Sanna Salo

A quote by Ville Sinkkonen, Leading Researcher, FIIA and Sanna Salo, Senior Research Fellow, FIIA: "The resilience of Europe’s democracy will be measured by its ability to prop up the security and socio-economic foundations of the European project."

✒️ New RESLIDE blog on the US National Security Strategy and its implications for Europe is out, authored by @sinkkonenville.bsky.social & @slsalo.bsky.social

➡️ reslide.fi/en/much-ado-about-civilizations-donald-trumps-new-national-security-strategy-presents-an-ideological-challenge-for-europe/

@slsalo.bsky.social, @jensrydgren.bsky.social and I investigate how the Swedish labour movement responded to the rise of the radical right-wing party (RRP) the Sweden Democrats (SD) between 2007 and 2018?

New paper in Government & Opposition:

Justifying and Negotiating Responses to the Radical Right: The Case of the Swedish Labour Movement and the Intra-Organizational Arena

Together with @slsalo.bsky.social and @podmalm.bsky.social.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

New on #FirstView -

"Justifying and Negotiating Responses to the Radical Right: The Case of the Swedish Labour Movement and the Intra-Organizational Arena" - shorturl.at/gh3qc

by @slsalo.bsky.social, @jensrydgren.bsky.social & @podmalm.bsky.social

Vieraskynä | Yhdysvaltojen vetäytyminen on uhka, joka avaa Euroopalle uusia mahdollisuuksia Arvojensa mukaisesti EU voi edistää poliittista vakautta Euroopassa ja liberaalia maailmanjärjestystä koko maailmassa.

"EU-instituutioiden tarkoitus on rakentaa samanarvoisten kumppanien yhteisöä, joka ylittää kansallismielisen kilvoittelun, takaa rauhan jäsenmaiden kesken sekä tavoittelee demokratiaa ja kansalaisoikeuksia ylikansallisella tasolla."

@slsalo.bsky.social:n ja minun #Vieraskynä @hs.fi:ssa tänään

KATSE järjestää tiistaina 22.4 klo 17:30 – 18:30 keskustelutilaisuuden Arktinen alue geopolitiikan näyttämönä? Tieteiden Talolla (Kirkkokatu 6, 00170 Helsinki, 5 krs). Alustamassa UPI:n ohjelmajohtaja Harri Mikkola. Ilmoittaudu 18.4 mennessä osoitteeseen sanna.salo@fiia.fi!

Kansainvälisen politiikan tutkimuksen seura KATSE Ry järjestää ti 22.4 klo 17:30 – 18:30 keskustelutilaisuuden Arktinen alue geopolitiikan näyttämönä? Tieteiden Talolla Helsingissä. Alustamassa UPI:n ohjelmajohtaja Harri Mikkola. Ilmoittaudu 18.4 mennessä osoitteeseen sanna.salo@fiia.fi!

In all major cities, the SDP gained approximately as much as the Finns Party lost. This is of course preliminary, but it seems that the Finns Party lost voters precisely to the Social Democrats.

2) In contrast to many findings in recent political science literature, in Finland, as in Sweden, the radical right and the Social Democrats seem to genuinely share a part of the electorate.

I think this is worrying, as Finland threatens to lose some of the key strengths of its political system: most notably, the ability to compromise and make long-term policy that stretches beyond election terms and across the left-right divide

Two takeaways from the Finnish municipal and regional elections:
1) Finland seems to be edging away from its traditional, consensus-democracy model and towards a more polarized system where power alternates between the Left and the Right from one election to the other.

Next German government agrees to radical toughening of migration policy Center left and center right are trying to forge a deal to form a coalition. Important differences remain, according to documents seen by POLITICO.

Looks like Germany might go the Danish way: rightwards in immigration, leftwards (at least moderately) in socio-economics. Will this stem the far-right like it apparently did in Denmark?
www.politico.eu/article/germ...

Minulla ei ole minkäänlaista mielenkiintoa äänestää kunta- ja aluevaaleissa. Alueiden ja kuntien työnjako tuntuu hähmäiseltä. Mistä edes äänestäisin? Alueiden sote-rahoista? Mitä kunnille on jäänyt, mitä valintoja kunnat pystyvät tekemään? Tekikö alueuudistus demokratialle karhunpalveluksen?

