A1 Journal article (refereed)
Terminological Games : The Finnish Security Police Monitoring the Far-Right Movements in Finland During the Cold War (2020)

Kotonen, T. (2020). Terminological Games : The Finnish Security Police Monitoring the Far-Right Movements in Finland During the Cold War. Redescriptions, 23(1), 54-70. https://doi.org/10.33134/rds.319

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Kotonen, Tommi

Journal or series: Redescriptions

ISSN: 2308-0906

eISSN: 2308-0914

Publication year: 2020

Volume: 23

Issue number: 1

Pages range: 54-70

Publisher: Helsinki University Press

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/rds.319

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/71189

Abstract

This article focuses on the use of terms and concepts related to the nationalist movements by the Finnish security police during the Cold War. The key objective of the security police was to protect the legal order of the state and monitor the groups and phenomena potentially harmful to that cause. The previous experience regarding the rise of the radical nationalism and fascism in Finland in the 1930s and the 1947 Paris peace treaties were the historical and legal contexts within which the interpretations were made. As the article shows, interpretation made by the security police, however, relied occasionally on a limited understanding about the evolving far-right scene, thus producing terminological confusions, and in some cases even evidently biased interpretative patterns may be observed. The article also studies how terms and concepts produce differing evaluations and differing understandings regarding the phenomena at hand. The analysis is supplemented by a short excursion on the other side exploring how the far-right used the terms in order to avoid police scrutiny.

Keywords: right wing movements; extremist movements; far right; fascism; neo-Nazism; terminology; security police; national security; conceptual history; concept analysis

Free keywords: fascism; far-right; extremism; radical right; Finnish security police; conceptual history

Contributing organizations

Related projects

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2020

JUFO rating: 1