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The political history of Finland, the newest member of the NATO military alliance since the Second World War, is a special one. After surviving as the only unoccupied country among Nazi Germany's fellow warriors, Finland balanced for years between maintaining its independence and its room for maneuver under pressure from its large border neighbor, the Soviet Union. The political tactic was, on the one hand, to pledge friendship and to go as far as possible along the lines of its neighbour, and, on the other, to strive for ever closer cooperation with Western Europe. The master of this balancing act was Urho Kekkonen, who remained president for three decades. Finland was able to become a member of the free trade agreement EFTA, join the European Union and the euro monetary union, and establish such close relations with NATO that, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the spring of 2022, full membership could be achieved quickly and with the broad consensus of the people and politicians.Ilkka Kanerva was a central figure in that long run of Finnish history. He played a major role in helping the conservative party, the Coalition Party, which had been alienated and even hated by the Soviet Union, to break out of its political malaise and become the party responsible for the government and eventually the prime minister and president. Kanerva, who died on Purgatory Thursday in 2022, started out as a strong advocate of Soviet friendliness, dubbed "Finlandization" and as a youth politician who sought Kekkonen's court, ended up as a key influence when Finland abandoned military non-alignment. During a career spanning five decades, Ilkka Kanerva managed time and again to change his perspective and adapt to the new geopolitical reality.The story of Ilkka Kanerva is very much a Finnish story. He was an internationally renowned Finn who served as a minister in three governments. During his brief tenure as Foreign Minister, he quickly forged new transatlantic relations for Finland. His presidency and honorary chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) brought him to the forefront of European consciousness.As a passionate sportsman, Kanerva was known for the most important top sports cabinets. He held several high positions in the European Athletics Federation and the International Association of Athletics Federations.In his private life, Kanerva was a colorful character. His affairs were hot topics in the yellow press, and his ill-advised communications with an erotic dancer were eventually punished by the loss of his Foreign Minister's seat. Kanerva recovered from that setback remarkably well and returned to the sharpest peak of Finnish foreign policy, the state ministry.This work describes, with sympathy and attention, the career and personality of Ilkka Kanerva. The book is based on interviews with more than 50 people close to Kanerva, including the President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinistoe, Prime Minister Emeritus Esko Aho, and many other key figures.
