On Sunday, Finnish citizens will head to the polls to elect a new president in what is an unprecedented time for the Nordic nation. Finland is now a member of NATO, a move that seemed almost unimaginable a few years ago, and its eastern border with Russia is now closed. These developments have put foreign and security policy at the forefront of the presidential election.
The president of Finland holds executive power in formulating foreign and security policy, particularly when dealing with countries outside the European Union such as the United States, Russia, and China. This makes the task of steering foreign policy the main responsibility of the president, according to Teivo Teivainen, a professor of world politics at the University of Helsinki.
