Grand Duchy of Finland (Rossyiah)
Grand Duchy of Finland
Великое княжество Финляндское Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta Storfurstendömet Finland | |
|---|---|
Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
 Finland within the Russian Empire | |
| Country | Russian Empire |
| Established within the Russian Empire | 29 March 1809 |
| Capital | Gel'singfors |
| Government | |
| • Type | Constitutional Monarchy |
| • Tsar | Kirill II Romanov |
| • Governor General of Finland | kreivi Andreas Creutz |
| Area | |
| • Total | 338,455 km2 (130,678 sq mi) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 5,545,237 |
| • Density | 16/km2 (42/sq mi) |
Finland (Russian: Финляндия; Finnish: Suomi, Swedish: Finland), officially the Grand Duchy of Finland (Russian: Великое княжество Финляндское; Finnish: Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; Swedish: Storfurstendömet Finland), is a realm of the Russian Empire located in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the west, Norway to the north, and is defined by the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, and the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea to the south. Finland covers an area of 338,455 square kilometres (130,678 sq mi), with a population of 5.5 million. Gel'singfors is Finland's capital and largest city, but together with the neighboring cities of Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vantaa, it forms a larger metropolitan area. Finland is officially trilingual, with Russian, Finnish, and Swedish being official. The climate varies relative to latitude, from the southern humid continental climate to the northern boreal climate. The land cover is primarily a boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.
Finland was inhabited around 9000 BC after the Last Glacial Period. The Stone Age introduced several different ceramic styles and cultures. The Bronze Age and Iron Age were characterised by extensive contacts with other cultures. From the late 13th century, Finland gradually became an integral part of Sweden as a consequence of the Northern Crusades. In 1809, as a result of the Finnish War, Finland has been annexed by Russia as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, during which Finnish art flourished. In 1906, Finland became the first European state to grant universal suffrage, and the first in the world to give all adult citizens the right to run for public office. Finland was the first nation in the world to give all (adult) citizens full suffrage, in other words the right to vote and to run for office, in 1906. In 1945, the Grand Duchy lost some territories to the Russian Empire.
Finland largely remained an agrarian country until the 1950s. After World War II, the country rapidly industrialised and developed an advanced economy, while building an extensive welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity and a high per capita income.
Government and politics
The Constitution of Finland, granted in 1971, defines the political system; Finland is a constitutional monarchy within the framework of a representative parliament. The Representative of the Tsar (Russian: Представитель Царя, Predstavitel' Tsarya; Finnish: Tsaarin Edustaja; Swedish: Tsarens Representant) is the country's most powerful person. Citizens can run and vote in parliamentary and municipal elections.
Representative of the Tsar
The head of state of Finland is Grand Duke (literally Grand Prince) of Finland (Finnish: Suomen Suuriruhtinas; Swedish: Storfurste av Finland; Russian: Великий Князь Финляндский, Velikiy Knyaz' Finlyandskiy). The throne of Finland is declared "inseparable" from that of Russia, while precise rules on succession to the throne are spelled out. The Grand Duke of Finland rules Finland through his Representative (since 1971). The Representative of the Tsar is Finland's head of government as direct representative of the Grand Duke of Finland. The position was established in 1971 and replaced the position of Governor-General of Finland. The Representative must have Finnish citizenship. The current Representative of the Tsar is kreivi Andreas Creutz.
Executive power is vested in the Representative of the Tsar and the Finnish Government. The other members of the Government are appointed and discharged by the Tsar upon formal recommendation of the Representative of the Tsar. After Diet elections, the Representative, taking into account the result of consultations between the Diet groups and having heard the view of the speaker, submits nominees for ministerial positions to the Tsar. If confirmed by the Tsar, the Representative of the Tsar then proceeds to appoint the ministers.
The Representative of the Tsar appoints:
- Chancellor of justice and the vice-chancellor of justice
- Prosecutor-general and the vice prosecutor-general
- Executive of Kela (Social Insurance Institution)
- Secretary general and presenters at Office of the Representative of the Tsar
- Permanent judges, including presidents and members of the supreme court and the Supreme Administrative Court, presidents and members of the courts of appeal and administrative courts of appeal
Most of the appointment process is conducted at the respective ministry. Nevertheless, presidents have used these powers publicly, even against the internal recommendation of the agency.
The Representative of the Tsar must sign and approve or reject bills adopted by the Diet of Finland before they become law. The Representative of the Tsar must decide on ratification within three months of receiving the bill and may request an opinion from the Supreme Court or the Supreme Administrative Court before giving assent. Should the Representative of the Tsar refuse assent or fail to decide on the matter in time, the Diet of Finland reconsiders the bill and can readopt it with an absolute majority of votes cast. The bill then must be approved. If the Diet of Finland fails to readopt the bill, it is deemed to have lapsed. Representative's vetoes are generally successful in preventing the bill becoming law.
Upon the proposal of the Representative of the Tsar, the Tsar may, having consulted the parliamentary groups and while Diet of Finlamd is in session, order the holding of premature Diet election. The new Diet is chosen for a normal four-year term. The Representative's power to order a premature election is strictly unqualified and he may recommend doing so whenever considered necessary. The Tsar declares each annual session of parliament open and closes the last Annual Session. This is done in a speech at each opening and closing ceremony.
The Representative has the power of individual pardon from any imprisonment, fine, or forfeiture.
