Welcome back to the Ties That Bind.

This week, we go even further north, to Finland, one of the alliance’s newest members. Like the other frontline states we’ve visited this season, Finland shares a turbulent and complicated history with Russia that has long molded its security and foreign policy. But unlike the other frontline states, it was not a member of NATO at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. February 24, 2022, proved to be a lynchpin moment for how Finnish society viewed its security and its future.

In this episode, we’ll hear from two Finnish experts about that moment in time, both culturally and politically, about the process and challenges of Finland’s NATO accession, the country’s strategic role in the Arctic, and what it means for the alliance. We’ll also hear about Finland’s whole-of-society defense model, how the country’s culture has informed its security calculus, and what other allies can learn from the Finnish experience. And we’ll also discuss lessons for Finland’s history for Ukraine.

Featured Guests:

* Minna Ålander is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

* Joel Linnainmäki is a Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and a former special advisor to the former Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto.

Listen the previous episode on Latvia here.

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