Finns expect policymakers to respond actively to international tensions

A new study suggests that 71% of Finns believe the international rules-based order has already crumbled, and they hope Europe and Finland will respond with a robust foreign and security policy.

The research report ‘Wrecking-ball politics: Finns’ expectations in foreign and security policy transitions’ is based on the NATOpoll research project led by the University of Helsinki, in which survey data were gathered from over 3,100 Finns. 840 of these respondents had already completed surveys previously, enabling a longitudinal research perspective.

The report highlights that the international security environment is undergoing profound, wide-ranging change. As the rules-based order loses its guiding authority, nothing has yet emerged to replace it. Finns see it as Europe’s duty to defend this order against the hegemonic ambitions of the world’s major powers.

A new analysis has found that after Utah lowered the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving from 0.08 to 0.05 g/dL, alcohol-related crash fatalities declined significantly more in Utah compared to its six contiguous states. The findings from the study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, provide timely evidence that lowering the BAC limit may save lives and point to broad public safety benefits.

The EU must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040 relative to 1990 – of which 5 percentage points can be achieved through climate action elsewhere, according to the 2025 law. A study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now proposes a novel instrument for this external component: performance-based Jurisdictional Reward Funds. This avoids perverse incentives, strengthens international and thus also European climate action, and costs just 5 billion euros annually. The study is available as a PIK Policy Paper on the institute’s website. Co-author Ottmar Edenhofer is PIK Director and Chair of the EU climate advisory board.