Summary: Compared with many other European countries, political science in Finland has a relatively long history, as the first chair was established at the University of Helsinki in 1921. Today, political science is a discipline in six universities with a teaching staff of some sixty scholars. In addition, there are some fifty political scientists working in different projects on a temporary basis. The Finnish political science community is small, but well established (the Finnish Political Science Association was founded already in 1935). After the Second World War, the discipline was influenced by American political science, but since the 1970s, political scientists have become more “European” and “global.” Today, the discipline is facing new challenges due to the Bologna Process and the EU's Lisbon strategy, which have introduced curriculum, governance and funding reforms in the Finnish higher education. As a result, universities were privatised in 2010. At the same time, new higher education ideology has emphasised large institutions with strong leadership and interdisciplinarity in teaching and research. In the new situation, there is a danger that political science as a theoretical science will lose its identity and become suffocated by more applied disciplines.

On the history of the Finnish political science

Compared with many other European countries, political science in Finland has a relatively long history as an academic discipline. The first chair in political science was established at the University of Helsinki in 1921. The teaching began in 1924, with Karl Robert Brother us (a historian by education) as the first professor in the discipline. One of the reasons for establishing political science as a subject in the University was a need to educate civil servants for a new republic after the independence in 1917 (on the debates concerning the founding of the new discipline; see Palonen, 1983).

An interest in political science existed elsewhere, too. A new Swedish-language University, Abo Akademi University, was founded in Turku (Abo in Swedish) in 1918. A chair of political science was established also there. Unfortunately a professor chosen for the post died before taking up his duties and Abo did not fill the professorship until 1942.