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Differences in migratory behavior have been suggested to drive speciation, but the genetics underlying this process remain unknown. Identification and study of migratory divides can help us understand how differential migration can lead to reproductive isolation. Here, we genotyped Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus, from the Åland islands, located in between the ranges of the differentially migrating subspecies P. t. trochilus and P. t. acredula. We found that Willow Warblers on the Åland islands were genetically intermediate to allopatric populations of both parental subspecies, providing evidence that the islands constitute a previously unknown hybrid swarm, likely to be a migratory divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, which presents pollen, charcoal, and 'soot'-particle records from a lacustrine sediment core, the development of the cultural landscape around Lake Dalkarby träsk on the Åland Islands in Finland is scrutinised and discussed within a broad temporal setting in order to clarify the long-term interplay between the environment and human activities in this part of the archipelago. Special emphasis is given to the transition period from the Late Iron Age to medieval times due to the dominating humanistic discourse on the settlement dynamics in this region, as in the Åland archipelago in general, arguing for an approximately 150-years-long hiatus in habitation between these two periods, from AD 1050 to 1200. Our results do not support the hiatus theories but show a long and continuous history of the utilisation of land and forest resources starting from prehistoric times. The forests were first cleared with fire for slash-and-burn cultivation. Thereafter, structural diversity in the landscape started to increase. By 1240, the pollen data portrays a picture of a developed agrarian community with a subsistence economy based on arable farming and animal husbandry in which hemp seems to play a substantial part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phragmites australis is a common helophyte, covering much of the sheltered and shallow soft bottoms along the coasts of the Baltic Sea. Despite the expansion of P. australis over the past decades, there is little information on aquatic macroinvertebrates within P. australis beds. In this study, we examined the effect of large-scale (wave exposure, nutrients) and small-scale (distance from the seaward edge, live and dead stalk density, epiphyte and rhizome biomass) drivers on the density, taxa richness, diversity, and community structure of epifauna and infauna in monospecific P. australis beds around the Åland Islands and the Archipelago Sea. We found that higher wave exposure and nutrient levels generally supported higher epi- and infauna abundance and taxa richness. The effects on Shannon–Wiener diversity were less evident apart from an increase of the infauna diversity in the Archipelago Sea with increasing nutrient levels. On a local scale, the distance from the seaward edge, live and dead stalk density, and epiphyte biomass had varying effects on both epi- and infauna communities in the different regions. Rhizome biomass had no effect on either the epi- or infauna abundance, taxa richness, or diversity. Furthermore, according to existing studies, other habitats, e.g., Zostera marina meadows, Fucus vesiculosus belts, and vegetated soft-bottomed shallow bays, are generally characterized by more abundant fauna, except for the infauna, which had a higher density in P. australis beds than in vegetated soft-bottomed shallow bays. P. australis are a widespread, expanding, and understudied habitat with an important role in supporting coastal biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim is to advance the conceptualisation of island entrepreneurship by investigating how the island context, for example, industry characteristics, social context and formal and informal institutions, influences the development of artisan food businesses in that context. Design/methodology/approach: An applied, qualitative and participatory research approach was implemented. Data were collected during a business development process focusing on food artisans in the Åland Islands. In total, 19 business owners participated in the process. Key informants and public officers were interviewed, and the literature was reviewed. Interviews were analysed using phenomenography to identify representative categories, and the literature was