Ways of Managing Border Disputes in Present-Day Europe: The Karelian Question

The Karelian question is neither a major theme on the European agenda, nor does it constitute a pressing one in current Finnish-Russian relations. After having been dormant for decades, it came alive in the beginning of the 1990s, with the demise of Soviet Union, the re-unification of Germany and the restoration of the independence of the Baltic republics. There was intense discussion surrounding the question for some years, but it now appears to be in decline as the states have been reluctant to engage themselves in talks on restitution of those parts Karelia ceded to the Soviet Union in the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947. The question remains mainly of interest to Finnish civil society at least if judged on traditional grounds. There are no decisive breakthroughs in sight and the issue hence pertains, in a broader perspective, "to the unknown backwoods between St.Petersburg and the Kola Peninsula " (Eskelinen, 1994:172). Internationally the issue has attracted little interest and is not known to any broader public.*1 However, my purpose here is to go beyond such a traditional perspective. Instead of contributing to a further peripheralization, the aim is one of highlighting some aspects of the issue that link it with essential aspects of current European development. It is claimed that the Karelian question is very much alive, although not in the way expected, if it is studied in the context of the changing meaning of borders and territoriality in Europe. It provides insight into the development of Finnish as well as Russian foreig