”Europe must never again find itself in a position where the likes of US vice-president JD Vance have life-and-death power over it. All other priorities are secondary.”

Janan Ganesh of the @financialtimes.com has an extraordinary skill of crystallizing the essential.

I think it has always been bubbling under. For example, in Swedish and Finnish Left parties, which hail from old communist parties, have had strong-American voices in them, but these have kept quiet, being in the margins in the past decades.

Vassals, curtseying, oaths of allegiance to the King. That’s what comes to mind when following Trump’s maneuvres. But hey, we Europeans should know how to do this. We did just the king thing for 1000 years, democracy only for the last 100.

I certainly would not define working class using income deciles. Perhaps self-identification or simply occupational category. Still, I think Sweden is an interesting case in this regard. See Bo Rothstein in Journal of Democracy: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

VALU: Väljarströmmar Så har väljarna rört sig mellan partierna i valen 2018 och 2022 – interaktiv grafik över partibytare.

I think this varies between countries. Sweden is a case Social Democrats and the Sweden Democrats have competed over working-class voters, as we argue in our WP:
su.figshare.com/articles/pre...

www.svt.se/datajournali...

Ah, there already is a term for it, "the Great Capitulation", by @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social .

So far, the response of Europe's mainstream leaders to President Trump can be described with one word: shushing. I know a lot is at stake, but not having the courage to stand up and speak the truth about what we are dealing with looks like, well, cowardice.

How the Democrats Lost the Working Class The theory seemed sound: Stabilize financial markets, support the poor and promote a more secure, integrated world. But blue-collar workers were left behind.

I would like to see these kinds of analyses on the European Left, as well. (Maybe I should write one, on a second thought…)

How the Democrats Lost the Working Class www.nytimes.com/2025/01/04/u...

Ilmari Käihkö: Suomessa on ylioptimistinen kuva Ukrainan mahdollisuuksista – nostaa esimerkiksi Sanna Marinin ”onelinerin” Käihkön mukaan asiantuntijat, poliitikot ja media ovat osallisia liialliseen optimismiin, vaikka alun alkaen Ukrainan sotilaallista kykyä aliarvioitiin.

I think its outright interesting how Trump's election has already shifted the terms of debate about Ukraine - at least here in Finland. Suddenly everybody talks about compromise and the fact that peace negotiations is "what Ukrainians actually want", too. yle.fi/a/74-20127694

I am :)

The research consortium is led by Professor Åsa von Schoultz, and key work packages are led by @ialsaikkonen.bsky.social, @jannetukiainen.bsky.social, Kimmo Elo ja @juhajokela1.bsky.social (FIIA)

Sanna Salo, @sinikukka.bsky.social and Ville Sinkkonen
form the project team of FIIA.

New research consortium focuses on risks for liberal democracy | FIIA – Finnish Institute of International Affairs The new project The resilience of liberal democracy in Finland (RESLIDE) was granted nearly 3 million euros of funding by the Strategic Research Council. The funding was rewarded to a research…

📣 New project "The resilience of liberal democracy in Finland" by universities of @helsinkiuni.bsky.social, Eastern Finland, Turku, Åbo Akademi as well as FIIA.

The project will examine the resilience of liberal democracy in Finland. ⤵️
www.fiia.fi/en/news/new-...

Great funding news! In my work package, we will study the determinants of (e.g., geographic) inequalities in political participation and political and bureaucratic representation, their effects on economic policy, democratic norms and political responses, and how inequalities can be alleviated.

New research consortium focuses on risks for liberal democracy | FIIA – Finnish Institute of International Affairs The new project The resilience of liberal democracy in Finland (RESLIDE) was granted nearly 3 million euros of funding by the Strategic Research Council. The funding was rewarded to a research…

Can't think of a better time to study the resilience of liberal democracy in Finland and beyond. Thank you Finnish Research Council for funding our project!

www.fiia.fi/en/news/new-...