William Bell

Finland - The Kekkonen Years William Bell

A concise account of Finland's foreign affairs and domestic politics as a close neighbour of Soviet Russia during the Cold War period between the end of the Second World War and the close end of Kekkonen's Presidency in 1981. Finland - The Kekkonen Years is a concise and near-contemporaneous account of Finland's foreign affairs, domestic politics and economic fortunes in the period between the end of the Second World War and the close of the Kekkonen era in 1981. This was the era of the Cold War in Europe, of constant and sometimes acute tension between East and West. For Finland in particular these were years of enormous diplomatic challenge as the country strove in a complex relationship with its super-power neighbour the Soviet Union to retain its democratic institutions of government, its independence and neutrality and to nurture a successful Western market economy. That it achieved all of these can be regarded as the legacy of its long-serving President, Urho Kekkonen, and one which survived intact to the end of the Cold War at the close of 1989, just three years after his death. Written by a close observer of Finnish affairs, who was resident in that country during part of Kekkonen's term of office, the book was completed in 1986 and is published here for the first time.