FIIA Newsletter 4/2019 - FIIA - Finnish Institute of International Affairs

The Parliament has appointed new members to the FIIA Board. FIIA reinforces Finnish foreign policy research project. FIIA Director Mika Aaltola has appointed Mikael Wigell as programme director for the Global Security research programme.

New members of the Board

The Parliament has appointed new members to the FIIA Board for the period 1 Jan 2020 – 31 Dec 2024: Senior Specialist for EU Affairs Salla Sammalkivi, EU Affairs Department, Prime Minister’s Office; Under-Secretary of State (foreign and security policy) Kai Sauer, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland; Professor and Director of the Institute for Advanced Social Research (IASR) Risto Heiskala, University of Tampere; Professor Anu Kantola, University of Helsinki; Professor Paula Vanninen, University of Helsinki; Adjunct Professor and Collegium Researcher Mikael Mattlin, University of Turku.

Sammalkivi was nominated by the Prime Minister’s Office, Sauer by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Heiskala and Kantola by the Academy of Finland, Vanninen by Universities Finland Unifi and Mattlin by the Foundation for Foreign Policy Research. Simon Elo, Lenita Toivakka and Sirkka-Liisa Anttila will continue in the Board as their terms will end on 31 December 2021.

FIIA reinforces Finnish foreign and security policy project

FIIA reinforces a project on Finnish foreign and security policy with several appointments. The Director Mika Aaltola has appointed Dr Harri Mikkola as leading research fellow and Mariette Hägglund as junior research fellow on 15th of November. Henri Vanhanen will join the research project as junior research fellow in the beginning of January.

The project on Finnish foreign and security policy is a strategic excellence initiative that solidifies one key area of FIIA’s research mission. The initiative is supervised by the director. In 2020, the project will focus on the Swedish-Finnish defence and security cooperation.

FIIA’s Finnish foreign policy project has previously consisted of a seminar series, the EILEN archive and the Finnish Foreign Policy Papers publication series.

Appointments at CUSPP

FIIA Director Mika Aaltola has re-appointed Dr Bart Gaens to the project director position of FIIA’s Center on US Politics and Power (CUSPP) until August 2020.

The director has also appointed Carla Norrlof visiting research professor for one year starting on 1 January 2020. Norrlof is associate professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on theories of international cooperation with a special focus on great powers, particularly US hegemony in the areas of money, trade and security.

TEPSA 2019 Finnish Pre-Presidency Conference report

A report from the TEPSA 2019 Finnish Pre-Presidency Conference co-organized by FIIA and the Trans-European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) has been published.

The aim of the conference was to provide sound assessment, analysis and advice on topical issues facing the EU in general and the Council Presidency in particular.

Keynote speakers included the Commission’s Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier and State Secretary Kare Halonen.

The report and video recordings are available on the FIIA website.

Staff News

Dr. Mikael Wigell has been appointed programme director of the Global Security research programme for the next five-year term.

At the beginning of January, Kristiina Silvan will join the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood and Russia research programme as a research fellow and Saila Heinikoski the European Union research programme as a senior research fellow.

Finnish Journal of Foreign Affairs

This year’s fourth issue of Ulkopolitiikka, the Finnish Journal of Foreign Affairs, focuses on artificial intelligence and data governance. The Journal talked to Sandra Wachter, professor at Oxford Internet Institute, who argues that Europe has become a beacon of data governance, but it is caught between the data libertarianism of the US and the data authoritarianism of China.

In the profile interview, Teemu Ropponen, general manager at My Data Global, shares his view on best data sharing practices that could have life-changing effects on people’s daily routines. He believes data should be open and readily shareable with the individual’s permission.

Rail Baltica, the planned fast train connection from Tallinn to Warsaw, is deadlocked over disputes between member states. The EU has promised to pour six billion euros into the project, but the will to implement is needed for it to see daylight. In his article, Felix Siivonen has all the details.

Ulkopolitiikka is available (in Finnish) as a printed journal and online at www.ulkopolitiikka.fi.