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Finland THE POSTWAR ERA
The signing of the preliminary peace treaty between
Finland
and the Soviet Union on September 19, 1944, marked the
beginning
of a new era for Finland. Its hallmark was to be a
diametrical
change in Finnish policy toward the Soviet Union; the
traditional
hostility was to be replaced by a policy of friendship.
Finnish
leaders felt that only a genuine rapprochement between the
two
countries could guarantee Finland's long-term survival as
an
independent state. In the late 1980s, the new policy,
operative
for more than forty years,appeared to have been successful
in
preserving Finland's freedom. Domestically, Finland's
society and
economy have undergone rapid changes that have made the
country a
prosperous social-welfare state. Finland's achievements in
the
postwar years have been surviving external threats and
thriving
as a modern industrialized country.
Data as of December 1988
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