The UK Integrated Review – what does it mean for Europe and Finland?

Mika Aaltola is the Director of FIIA. Dr Aaltola is also a professor of International Relations at Tallinn University, Estonia, and holds the rank of docent at Tampere University. He has been a visiting fellow at Cambridge University, Sciences Po (CERI), and Johns Hopkins as well as a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota. His areas of expertise include the US global role, dynamics of power politics, and Finnish foreign policy. His latest published monograph is “Democratic Vulnerability and Autocratic Meddling – The ‘Thucydidean Brink’ in Regressive Geopolitical Competition” (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2021).

Tom Dodd was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Finland in January 2018. His career has spanned roles in the Cabinet Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Home Office and House of Commons, principally in inter-agency co-ordination, security and analysis. His previous overseas postings include Kabul (as Deputy Ambassador) and Basra (as Deputy Consul General). Ambassador Dodd has degrees in history and in international relations. He is of Danish, English, Irish, German and French descent.

Wing Commander Steve Boyle has been the UK Defence Attaché in Helsinki since August 2020. His flying career was spent mostly on the Tornado, since then he has served in the UK and Italian Ministries of Defence and the Eurofighter Programme in Munich.

Elina Kalkku is Under-Secretary of State for Development Policy, Middle East and Africa at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Prior to the current position, Mrs. Kalkku served as Director-General of the Department of Americas and Asia at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2015, and from 2000 to 2005 as Director of the Security Policy unit at the Political Department of the Ministry. Mrs. Kalkku joined the Ministry in 1983. She has served abroad in the Finnish Embassies in Madrid and Brussels as well as at the Finnish Mission to the UN in New York and the Finnish Mission to NATO in Brussels. She has worked with issues related to security policy and crisis management, the EU and the UN, transatlantic relations and Asian affairs, the Middle East as well as trade promotion and development cooperation. She holds Masters (1982) and Licentiate of Law (1999) degrees from the University of Helsinki, specializing in international law.

Henri Vanhanen is a Research Fellow at FIIA. He specializes in Finnish foreign, security and defence policy, as well as European and US security issues. He has previously worked as a Parliamentary Assistant at the Finnish Parliament and has work experience from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, European Parliament and the US State Department as well as the US Department of Defense. He holds a M.Soc.Sci degree from the University of Turku.

Dr Juha Jokela is the Programme Director of the European Union research programme at FIIA. His current research interests include political implications of Brexit, and differentiated integration in EU’s external relations. His previous projects and publications include EU’s sanctions policy, political and security developments in the Arctic, EU’s role in the G20, Europeanization of foreign policy, and Finland’s EU policy. Previously he has worked at the EUISS as a Senior Associated Analyst and Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Advisor at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Research Fellow and Director of the Network for European Studies at the University of Helsinki. Dr Jokela holds a PhD from the University of Bristol (UK).