Finlandization Finlandization ( ; ; ) is the process by which one powerful country strongly influences the policies of a smaller neighboring country , causing the smaller country to become like Finland was perceived by many in the West to be during the Cold War . The term is generally considered to be pejorative , originating in West German political debate of the late 1960s and 1970s . As the term was used in Germany and other NATO countries , it referred to the decision of a country not to challenge a more powerful neighbor in foreign politics , while maintaining national sovereignty . It is commonly used in reference to Finland ' s policies in relation to the Soviet Union during the Cold War , but it can refer more generally to similar international relations , such as Denmark ' s attitude toward Germany between 1871 and 1940 . Origin and international usage . In Germany , the term was used mainly by proponents of closer adaptation to US policies , chiefly Franz Josef Strauss , but was initially coined in scholarly debate , and made known by the German political scientists Walter Hallstein and Richard Löwenthal , reflecting feared effects of withdrawal of US troops from Germany . It came to be used in the debate of the NATO countries in response to Willy Brandt ' s attempts to normalize relations with East Germany , and the following widespread scepticism in Germany against NATO ' s Dual - Track Decision . Later , after the fall of the Soviet Union , the term has been used in Finland for the post - 1968 radicalization in the latter half of the Urho Kekkonen era . Finnish perception . In Finland , the term " Finlandization " was perceived as blunt criticism , stemming from an inability to understand the practicalities of how a small nation needs to deal with an adjacent superpower without losing its sovereignty . These practicalities existed especially because of the lingering effect of the Swedish and Russian rule in their time , before the Finns first gained autonomy , and because of the precarious power balance eastwards , springing from a geographically extended yet sparsely populated state with a traditionally imperialist superpower right across the eastern border . The reason Finland engaged in Finlandization was primarily Realpolitik : to survive . On the other hand , the threat of the Soviet Union was used also in Finland ' s domestic politics in a way that possibly deepened Finlandization ( playing the so - called " idänkortti " , " east card " ) . Finland cut such a deal with Joseph Stalin ' s government in the late 1940s , and it was largely respected by both parties — and to the gain of both parties — until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 . While the Finnish political and intellectual elite mostly understood the term to refer more to the foreign policy problems of other countries , and meant mostly for domestic consumption in the speaker ' s own country , many ordinary Finns considered the term highly offensive . The Finnish political cartoonist Kari Suomalainen once explained Finlandization as " the art of bowing to the East without mooning the West " . Historical background . Finland ' s foreign politics before this deal had been varied : independence from Imperial Russia with support of Imperial Germany in 1917 ; participation in the Russian Civil War ( without official declaration of war ) alongside the Triple Entente 1918 – 1920 ; a non - ratified alliance with Poland in 1922 ; association with the neutralist and democratic Scandinavian countries in the 1930s ended by the Winter War ( 1939 ) ; and finally in 1940 , a rapprochement with Nazi Germany , the only power able to protect Finland against the expansionist Soviet Union , leading to the Continuation War in 1941 . The Wehrmacht ' s defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad led Finland to basically revert to its 19th - century traditions , which had been perceived as highly successful until the Russification of Finland ( 1899 – 1905 ) . Finland ' s leaders realized that opposing the Soviets head - on was no longer feasible . No international power was able to give the necessary support . Nazi Germany , Finland ' s chief supporter against Russia , was losing the war . Sweden was not big enough , and its leadership was wary of confronting Russia . The western powers were allied with the Soviet Union . Thus Finland had to face its big neighbour on its own , without any greater power ' s protection . As in the 19th century , Finland chose not to challenge Imperial Russia ' s foreign policy , but exerted caution to keep its independence . Paasikivi doctrine . After the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947 , Finland succeeded in retaining democracy and parliamentarism , despite the heavy political pressure on Finland ' s foreign and internal affairs by the Soviet Union . Finland ' s foreign relations were guided by the doctrine formulated by Juho Kusti Paasikivi , emphasizing the necessity to maintain a good and trusting relationship with the Soviet Union . To this end , Finland signed an Agreement of Friendship , Cooperation , and Mutual Assistance with the Soviet Union in April 1948 . Under this pact , Finland was obliged to resist armed attacks by " Germany or its allies " against Finland , or against the Soviet Union through Finland , and , if necessary , ask for Soviet military aid to do so . At the same time , the agreement recognized Finland ' s desire to remain outside great power conflicts , allowing the country to adopt a policy of neutrality during the Cold War . As a consequence , Finland did not participate in the Marshall Plan , and took neutral positions on Soviet overseas initiatives . By keeping very cool relations to NATO , and to western military powers in general , Finland could fend off Soviet pressure for affiliation to the Warsaw Pact . Self - censorship and excessive Soviet adaptation . However , from the political scene following the post - 1968 radicalization , the Soviet adaptation spread to the editors of mass media , sparking strong forms of self - control , self - censorship and pro - Soviet attitudes . Most of the élite of media and politics shifted their attitudes to match the values that the Soviets were thought to favor and approve . Only after the ascendancy of Mikhail Gorbachev to Soviet leadership in 1985 did mass media in Finland gradually begin to criticize the Soviet Union more . When the Soviet Union allowed non - communist governments to take power in Eastern Europe , Gorbachev suggested they could look to Finland as an example to follow . Censorship . In the years immediately after the war ( 1944 – 1946 ) , the Soviet part of the allied control commission demanded that public libraries should remove from circulation more than 1 , 700 books that were deemed anti - Soviet , and bookstores were given catalogs of banned books . The Finnish Board of Film Classification likewise banned movies that it considered to be anti - Soviet . Banned movies included " The Manchurian Candidate " , directed by John Frankenheimer in 1962 , " One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich " 1970 by Finnish director Caspar Wrede and " Born American " by Finnish director Renny Harlin in 1986 . Criticism . United States foreign policy experts consistently feared that Western Europe and Japan would be Finlandized , leading to a situation in which these key allies no longer supported the United States against the Soviet Union . The theory of bandwagoning provided support for the idea that if the United States was not able to provide strong and credible support for the anti - communist positions of its allies , NATO and the U . S . - Japan alliance could collapse . But foreign policy scholars such as Eric Nordlinger in his book " Isolationism Reconfigured " have argued that " a vision of Finlandization in America ' s absence runs up squarely against the European states ' long - standing Communist antipathies and wariness of Moscow ' s peaceful wiles , valued national traditions and strong democratic institutions , as well as their size and wherewithal " .