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Finnish Diplomats As Interpreters of Finland's Foreign Policy 1955

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Finnish Diplomats As Interpreters of Finland's Foreign Policy 1955 JYU DISSERTATIONS 98 Jukka Nissinen Finnish Diplomats as Interpreters of Finland’s Foreign Policy 1955–1971 Question of Neutrality and Divided Germany JYU DISSERTATIONS 98 Jukka Nissinen Finnish Diplomats as Interpreters of Finland’s Foreign Policy 1955–1971 Question of Neutrality and Divided Germany Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston humanistis-yhteiskuntatieteellisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston vanhassa juhlasalissa S212 kesäkuun 19. päivänä 2019 kello 14. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä, in building Seminarium, old festival hall S212 on June 19, 2019 at 2 pm. JYVÄSKYLÄ 2019 Editors Pasi Ihalainen Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä Timo Hautala Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä Copyright © 2019, by University of Jyväskylä Permanent link to this publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-7798-6 ISBN 978-951-39-7798-6 (PDF) URN:ISBN:978-951-39-7798-6 ISSN 2489-9003 ABSTRACT Nissinen, Jukka Finnish Diplomats as Interpreters of Finland’s Foreign Policy 1955–1971: Question of Neutrality and Divided Germany Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2010, 348 p. (JYU Dissertations ISSN 2489-9003; 98) ISBN 978-951-39-7798-6 (PDF) During the Cold War, between the years 1949–1973, Finland did not recognize either one of the states of the divided Germany, the socialist German Democratic Republic (East Germany) or the democratic Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany. This policy was initiated by the cautious stance of President J.K. Paasikivi, and it continued during President Urho Kek- konen’s multiple terms in office. By using previously not holistically scrutinized source ma- terial, the political reporting of Finnish diplomats that were posted in the divided Germany, this study brings forth a transnational and multifaceted view of the functionality of the policy. This research utilizes as a theoretical and methodological framework the constructivist theory of international relations, in conjunction with the ideas concerning symbolic interac- tion and new political history that views politics as discursively constructed processes. Through this theoretical and methodological framework we can conceptualize how the Finn- ish German policy ultimately began to function as a part of the symbolic order of Finland’s neutrality policy. In this regard, the policy’s symbolic value was also increased by the phe- nomenon of Finlandization, which has been used to denote the subservient political culture that developed in Finland in relation to the Soviet Union during the Cold War (through self- inflicted obsequiousness by Finnish politicians, journalists, intellectuals, and other members of the cultural elite towards the Soviet Union). In the political reporting of the Finnish diplomats the official policy was, however, viewed critically and also in a more international and transnational context. The reporting showed to Finnish foreign policy makers back home that, in many cases, the policy’s appear- ance was not really holding up. In this regard, the policy’s basic premise, the façade of Fin- land’s neutrality, often stood on shaky ground. Finnish diplomats also noted the paradox of West Germans worrying about the possibility that Finland might move increasingly towards a recognition of East Germany as a state, while at the same time the West Germans acknowl- edged that Finland was represented in divided Germany with more than mere commercial or consular relations. According to the Finnish diplomats’ reports and West German Foreign Office documents, the neutrality of Finnish policy was also challenged by President Kekko- nen’s rhetoric against West Germany, especially in the latter half of the 1960s, which catered to the interests and slogans of the Eastern bloc. In this respect, the diplomats also functioned as a counterbalance who by their actions formed a testimony of a capitalist and Western-oriented Finland. The documents of the West German Foreign Office show not only its officials' trust and positive evaluation of the Finnish diplomats but also that the relationship reached a level where Finnish diplomats could openly express their anti-communist stance. Such an action would have been an aberration and a target of abhorrence in the domestic political culture of Cold War Finland. Keywords: Finland, West Germany, East Germany, cold war, neutrality, Urho Kekkonen, diplomats, Finnish Foreign Ministry, foreign policy, Finnish Foreign Service TIIVISTELMÄ Nissinen, Jukka Finnish Diplomats as Interpreters of Finland’s Foreign Policy 1955–1971: Question of Neutrality and Divided