analysed using content analysis. Findings: Island characteristics and context, local institutions, the quality of social capital and gendered institutions influence business activities positively and negatively. Island entrepreneurship entails mobilising agencies to find innovative solutions that enable businesses to overcome obstacles. Most previous research treats business activities as entrepreneurship; however, as self-employment is essential in the island context, it should be highlighted in future studies. Research limitations/implications: This study illustrates how the island context influences the business development of small firms. Results indicate that local policies (1) benefitting female entrepreneurs, (2) supporting local businesses and (3) promoting locally produced artisan food could generate benefits for the entire artisan food businesses. Practical implications: Local policies that (1) benefit female entrepreneurs, (2) support local businesses and (3) promote locally produced artisan food have the potential to generate benefits for the entire trade. Policies can benefit from an understanding of the role played by different ecosystem actors. Promoting self-employment can generate benefits for the local entrepreneurial ecosystem by providing agglomeration and helping to solve some challenges caused by the characteristics of islands. Originality/value: Empirically, this research enhances the knowledge of post-productive responses in the island context. Theoretically, the study advances the conceptualisation of research on the island entrepreneurship context and the local food debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantitative archaeological record of the Åland Islands (Finland) indicates a population boom in the mid-sixth century CE. Yet the number of palynological investigations on Åland is limited, resulting in a knowledge gap of anthropogenic landscape modification generated by the land use that followed the increased population. This article presents the results of a pollen analysis from Lake Lavsböle Träsk in central Åland, covering the period from the end of the Bronze Age into the modern period. The results of this study provide evidence of continuous land use throughout the Iron Age and the medieval period, and the population boom during the sixth century CE is indicated in the pollen signal. Altogether we argue for an economy based on cereal cultivation, animal husbandry, and maritime resource utilization (e.g. seal hunting, fishing, and fowling) as well as trading. The results indicate a society able to manage risks connected to their subsistence strategies, in which versatility seems to have had a key role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution addresses the strategical, political, and cultural significance of the Åland Islands between Russia, Sweden, and Finland from 1809 to the present day. During the fi rst half of the 19th century, Russia fulfilled, with the conquest of the Åland Islands, one of its military goals which had been in place since the Petrine period, namely, to push forward the country’s military control as far as to the Western border of Finland in order to secure Russia’s capital St. Petersburg, and to threaten the capital of the kingdom of Sweden, Stockholm, in order to prevent a Swedish act of revenge for the loss of Sweden’s control of the Eastern Baltic during the Great Northern War. At the same time, the islands were, in a political and cultural sense, an important ingredient of the upcoming Swedish and Finnish national movements. After the loss of Finland, the countries had tried to find solace in national culture and past glories. In this respect, the question of why Sweden, during the Finnish Civil War, sent troops to the Åland Islands can be interpreted as part of Sweden’s anti-Russian military agenda as well as being part of its cultural mission to protect the islands against Finnish and Russian attempts to make the island part of Finnish or Russian culture, and to subdue the overwhelmingly-Swedishspeaking population in the context of a Finnish national state. This Swedish-Finnish opposition, though, turned, during the interwar period, into a secret collaboration against Russian military interests in the Eastern Baltic region, whereby the control of the Åland Islands played a central role. Despite minor yet critical situations, the islands have enjoyed relative calm ever since. However, the outbreak of Russia’s Ukrainian War threatens to cast doubt once again on the islands’ status.

