Contents of issue No 11, January 1999
- Debate about Finnish neutrality in New Europe intensifies
The changing European security landscape has triggered a debate about Finland’s neutrality and the country’s relations with NATO.
- Karelia: from geopolitics to geoeconomics
Could Finland gain concessions from Russia in Karelia in exchange for staying outside of NATO? This issue was raised by Professor Kauko Sipponen in his contribution to the Karelia Study Day at the Finnish Institute in December. He put his remarks in the context of the recent intensified co-operation between Finland and NATO.
- The North West in Russian regional politics by Martin Nicholson
The Russian Federation is made up of 89 entities. Four of these regions – Murmansk, the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad (which includes most of former Finnish Karelia), and St. Petersburg City – border on Finland. At 1,300 km long, this is the European Union's only border with Russia and also marks the steepest income gap of any of the EU's external borders.
- Nature walks, Editorial by Henrik Stenius
In the far North of Europe, you meet people with a peculiar sense of Nature, people for whom Nature is an important part of their mentality. They experience nature 1) in solitude, 2) outside civilisation, disassociated from society, 3) as big: from a vista where earth meets the firmament or deep in the woodland completely surrounded by the spirits of the Forest.
- New Director for the Institute appointed
Dr. Panu Minkkinen, a philosopher of law, has been appointed the next Director of the Finnish Institute. He will take up his his three-year appointment at the beginning of February, having previously been working at Birkbeck College, University of London,
- Seminar: Future of Work
The decline of the 'employment society'
The industrial societies as we have known them for the last few decades are slowly changing into something new. What this new reality is, is difficult to grasp, probably because we are using the very concepts of a fading social order.
- Seminar: Copyright and Internet
Authors and libraries grapple with copyright problems by Mikael Böök
The new digital environment is creating a conflict between authors’ rights and citizens’ access to information. Consequently, authors’ organisations and the library community have different views on the new legislation designed to regulate the information system.
- Reflections from an irony-free country by Tapani Lausti
A British journalist recently described the Finns as a people without a sense of irony. The editor of Eagle Street was intrigued. It reminded him of an incident a long time ago when a Finnish broadcaster was banned for a while after having described the Italians as a nation of pickpockets.
- BBC gives voice to Sámi children
A visit to Lapland started a new BBC radio project called ‘A Child of Our Time’. The BBC Radio Drama Department interviewed Sámi children for a radio play which will the first of five plays from different parts of the world.
- Studying Finland: problems of language and isolation
Who does research on Finland in Britain? There are the established academics, but what about the younger generation? In an attempt to find out, the Finnish Institute hosted a meeting on 4 December to young academics from all over Britain
- Scholarships for postgraduate study in Finland, 1999-2000
Applications are invited from postgraduates who wish to undertake postgraduate study/research in Finland.
Events:
- Seminar: Making Visible Monuments and Making Monuments Visible
- International Workshop: Women crossing boundaries -- Alexandra Kollontai today
- Seminar Study Day: Multiple Identities In A Multi-Cultural Society
Publications:
- The Forest’s Mighty God – A Celebration of Sibelius : Views from the 20th Century for the 21st Century, published by the United Kingdom Sibelius Society
- Irish Studies in International Affairs, Volume 9, 1998 includes material from the seminar on Small States and European Security
Index of back issues The
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