Kohti pohjoismaista rajayhteistyötä

Pohjoisen länsirajan ylittävä toiminta ja sen sääntely Suomen itsenäistymisestä sotienjälkeiseen aikaan

Abstract

This article analyses the cross-border activities and their regulation at the Finnish-Swedish northern border from the independence of Finland to the aftermath of the second World War. The process of change over time is being studied by applying a diachronic analysis. Activities across state borders are rarely limited to regional or local context. It is thus important to connect the international and national developments of the era to the formation of Finnish-Swedish border and its regulations. In this article human communities, sovereign states, their borders and regulations are perceived as parts of socially constructed reality. Extensive historical understanding is thus essentially important when analysing the border not just as a static judicial fact but as a product of dynamic social process.

The article argues that the historical development of borders is not linear and determined, but a multi-dimensional process, in which different developments can occur at a different pace and go in different directions: some simultaneous developments can lower the border, others can make it higher. Legislation and other norms are factors that steer the characteristics of the border, yet at the same time they are manifestations of broader political, societal and cultural variables that form the social reality. The article covers historical development paths between two transitional periods, which are often defined from the nation-state perspective. In this article it is argued that the independence of Finland as an aggregate level change did not bring a substantial difference to the everyday cross-border practices nor their regulation at the Finnish-Swedish northern border compared to the time of the Finnish autonomy.

Finnish-Swedish relations hit the rock bottom after the independence of Finland due to severe territorial disputes over the Aland islands, for example. Furthermore, some Finnish activists arose claims to move the Finnish-Swedish border westwards to re-unite the allegedly oppressed Finnish speaking minority of Swedish Torne Valley under one nation. As is typical for newly independent nations, there was a need for national self-definition in Finland, which was based to a great extent on constructing binary oppositions against neighbouring countries. In Sweden, on the other hand, there was certain cynicism towards the permanence of the Finnish independence. Despite state level disputes, common people living in the area maintained their traditional, often kinship-based cross-border connections. This was partly made possible by regulation, which also granted residents of the border area special rights to move and deliver goods over the border after the independence of Finland. Finnish and Swedish border authorities also continued their co-operation that was based not on formal statutes, but on gentlemen’s agreements and reciprocity. Common Nordic legal culture contributed for its part to the pragmatic common activities, especially in the efforts to prevent smuggling. States were able to agree on fishing and floating at the border watercourses as well, continuing practices that were inherited from the time when the contracting party with Sweden was the Russian Empire.

The rapprochement of the Nordic countries began to take place at the turn of the 1930’s as the security climate in Europe deteriorated. This co-operation led to the introduction of the Nordic travel card system, for instance, which made crossing the border easier at the Finnish-Swedish border as well. In addition to that, Finland and Sweden had high-level bilateral aims to deepen official cross-border co-operation, but the second World War postponed their materialization. Even during the war times residents of the Finnish northwest border area were not stripped from their special rights to cross the Swedish border albeit Finland was strictly administered at the time. The long emergency period ended in the late 1940’s and most of the wartime regulations were released. The era marked the beginning of the bloom of western integration and Nordic co-operation. However, Finland’s room for manoeuvre was limited and its sovereignty in threat due to tightened treaty-based Soviet influence. This made the fostering of Nordic and especially Finnish-Swedish relations an all-important balancing factor for Finland and grew the geopolitical importance of the northern border area.