In this contribution, Åland's autonomy as a model for the protection of territorial minorities is analysed and evaluated. The geopolitical background is today's Europe with, in general, quite strong state integration tendencies. The focus is on Åland's autonomy's ability to successfully deliver on the original promises regarding the greatest possible regional self-determination and language protection given at its inception in 1921 by the League of Nations and the Finnish state. Comparisons are made with similar European and Nordic autonomies. The conclusion is that Åland's position in international law and in the Finnish Constitution remains, thanks primary to its historical origin, relatively strong. However, two negative factors are identified: the severely limited de facto home rule, and the asymmetric partnership between the autonomy and the state. The contribution concludes with a number of lessons learned regarding the legal and political conditions for well-functioning and long-term sustainable autonomies within the framework of today's sovereign European and Nordic states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present geochemical data of soils sampled from two Late Iron Age (a.d. 550–1050) buildings at Bartsgårda on the Åland Islands, Finland. The houses had different constructions and use-patterns, one being an intensively used dwelling house, rich in finds, whereas the other, scarce in finds, had a more specialized character, linked to ceremonial rather than domestic activities. Systematic and targeted feature sampling was carried out to analyze 190 samples using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (ED-XRF) to 1) identify floor/activity levels in the houses based on vertical and horizontal geochemical anomalies; 2) compare the anthropogenic activity signals of the buildings; and, 3) test a rapid and cost-efficient ex situ analytical strategy for geochemical characterization of archaeological soils. Although the long-term use of the site as a livestock paddock introduced some complexities, based on the geochemical and micromorphological data, the houses had several activity levels and markedly different anthropogenic profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution addresses the strategical, political, and cultural significance of the Åland Islands between Russia, Sweden, and Finland from 1809 to the present day. During the first half of the 19th century, Russia fulfilled, with the conquest of the Åland Islands, one of its military goals which had been in place since the Petrine period, namely, to push forward the country's military control as far as to the Western border of Finland in order to secure Russia's capital St. Petersburg, and to threaten the capital of the kingdom of Sweden, Stockholm, in order to prevent a Swedish act of revenge for the loss of Sweden's control of the Eastern Baltic during the Great Northern War. At the same time, the islands were, in a political and cultural sense, an important ingredient of the upcoming Swedish and Finnish national movements. After the loss of Finland, the countries had tried to find solace in national culture and past glories. In this respect, the question of why Sweden, during the Finnish Civil War, sent troops to the Åland Islands can be interpreted as part of Sweden's anti-Russian military agenda as well as being part of its cultural mission to protect the islands against Finnish and Russian attempts to make the island part of Finnish or Russian culture, and to subdue the overwhelmingly-Swedishspeaking population in the context of a Finnish national state. This Swedish-Finnish opposition, though, turned, during the interwar period, into a secret collaboration against Russian military interests in the Eastern Baltic region, whereby the control of the Åland Islands played a central role. Despite minor yet critical situations, the islands have enjoyed relative calm ever since. However, the outbreak of Russia's Ukrainian War threatens to cast doubt once again on the islands' status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note highlights the rapid development and implementation of sustainable energy policy and its effects on Territorial Autonomies. It explores current and potential future developments on the Åland Islands off the south-west coast of Finland, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. Findings suggest that Territorial Autonomies would benefit from a more comprehensive sub-regional approach to global energy sustainability and carbon neutrality.

