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Constructivism, Narrative and Foreign Policy Analysis
Building on constructivist approaches to international relations this book develops a narrative theory of identity, action and foreign policy, which is then applied to account for the evolution of Finnish foreign policy. The book adopts an innovative approach by showing how foreign policy orientations need to be seen as grounded in overlapping and competing sets of identity narratives that reappear in different forms through history. By emphasising the dynamism implicit within identity narratives the book not only challenges traditional rationalist materialist approaches to foreign policy analysis, but also the current tendency to depict the story of Finnish foreign policy, identity and history as one of a gradual move towards a Western location. Rather the book emphasises elements of multiplicity and contingency, whilst re-establishing foreign policy as a highly political process concerned with power and the right to define reality and national subjectivity.
Rhetorics of Nordic Democracy
Democracy is today a concept that is overwhelmingly positively evaluated almost everywhere. A lot has been written about socio-economic and cultural backgrounds of democratic regimes as well as their institutional settings. By contrast, not much is known about the political manoeuvres and speech acts by which 'democracy' has been tied to particular regions and cultures in concrete historical situations. This book discusses a series of efforts to rhetorically produce a particular Nordic version of democracy. It shows that the rhetorical figure 'Nordic democracy' was a product of the age of totalitarianism and the Cold War. It explores the ways in which 'Nordic democracy' was used, mainly by the social democrats, to provide the welfare politics with cultural and historical legitimacy and foundations. Thus, it also acknowledges the ideological and geopolitical context in which the 'Nordic welfare state' was conceptualised and canonised. The contributors of the book are specialists on Nordic politics and history, who share a particular interest in political rhetoric and conceptual history.
“When neo-Nazis march on Norwegian streets, you hear a lot of Swedish”
This report constitutes the first comprehensive review of right-wing extremism (RWE) in the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden). In it, a team of 13 leading researchers have compiled and reviewed academic texts written about the topic. The result is a descriptive and analytical report of how the Nordic RWE milieu has developed from 1918 until today, with a specific focus on the pan-Nordic and transnational dimensions of the milieu. In the report, we also compile the practices used to prevent RWE in the Nordics, and analyze how well they are situated to handle the threat RWE poses to society.
Anti-fascism in European History
The increasing radicalization of political life in most countries in Europe lends special relevance to studies of the antifascist legacies on the continent. This insightful collection of essays is an in-depth review of antifascism in Slovenia, setting it in the context of related movements elsewhere in Europe. The period treated by the 19 essays comprises the interwar period, World War Two, and the post-war decades. The comparative and transnational perspectives advanced by the volume change our understanding of antifascism. The essays deal with the right-wing but also left-wing instrumentalization of antifascism, with a particular focus on the communist and post-communist periods. The authors point out that antifascism comes in various strains, whether inspired by liberalism, social democracy, communism, monarchism, anarchism, or even Christian conservatism. The contributors bring to light several overlooked antifascist actors, campaigns, and organisations, mostly in Slovenia and the Adriatic area.
Finland's War of Choice
A selection of the Military Book Club: “A solid operational analysis” from “an established scholar of the Scandinavian theater” (Publishers Weekly). This book describes the odd coalition between Germany and Finland in World War II and their joint military operations from 1941 to 1945. In stark contrast to the numerous books on the shorter and less bloody Winter War, which represented a gallant fight of a democratic “David” against a totalitarian “Goliath” and caught the imagination of the world, the story of Finland fighting alongside a Goliath of its own has not brought pride to that nation and was a period many Finns would rather forget. A prologue brings the reader up to s...
Historical Injustice and Democratic Transition in Eastern Asia and Northern Europe
The memory of past atrocity lingers like a ghost at the table of democracy. Injustices carried out in the past - from massacres and murder to repression and detention - embitter societies and distort their structures so that the process of establishing and running a democracy carries an extra burden. This volume examines societies at various stages of dealing with the memory of the past, from China, Mongolia, Indonesia and the Baltic States, where bitter memories of death and persecution still intrude, to Finland, where the civil war of 1918 has finally been accepted as a distant national tragedy.
Borrowed Place
In Borrowed Place: Mission Stations and Local Adaption in Early Twentieth-Century Hunan Riika-Leena Juntunen creates a microhistorical narrative around the establishment, reception, and development of Lizhou protestant stations during the turbulent years of popular nationalism and early communist activity. The book examines the changing place identity around the stations from political, religious, ritual, cultural, and gendered perspectives, revealing a Chinese semi-religious community with varying motivations and in constant dialogue with its surroundings. The group developed its own normative code and hierarchy, and it offered both economic and religious benefits according to local models. Yet the developing political situation also meant it had to solve the question of anti-foreignism to be able to continue its existence.
Finland's Holocaust
Finland's Holocaust considers antisemitism and the figure of the Holocaust in today's Finland. Taking up a range of issues - from cultural history, folklore, and sports, to the interpretation of military and national history - this collection examines how the writing of history has engaged and evaded the figure of the Holocaust.
Nordic Fascism
Nordic Fascism is the first comprehensive history in English of fascism in the Nordic countries. Transnational cooperation between radical nationalists has especially been the case in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland, where fascism has not only developed through interdependent processes but also through interactions between and beyond national boundaries, and where “racial relationship” has been a core argument. With chapters ranging from the inception of fascism in the interwar years up to the present day, this book offers the first fragments of an entangled history of Nordic fascism. It illuminates how The North occupies a special place in the fascist imagination, articulating ideas about the Nordic people resisting the supposed cultural degeneration, replacement, or annihilation of the white race. The authors map ideological exchange between fascist organisations in the Nordic countries and outline past and present attempts at pan-Nordic state building. This book will appeal to scholars of fascism and Nordic history, and readers interested in the general history of fascism.
