Se, mistä ei voi puhua, on maksimoitava?: Suomen ydinasepolitiikka muutoksessa

Abstract

The amendment to the Nuclear Energy Act proposed by Petteri Orpo’s government in March 2026 brought nuclear weapons policy into Finnish domestic political debate with exceptional visibility, thereby breaking a long-standing consensus tradition that has characterized Finnish foreign and security policy. In this discussion piece, I examine what the controversy reveals about the tense relationship between nuclear deterrence and democracy in the context of Finland’s NATO membership. Drawing on the existing research literature, I argue that the technocratization of nuclear weapons policy, together with the deliberate ambiguity and secrecy associated with maintaining nuclear deterrence, constrains the space for democratic deliberation on nuclear issues at a time when both the European nuclear debate and the global nuclear order are themselves undergoing a highly politicized transformation.