The autonomy of the Aland Islands within Finland implies a system of self-government in a certain area within the borders of a sovereign state. The Aland Islands have an ethnic and cultural identity and receive powers for internal administration as part of the state. The autonomy of the Islands gives them the ability to solve internal problems, while the state remains responsible for foreign policy, security, etc. All this is made possible by the Aland autonomy Act, which came into force in 1993 and was confirmed by the Finnish Constitution. The act regulates almost all issues of self-government of the Islands. At the same time, the Aland Islands can be classified as a federacy, which indicates a special Federal relationship within a unitary state. Domestic cooperation between the Finnish government and the Aland Islands is based on a formal bilateral non-hierarchical partnership.

The present study analyzes the difference between the Åland Islands -- an insular and peripheral part of Finland -- and Finland as a whole in terms of firm local embeddedness. The analysis utilizes matched employee-employer longitudinal data for all businesses in Finland, including the Åland Islands, from 2006 to 2014. Local embeddedness is modelled both as tenure (the number of years a key stakeholder in a firm has lived in the same municipality as the firm) and by calculating the geographical distance the key stakeholder lives from the focal firm. Contrary to our expectations, we find that for our tenure measure of local embeddedness, firms are actually less locally embedded in the peripheral region than in the larger country. However, our distance measure of local embeddedness performs as expected with firms in the peripheral region. We hypothesize that that there may be an optimal level of local embeddedness, above which a local firm does not necessarily gain by further increasing its local embeddedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyse the territorial autonomy and socio-economic conditions of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and the Aland Islands. The study presents these Nordic territories in comparison to Denmark and Finland. The impact of Danish economy on the Faroe Islands and Greenland, and Finnish economy on the Aland Islands, contributed to the development of interrelations between them. The article presents the results of research analysing selected macroeconomic and social indicators in the period 2010-2020. Considering the level of preparation of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Aland Islands for full independence, the study concludes that in political, social and economic terms, the Aland Islands are the most prepared, followed by the Faroe Islands, while Greenland is the least prepared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gambling business entails geo-economic opportunities for islands, especially in times of online gambling. However, it also involves risks like ill mental health, debt, and social problems. Furthermore, a heavy reliance on gambling revenues involves great moral dilemmas, especially when the gambling provision is operated within a not-for-profit public regime. This study concerns how these aspects are negotiated in the public discussion in Åland Islands, an autonomous group of islands situated between Finland and Sweden. By ruling of its regional parliament and the Finnish Lotteries Act, the Åland-based gambling monopoly company Ålands penningautomatförening (Paf) has the right to provide onshore gambling on the Islands, on the Internet, and on cruise ships trafficking the Baltic Sea. The study examines Paf's role as a pillar of the local community, and the ways in which this position is sustained and contested. By analyzing a corpus of 862 online texts from local newspapers and public radio services from 2006-2018, this study demonstrates how Åland depends on an incongruous public construction of Paf as a responsible actor that is simultaneously criticized for not exercising greater transparency and responsibility, highlighting a contradiction between the provision of harmful gambling products and economic benefits for the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measures and policies states adopt and apply related to law enforcement at sea in peacetime, such as setting up and legislating about Coast Guards and their role, increasingly take maritime security into account. A grey area between military and civilian rules, actors, and activities, can be discerned in relation to maritime security. The article explores the issue of security concerns as a basis for the on-going widening of powers of the Finnish Border Guard, which includes the Coast Guard – in particular how such a widening of the powers relates to the Åland Islands’ demilitarised status. The main question here is whether there is a conflict between possible military aspects of the Coast Guard vis-à-vis the demilitarised status of the Åland Islands. The article identifies aspects of a military nature regarding how the Finnish Coast Guard functions; these are not assessed as being decisive: the Border Guard is not part of the armed forces in peacetime. The article highlights the need for a comprehensive exploration and analysis – including both Finnish authorities and Ålandic authorities – of the Åland Islands’ status in relation to possible future assistance by the Defence Forces on the Åland Islands.

This article analyses foreign and defence policy arguments in the Finnish parliamentary discourses after Finland’s EU accession (2004–2017) related to the concepts of military non-alliance, non-membership of a military alliance, as well as demilitarisation and neutralisation of the Åland Islands. It examines how foreign policy and defence policy perspectives differ in the parliamentary debates and committee reports on the concepts. Finnish security policy has seen a gradual shift since the 1990s from neutrality policy through military non-alliance to the current non-membership of a military alliance. In contrast, the acknowledgement of the demilitarised and neutralised status of the Åland Islands appears to remain extensive despite some critical comments from defence policy actors. The foreign policy approach emphasises a positive instrumental approach and acknowledgment of the concepts, whilst the defence policy approach views the concepts with either acknowledgment or as negative instruments allegedly hampering defence preparation.

This article illustrates that justification for EU military integration is sought with imperatives related to the economy, security, EU integration, and demands of citizens of the Member States. However, EU Treaties in terms of the improvement of military capabilities are not considered as a justification, but the European Union appears to be more of a power-enhancing realist actor rather than a normative one. As a counterexample to the European discourses, I discuss the case of the demilitarisation of the Åland Islands, in which case treaties perfectly justify demilitarization. I conclude that the development of European military integration is justified by political imperatives, but the demilitarization of the Åland Islands is supported with reference to agreements, which illustrate the differences in justifying military force and its absence. It is concluded that while the European Union appears as a realist actor in terms of defence, Finland complies with the image of a normative power as far as the Åland Islands are concerned.