Germany Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2010, 348 p. (JYU Dissertations ISSN 2489-9003; 98) ISBN 978-951-39-7798-6 (PDF) Kylmän sodan aikana vuosina 1949–1973 Suomi ei tunnustanut kumpaakaan jaetun Saksan valtiota, sosialistista Saksan demokraattista tasavaltaa (Itä-Saksa) tai Saksan liittotasavaltaa (Länsi-Saksa). Politiikka sai alkunsa presidentti J. K. Paasikiven varovaisesta asenteesta ke- hittyviä suurvaltoja Neuvostoliittoa ja Yhdysvaltoja kohtaan, ja se jatkui presidentti Urho Kekkosen virkakausien aikana. Tässä tutkimuksessa Suomen Saksan-politiikkaa tarkastel- laan ylirajaisen historiantutkimuksen näkökulmasta käyttämällä aikaisemmin kokonaisval- taisesti tutkimatonta lähdemateriaalia, jaetussa Saksassa toimineiden suomalaisdiplomaat- tien poliittista raportointia. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, millaisena Suomen Saksan-poli- tiikka sekä sen olennaiset ulottuvuudet kuten esimerkiksi Suomen puolueettomuuspoli- tiikka ja Länsi-Saksan yksinedustusvaatimus, ns. Hallsteinin oppi, näyttäytyivät diplo- maattien poliittisessa raportoinnissa. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään teoreettisena ja metodologisena viitekehyksenä kan- sainvälisten suhteiden konstruktivistista teoriaa eritoten symbolisen vuorovaikutuksen nä- kökulmasta sekä ns. uuden poliittisen historian ymmärrystä politiikasta diskursiivisesti ra- kennettuina prosesseina. Tämän teoreettisen ja metodologisen viitekehyksen kautta voidaan paremmin ymmärtää, kuinka Suomen Saksan-politiikka muodostui vähitellen osaksi Suo- men puolueettomuuspolitiikan symbolista järjestystä. Tältä osin politiikan symbolista arvoa lisäsi myös ns. suomettumisen ilmiö, jota on käytetty ilmaisemaan Suomessa kylmän sodan aikana kehittynyttä yliherkkää alistumisen kulttuuria suhteessa Neuvostoliittoon. Tutkimus osoittaa, että suomalaisten diplomaattien poliittisessa raportoinnissa viral- lista politiikkaa tarkasteltiin kuitenkin kriittisesti ja myös suuremmassa kansainvälisessä yh- teydessä. Se osoitti suomalaisille ulkopoliittisille päätöksentekijöille, että monissa tapauk- sissa politiikka näytti ulkopuolelta katsottuna varsin erilaiselta kuin sen toivottiin näyttävän itse politiikan muotoilijoiden näkökulmasta. Tältä osin politiikan lähtökohta, Suomen puo- lueettomuuden julkisivu, oli usein huteralla pohjalla. Diplomaatit toivat myös esiin ristirii- dan siinä, että Länsi-Saksassa oltiin huolestuneita mahdollisuudesta, että Suomi voisi siirtyä yhä lähemmäksi Itä-Saksan tunnustamista valtioksi, mutta toisaalta myönnettiin Suomen edustautuvan Saksoissa enemmän kuin pelkillä kaupallisilla tai konsulaarisilla suhteilla. Ra- porttien ja Länsi-Saksan ulkoministeriön asiakirjojen mukaan poliittisen puolueettomuuden haastoivat myös presidentti Kekkosen retoriikka Länsi-Saksaa vastaan, joka varsinkin 1960- luvun jälkipuoliskolla palveli itäblokin etuja ja myötäili sen iskulauseita. Tältä osin diplo- maatit toimivat vastavoimana ja todisteena länsimyönteisyydestä Suomen poliittisessa jär- jestelmässä. Länsi-Saksan ulkoministeriön asiakirjat eivät ainoastaan osoita luottamusta suo- malaisiin diplomaatteihin ja heidän myönteistä arviointia, vaan myös sen, että se oli tasolla, jossa suomalaiset diplomaatit pystyivät ilmaisemaan avoimesti esimerkiksi antikommunis- tiset kantansa. Sellaisten esittäminen julkisesti kylmän sodan ajan Suomessa olisi ollut ää- rimmäisen haitallista ulkoasiainhallinnon virkamiehelle. Asiasanat: Suomi, Länsi-Saksa, Itä-Saksa, kylmä sota, puolueettomuus, Urho Kekkonen, diplomaatit, Suomen ulkoministeriö, ulkopolitiikka, Suomen ulkoasiainhallinto Author’s address Jukka Nissinen Tyyppäläntie 6 F 49 FIN-40250 Jyväskylä [email protected] Supervisors Professor Pasi Ihalainen Department of History and Ethnology University of Jyväskylä Professor Pertti Ahonen Department of History and Ethnology University of Jyväskylä Reviewers Associate Professor William Glenn Gray Department of History Purdue University Dr. Johanna Rainio-Niemi Department of Philosophy, Contemporary History and Political Science University of Turku Opponent Associate Professor William Glenn Gray CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT/TIIVISTELMÄ NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 13 1.1 Research questions and themes of research .......................................... 13 1.2 Previous research of the Finnish Cold War foreign policy of neutrality and the German question ...................................................... 20 1.3 Theory: Politics as discourse and the constructionist view on international relations .............................................................................. 32 1.4 Political reports as sources ...................................................................... 38 1.5 Structure of the analysis ..........................................................................
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