Romania’s perception of Finland’s participation in CSCE

Abstract

Abstract : Romania and Finland showed a great interest towards the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Sometimes they have found each other on similar positions in this respect, other times they were suspicious about their mutual projects and intensions. Interested in Romanian-Finnish relations during the CSCE years from the perspective of small states’ capacity or intention to deal with their place in a bipolar system, I came to the conclusion that small states’ foreign policy cannot be interpreted or analyzed without taking into consideration among other factors the actors’ perceptions of the external environment. In this particular case, Romania’s attitude towards Finland in the CSCE (and not only) has been influenced or determined in a great extent by the way Romanian decision makers perceived Finland’s place and role in the international system. This paper aims to identify Romanian decision makers’ perceptions of Finland’s foreign policy, Finland’s neutrality and Finland’s interest in the CSCE, on the basis of some new documents from the Romanian archives. These perceptions are also influenced by the way Romanian leaders interpreted the system of the international relations of that moment and her place and interests in the system.