are other geopolitical relations, then regardless of one larger country’s intent, small countries will feel uneasy. Therefore, powerful neighbors are a threat to small countries. This article will focus on how to deal with political problems originating from big countries. Finland is a small country and has a successful track record when dealing with big countries. This article uses Finland as an example to give a representative view of power between small countries competing with larger countries. This paper will analyze Finland’s foreign affairs, Finland as an independent nation, its development in an East-West confrontation between two groups of the international security system, and Finland’s history until it joined the European Union. Since the end of the Soviet Union, great changes in the international order, and Finland joining the European Union, Finland and Western countries have existed in close trade cooperation. This paper is divided into three parts: first, the period after Finland achieved its independence; second, the period during the Cold War; and, finally, Finland joining the European Union. Without an internal political state and a foreign policy with great relationships, democracy cannot be more than a single piece of internal advice. Finland, however, has flat domestic units and identifies primary diplomatic interests. Thus, by exploring Finnish internal politics to influence foreign policy, one can find a small country with great power politics.