Living in uncertainty, how being neighbours with Russia affects Finland security policies : A study on Finland's security policies

Finland is security-wise located in a complex spot. With them being a neighbouring country to Russia, and with their common history together, Finland’s own security has always been a major goal for them. With Russia once again using military force to achieve goals of their own, Finland has been forced to defend once again more actively against potential aggressions. This study examines Finland security policies between 2012-2022 to research how Russian actions are influencing the policies pursued by Finland. Furthermore, the policies have been analysed by applying Securitization theory and Luke’s three concepts of power, to examine the reasoning more extensively behind the policies pursued, with the data being analysed by applying a text analysis on it. The results show that Russia during the timeframe has influenced Finland’s security policies, with Finland intensifying both their own development of military forces, and by deepening cooperation with security actors such as Sweden, The EU, and NATO. When it comes to the dimensions of power, it can only be argued for its usages since it is hard to prove. Both the second and third dimension of power can be argued to exist in the policies with Finland trying to set the agenda they wish and them trying to influence actors before they decide. Lastly, in the policies, any securitization discourses have not been identified, with Finland in their policies not lifting Russian aggression as an “existential threat” against them in order to pursue policies out of the ordinary. Instead, Finland has shown their systematic security preparedness with only an acceleration on the front during the time researched