Abstract
Although the paradigm crisis of regional planning(1) is, in many respects,a global phenomenon, its manifestation and its potential solutions are, of course, influenced by country-specific factors, too. In Finland, socio-economic development has been influenced by its very peripheral history within Enrope, severe climate and long distance from major centres, these being the most obvious characteristics.
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Notes
In John Friedmann and Clyde Weaver, Territory and Function: The Evolution of Regional Planning (London: Edward Arnold, 1979), this is summarised as follows: ‘Thus at the very moment when regional planning appears to be accepted almost universally, established doctrine is being shaken at its very roots.’
On the structural characteristics of the Finnish economy and on its historical position in the international division of labour, see, for example, Kimmo Kiljunen, ‘Finland in the international division of labour’, in D. Seers, B. Schaffer and M. Kiljunen (eds), Underdeveloped Enrope: Studies in Core—Periphery Relations (Hassocks: Harvester Press, 1979)
and Risto Alapuro, Finland: An Interface Periphery, Research Group for Comparative Sociology, University of Helsinki, Research Report no. 25 (1980).
For an analysis of the dominant trends in Finnish economic and social policies and independence, see Jussi Raumolin, ‘Development problems in the Scandinavian periphery’, IFDA Dossier 22 (March/April 1981).
On regional development in Finland in the first decades see, for example, Briitta Koskiaho, ‘Regional development: the case of Finland’, in A. Kuklinski, O. Kultalahti and B. Koskiaho (eds), Regional Dynamics of Socioeconomic Change (Tampere: Finnpublishers, 1979); and on regional policy, Olli Kultalahti, ‘Regional policy and regional studies in Finland’, in Kuklinski et al., ibid. The establishment of the State Planning Office in the 1950s was the first attempt to coordinate the separate measures affecting regional development, but its practical significance was small.
Finland has had varying experiences with Enropean economic integration. The EFTA period which started in 1961 coincided with the regional concentration of activities, but this trend has not continued during the free trade with the EEC which started in 1974. In the latter case, the transition to free trade is, however, still underway. For future prospects of the EEC, see Dudley Seers and Constantine Vaitsos (eds), Integration and Unequal Development: The Experience of the EEC (London: Macmillan, 1980).
See, for example, Kjell Öström, Blandekonomi, statskapitalism eller militant regionalism (Luleå: Skrivarforlaget, 1980)
and W. Stöhr and F. Tödtling, ‘Spatial equity: some antitheses to current regional development doctrine’, in H. Folmer and J. Oosterhaven (eds), Spatial Inequalities and Regional Development (Boston, Mass.: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979).
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© 1983 Dudley Seers and Kjell Öström
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Eskelinen, H. (1983). Regional Alternatives: the Finnish Case. In: Seers, D., Öström, K. (eds) The Crises of the European Regions. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06588-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06588-2_3
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