Suchergebnisse

This open access book explores the organization and evolution of Finland's Cold War cultural diplomacy (1945-1975) as the basis for a reflection on the country's foreign relations, the link between culture and politics, small states' autonomy during the Cold War, and the porosity of the East-West divide. The book offers a historical survey of the development of Finland's cultural diplomacy as part of the Finnish state's foreign activities. In its empirical parts, it focuses on archives drawn from the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education in order to explain Finland's cultural diplomacy as the result of the country's foreign policy orientations, interactions between domestic and foreign policy, and the expansion of state activities in the artistic, educational, and cultural sectors. Various reflections and reports on foreign cultural relations highlight the role of identity concerns, cultural relations, geopolitics and economic imperatives in the development of a specifically Finnish cultural diplomacy. Furthermore, the book focuses on specific aspects and events, considering for instance the organization and evolutions of Finland's cultural relations with the USSR, the role of cultural treaties, academic exchanges and scientific cooperation, "cultural exports" and the marketization of culture, overlaps between cultural relations and high politics.

Summary
Social imaginaries carried by the entertainment industry matter for understanding how the general public makes sense of complex social phenomena. Mass culture is a representation of pre-existing ideas on international politics, rooted in space and time, and a constitutive element of the social and political world. Mass entertainment, as well as massively popular forms of popular culture such as video games, are only now entering the field of vision of scholars interested in cultural representations of international relations. This article contributes to this trend by looking at visions of diplomacy present in a global mass entertainment franchise: Hasbro's My Little Pony. Behind the lighter aspects of a show created for young children lies a fictional universe with elements of diplomacy and international relations. The article insists on the importance of visions of early 21st-century American unipolar order and a liberal view of international politics in the show's world.

Abstract
Recent developments in the study of city diplomacies have kept small and mid-sized towns mostly outside of focus. This robs the field of an opportunity to consider the international activities of most cities and networks of cities, and deprives us from a reflection on the reasons why most cities would feel a need to develop their international outreach, and on the ways they would do it. Studying the city diplomacy of small cities reminds us of the depth of practices and of the variety of realities blanketed under the notion of city diplomacy – variety both in geographical but also in chronological terms. From the point of view of these small and mid-sized towns, city diplomacy appears subtly different than from the vintage point of great cities. This essay will reflect on this through the example of Turku, a mid-sized town in the Baltic Sea region. It aims to show that, in a field concentrated on big cities, studying mid-sized cities bring the same returns as studying small states: a wider understanding of the way foreign relations work on a daily basis.

Abstract
What are the most important variables explaining the 4 January 1918 decision by the French Government to recognise Finland's independence? This short contribution to the Special Issue aims at giving a broad overview of developments explaining this decision. It will first of all introduce general notions concerning France's relation with "nationalities" during the First World War. It will more specifically describe the geopolitical environment of the winter 1917–1918, when France looked for ways to react to the crumbling of its Russian ally against Germany. It will also emphasise the way domestic developments and the long-term action of Finnish national networks helped in shaping up this decision. Finally, based on this example, it will consider various ways for small states to try and influence their international environment.

La Seconde Guerre mondiale est partout en Europe, encore aujourd'hui, un marqueur identitaire et politique. La Finlande ne fait pas exception à cette règle, et les ambigüités de sa position internationale et de sa politique de guerre se sont retrouvées dans les évolutions du traitement mémoriel et politique de ce conflit. La guerre froide, qui voit la Finlande essayer de pacifier ses relations avec l'Union soviétique, fait de la Seconde Guerre mondiale un sujet délicat à traiter. L'agression soviétique de 1939 de même que l'alliance finlandaise avec l'Allemagne nazie en 1941 font l'objet de réinterprétations diverses dans ce contexte particulier. Par la suite, les années 1990-2000 connaissent un renouveau du discours nationaliste sur ces questions. Le but de ce court article est de saisir l'évolution du débat public finlandais sur la Seconde Guerre mondiale, en mettant l'accent sur les différences importantes qui existent entre cette mémoire nationale spécifique et une mémoire européenne plus générale du conflit.

Alors que l'URSS attaque en novembre 1939 la Finlande neutre, le gouvernement français décide de s'impliquer dans le Nord de l'Europe, ostensiblement aux côtés des Finlandais mais en fait dans le but de prendre contre l'Allemagne des positions au Nord de la Suède et de la Norvège. Dans les modalités et dans le contenu, cette décision est une rupture radicale avec la politique menée par la France envers la Scandinavie et la zone baltique depuis les années 1920. Dans cette décision se mêlent le contexte de long terme, l'état de la société française en guerre, et le rôle des Scandinaves eux-mêmes. Une fois prise dans le cadre de la guerre finno-soviétique, la décision d'impliquer la France dans le Nord de l'Europe se révèle un engrenage dont le jeu va entraîner la démission d'Édouard Daladier et les combats en Norvège de mai-juin 1940.

L'image des petits États à l'étranger est une donnée géopolitique, commerciale et identitaire essentielle, qui appelle de leur part un travail de communication mené avec des ressources et dans des buts bien définis. Par souci d'utilisation efficace de leurs ressources ou par suivisme à l'égard de paradigmes transnationaux, ces petits États peuvent être tentés d'adopter certains modèles étrangers. Comment s'opère alors la relation entre modèles extérieurs et réalités internes ? Cet article considère la question à travers l'exemple de la Finlande durant la Guerre froide. Nous verrons que, si les inspirations extérieures sont évidentes, le contexte national finlandais résiste à l'adoption de modèles organisationnels extérieurs.

AbstractA group of recent publications have reflected on the way the diplomatic machineries of small states have adapted to recent changes, upgraded engagement with global questions, reached out to experts and private actors, and increased organizational flexibility. This article aims to participate in this discussion. We will draw on Cristina Archetti's insights in her study of the localized practices of foreign correspondents in order to inform a presentation of changes in the Finnish diplomatic representation in Paris. The case study suggests that the drivers of local evolutions are to be looked at not only in global trends but also in the interplay between the characteristics of the Finnish diplomatic network, the specificities of the country of residence, and wider political, cultural and commercial structures. The article makes the case for a localized, contextualized, fine-grained approach to the influence of global trends.