Deanna M. Draudt
Former President Halonen is looking forward at what the world needs to move beyond the nation state.
Tarja Halonen is Chair Emerita of the United Nations Foundation’s Council of Women World Leaders, and former two-term president of Finland (from 2000 to 2012). She traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico in September to speak about leadership to an overflow crowd at The Women’s International Study Center.
Halonen was there to speak about political evolution: how a country evolves as a political entity, and how people evolve into roles of political leadership. She was there to inspire and recruit by example. “You are just a human being,” she told the primarily female audience, “but human beings have to lead this planet.”
Halonen spoke about her approach to policymaking in Finland, which is known for its high achieving public education system. She credits its success with the fact that, “we keep everybody on board,” and explained why universal access to a good education is important to a healthy society. “My daddy used to say to me, I cannot choose a husband for you. You have to have a good education, so you can have economic independence.” She emphasized her country’s value of focusing on “We” not “I,” and shared the secret to Finland’s social policy successes. “When you make a welfare society, don’t make it so it’s good enough for your neighbor; make it so it’s good enough for yourself.”
“When you make a welfare society, don’t make it so it’s good enough for your neighbor; make it so it’s good enough for yourself.”
She spoke about leadership with a particular purpose: Finland’s temperature is rising faster than anywhere in the world, and its leaders have been vocal about the need for the Paris Climate Accords to be respected, especially by the U.S. and Russia. “Because of climate change, we have to work very hard, we cannot retreat, we have to move forward,” she said.
I spoke with President Halonen, who combines personal warmth and seriousness of purpose, at the Center’s offices in Santa Fe’s historic Acequia Madre House.
Frances Madeson: You’re here celebrating the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence from Russia, which was a consequence of the Russian Revolution in 1917, was it not?
Tarja Halonen: Let me step back. Before we were a Duchy of Russia, for 600 years we were part of Sweden, and of course we Finns have been existing much longer before that. But in 1809, the King of Sweden entered into a war by himself against the Russian Empire, and lost the war. That is how we became part of the Russian state.
When our independence came, we like to say “it came not easily, but peacefully.” Lenin suddenly had a lot of work to do, so he wasn’t so concerned about us and what was happening in the north. We say it was “good timing.” During the whole of the 19th century, from 1809 to 1917, the basis of the nation was being built—language, culture, institutions—and the fact that Sweden lost the war sped up the process.
Q: Why is sovereignty important for the 5.5 million Finns, and what does independence really mean in an interdependent, corporatized, globalized world?
Halonen: We Finns work as a team, that’s our slogan for the 100th anniversary: “Together.”
I think every nation, the group of the people who feel they belong together, they have a feeling to wish to be independent. The “nation state” was a strong idea in Europe at the time that Finland was flowering. Around the time we became independent, Estonia did as well, Norway, a little while before, and the process is not over yet.
But the notion of one nation, one language, one future, is no longer true, and never really was. The multi-cultural state and society have always existed.
The notion of one nation, one language, one future, is no longer true, and never really was. The multi-cultural state and society have always existed.
The nation state has been the best entity the people have had to decide their own life—through elections decided by a majority of equals. In that way we have a voice in the EU’s parliament elections, even at the United Nations. Democracy’s most developed form is the nation state.
But take the idea of human rights—this is something we have to strengthen with international cooperation. Most countries respect, in theory anyway, the international conventions, the need for observation, for the human rights court—in the European Union, the Luxembourg court.
We have to build step by step on the same principle of the nation state, but aim for a broader structure. The task or the challenge for politicians is to discover in which way we can guarantee the human right to safety and equality in a broader space than the nation state.
Q: Your career trajectory seems very intentional—from participation in student governance to the leader of your nation, and into the international sphere. Where did your motivation to shape policy come from?
Halonen: It may seem that way (laughs), but really it all just… happened. I come from a family of the labor movement, it was an everyday thing that people wanted to change the world. My people were activists in unions, my mother served as a sub steward. There was a feeling of “we” not “I.” In the years I was at the University of Helsinki [1963-1968] there was a student movement across Europe, and it was present in Finland too; it was considered very natural to be involved in reforming the governing system of the university.
While in school I was invited to work for the union, and became a union lawyer. Just by chance the prime minister wanted to hire someone from the unions, so I worked with the prime minister for a few years. I spent 20 years in parliament, I’d also worked at the local level in the Helsinki city council for almost 20 years.
This is very typical—to achieve certain goals you unite with others, and then one day you notice that you’re in politics.
Q: I have read that one of your great passions is the theater.
Halonen: Theater artists, and their audiences, see the world with both brain and heart. This has helped me think through issues in sustainable development—how is it possible we have all this scientific evidence, but still human behavior is largely unchanged? I am interested in what actually helps people to change; you need also emotions, to think also with your heart.
Politicians should visit more theaters because it is the heart and soul of human life. Theater helps you be more creative, and helps understand the effects of globalization, populism and terrorism, which theater artists have been thinking about for a long time already.
Politicians should visit more theaters because it is the heart and soul of human life.
Q: Your presidency was coterminous with George W. Bush’s. What was your experience of him?
Halonen: President Bush was quite involved in UN meetings concerning financing systems during the 2008 global financial crisis. Before that, in 2005, he was supportive of the US adopting the United Nations Millennium goals. I had a positive relationship with Bush. He was logical.
Q: Similarly, how would you characterize your working relationship with President Obama?
Halonen: Obama made a strong contribution to the United Nations and to international cooperation. He understood that we live in a world where even the president of the United States cannot decide alone what happens in the world. Challenges will come, but the outside world has a part in deciding the agenda.
Q: Which leads us to Trump and international cooperation.
Halonen: With Trump, like with Brexit, it’s a dance, the Polonaise—two steps forward and one step back.
With Trump, like with Brexit, it’s a dance, the Polonaise—two steps forward and one step back.
Q: Finland has a long history and painful experience of being dominated by Russia. What do you believe and not believe about the level of Russian interference in the 2016 US election?
Halonen: That is your business. But I will say we are used to Russia, and before Russia, the Soviet Union. We don’t mystify the Russians, it’s everyday politics for us. We have our style and they have their style. Of course we hope the Russian society will develop more toward the rule of law and gain good governance. We hope this for many other countries too. We have to try to build a more democratic international society.