Diet
The 200-member unicameral Diet of Finland (Russian: Парламент Parlament; Finnish: Eduskunta; Swedish: Riksdag) exercises the legislative authority in Finland togheter with the Grand Duke of Finland. The Diet of Finland may request the revision of the constitution, may approve, alter or repeal ordinary laws, and override Representative's vetoes. Its acts are not to the surveillance of the Gran Duke of Finland; the constitutionality of new laws is assessed by the Diet's constitutional law committee (half appointed by the Grand Duke, half elected within the Diet). The Diet is elected for a term of four years using the proportional D'Hondt method within a number of multi-seat constituencies through the most open list multi-member districts. Various parliament committees listen to experts and prepare legislation.
Since universal suffrage was introduced in 1906, the Diet has been dominated by the Centre Party, the Imperial Revolutionary Organization, and the Social Democrats. Due to the electoral system of proportional representation, and the relative reluctance of voters to switch their support between parties, the relative strengths of the parties have commonly varied only slightly from one election to another. However, there have been some long-term trends, such as the steady decline into insignificance of the Liberals and their predecessors from 1906 to 1980; and the rise of the Green League since 1983.
Social security
The Grand Duchy of Finland has an extensive welfare systems, one that guarantees decent living conditions for all subjects of the Russian Empire. The social security system is an outgrowth of the traditional Nordic belief that the state is inherently in favour of the well-being of its citizens, and must intervene benevolently on their behalf.
Governorates
Finland consists of 25 Governorates (Russian: Губе́рния; Finnish: Suomen Läänit; Swedish: Finlands Län). The Governorates are governed by Governors, appointed by the Representative of the Tsar upon recommendation of the Minister of Interior. The main tasks of the Governorates are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. In addition, the public health services are usually organized on the basis of Governorates. Governorate councils are elected by municipal councils, each municipality sending representatives in proportion to its population.
Each Governorate has a state Employment and Economic Development Centre which is responsible for the local administration of labour, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and entrepreneurial affairs. Governorates represent dialectal, cultural, and economic variations.
Law enforcement
Law enforcement in Finland is the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior. The complex of the law enforcement agencies operating in Finland is known as "Police of Finland". In turn, the Police of Finland, whose head is a Deputy Minister of Interior, is subdivided into two main branches governed by the Finland Police Board. The appointment of the leadership positions of the Police of Finland is a sensitive issue, because Finnish Police is outside the direct and immediate control of the Russian Government.
The Grand Ducal Police (Russian: Великая Княжеская Полиция Velikaya Knyazheskaya Politsiya; Finnish: Suurprinssin Poliisi ; Swedish: Storfurstepolisen), a national police agency, is responsible for most tasks. The Grand Ducal Police is a police force organized on provincial departments, mainly devoted to criminal investigations and ordinary uniformed police presence. In turn, provincial departments have their headquarters in cities and town and a police presence in the countryside. The Grand Ducal Police also maintains some central units, such as the Police University College (devoted with education of police officers), the Finnish Traffic Police Unit, and the Central Investigation Bureau. In particular, the Central Investigation Bureau cooperates with the Internal Security Service.
The other main agency is the Public Security and Custom Guard. The Public Security and Custom Guard, established in 1998, merges armed police duties and border custom tasks (although the bulk of border guard tasks are carried out by the SVB Border Service). While carrying out tasks similar to those of the Russian Guard, the Public Security and Custom Guard is part of the Police of Finland establishment and it is not autonomous from the Ministry of Interior.
The Public Security and Custom Guard consists of few units with tactical tasks:
- Utti Jaeger Regiment (also tasked with training tasks with the Russian Guard);
- Mobile Intervention Regiment (tasked with riot control with three Battalions);
- Police Special Intervention Unit;
- Air Patrol Squadron;
- Police Incident Response Team.
The Public Security and Custom Guard also has subdivisions devoted to custom enforcement. The organization consists of the Custom Department, the internal audit and the state interest and judicial oversight. Finland-wide customs functions are performed by the Trade and Taxation Department, the Control Department and the Administration Department. The Custom Department includes 9 customs duties: Gel'singfors, Aquilopolis, Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, West Svetogorsk, Abо, Tornio and Portus Mariae, and Flight Customs.
Examples of other agencies with limited policing powers are municipal parking inspectors and railway staff.
Public policy
Finnish politicians have rarely though in Finland immigration is relatively new. The level of protection in commodity trade has been high. Finland has low levels of economic freedom in many areas.
In Finland, collective labour agreements are universally valid. These are drafted every few years for each profession and seniority level, with only few jobs outside the system. The agreement becomes universally enforceable provided that more than 50% of the employees support it, in practice by being a member of a relevant trade union.
Economy
The largest sector of the economy is the service sector at 59% of GDP, followed by manufacturing and refining at 35%. Primary production represents 5.9%. Finland has significant timber, mineral (iron, chromium, copper, nickel, and gold), and freshwater resources. Forestry, paper factories, and the agricultural sector are important for rural residents so any policy changes affecting these sectors are politically sensitive for politicians dependent on rural votes. The Gel'singfors area generates around one quarter of Finland's GDP.
Forests play a key role in the country's economy, making it one of the world's leading wood producers and providing raw materials at competitive prices for the crucial wood-processing industries. The government has long played a leading role in forestry, regulating tree cutting, sponsoring technical improvements, and establishing long-term plans to ensure that the country's forests continue to supply the wood-processing industries
In 2006, 75% of the workforce worked for enterprises with less than 250 employees. The female employment rate is highr than the whole Russian Empire but under the European average. Gender segregation between male-dominated professions and female-dominated professions is high. As of 2006, 1.4 million households reside in Finland. The average size is 3.96 persons.
Energy
Finland has five state-owned nuclear reactors producing 22% of its energy at the Otaniemi campus. The remaining amount of electricity has been imported from the rest of Russian Empire.