Absolutism In Finland Case Summary

1. Case 1 First of all, in order to apply the theory, it is necessary to check the conditions of whether or not the key actors, in this case, are democracies or not. In 1906, the Finnish Parliament was created and Finland becomes the world’s first nation to implement full universal suffrage. (“Parliamentarism in Finland”) The Finnish government granted suffrage not only to men but also to women 14 years before the US, a country that has already been considered as the standard of democracy, did. In this sense, there should be no doubts to consider Finland as a legitimate democratic nation. Other key actors, in this case, are both sides of the WWII, the Axis, in particular, the Germany, and the allies, includes UK, France, and the Soviet Union. Even though Germany was a democracy after WWI, after Hitler and the Nazi’s taking control over the government in 1933, the regime transferred into a dictatorship. The other

This invasion nevertheless angered the British who sent Germany an ultimatum, demanding it to withdraw from Belgium. The ultimatum was nevertheless rejected by the Germany and therefore, Britain declared war on Germany. (“The History Place”) It seems to be a perfect example of democratic fraternity exists since when Belgium, a democratic state, is in danger, other democratic states such as the UK stand out and help out. However, I would like to argue that Britain’s involvement is not because of the kindness to help out Belgium but because of their concerns with the threats of the Germany. Since Belgium 's ports were close to the British coast, German control of Belgium would have been seen as a serious threat to Britain and Britain’s decision to join the war can be interpreted as a preventive/defense war. Also, Britain and the Belgium has always remained very close commerce relations and the invasion of Germany has sabotaged the economics interests of the British