This research note explores available studies concerning the possibility of the resolution of the Nagorno- Karabakh Conflict through implementation of good practices and experiences of the Åland Islands precedent to pave way for the final solution of the territorial conflict through the application of the international law. In the original exploratory research effort that was carried out in 2017–2018 at the Faculty of Law of Lund University, very close similarities were found between the conflict situation in the case of Åland Islands, that was resolved in the beginning of the 20th century, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict that is a protracted armed conflict for which a resolution has not been ready to find for more than a quarter of a century now. Subsequent research raised many interesting questions connected to the right of peoples to self-determination, its evolution through the 20th century, the importance of demilitarisation and neutralisation for Nagorno-Karabakh, minority rights issues and other matters important for the discussion on applicability of certain elements of Åland Islands precedent to the situation of Nagorno-Karabakh. The differences in geographical location, territorial dissimilarities, historical context and political processes that influence the two situations during separate periods of time are also considered in the discussion as important for a resolution of the conflict based on international law.

Combining historical depth and political analysis, this article examines the way that France has perceived the strategic role of the Åland Islands, as well as the French role in the construction of their status of demilitarisation and neutralisation. For that, we strove to draw a parallel between, on the one hand, the intensity of French activities in the Baltic Sea in general and on the Åland Islands in particular, and, on the other hand, the amount of literature in social sciences and the humanities that examines the Åland Islands. This exercise substantiates the hypothesis that whilst this region used to be quite well known in France, nowadays this is no longer the case. It is bound to change, as the majority of the riparian States of the Baltic Sea and France belong henceforth to the same security and defence organisations, namely the EU and NATO. Subsequently, France cannot be indifferent to an area in which she has to assume her historical role, so far almost consigned to oblivion.

How does Finland deal in practice with instances of alleged violations of the demilitarised and neutralised zone of the Åland Islands? This is the main question in this text. We examine three levels of regulation and practice, namely international law, legislation concerning territorial surveillance and criminal law during the period 2010–2015. We examine unique materials obtained upon application. We conclude that the criminalisation presents Finland with several advantages but also some problems, in particular in matters of criminal liability. The absence of easily accessible and visible nautical and aeronautical charts indicating the coordinates of the demilitarised and neutralised zone for all those practically concerned remains a major obstacle. While the total number of reported violations remains low, the investigations confirm the continued validity of the demilitarisation regime and the intricate interplay between domestic and international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to contribute to current debates surrounding Åland’s autonomy regime by seeking a fuller understanding of the origins and the evolving role of rules restricting outsiders from acquiring landed property in the autonomous Åland Islands region of Finland. The autonomy and minority protection regime that prevails in Åland is of particularly long standing, and the conditions that have shaped the evolution of Åland’s land rules have changed considerably during the nearly 100 years of their application. The article also briefly considers the relationship between the evolving Åland land rules and more recent efforts to articulate and justify exclusive rights to traditional homelands in other settings, and particularly those involving minorities and indigenous peoples. The article describes the way understandings of the role played by the land rules have evolved over time, proceeding from the fundamental significance of the rules in protecting Åland’s cultural identity and examining their perceived economic significance, as well as the role they have played in Åland’s ongoing political engagement with mainland Finland. The paper concludes that while the land rules have served to protect the Åland cultural identity, there will be continuing pressure for them to be implemented with greater predictability and clarity as the autonomy regime on Åland matures.

The main question of this article is what intentions Åland and Finland hold regarding the self-government of Åland, and how this is mirrored in the ongoing process for a revision of the Åland Autonomy Act. This matter is studied through a comparison of three central documents in the revision process, issued by three parliamentary committees, one Ålandic, one Finnish, and one joint. The article analyses how the parties describe the background and development of Åland’s autonomy, the original purpose of the autonomy, and the aims for the fourth generation of autonomy legislation. Some concrete proposals for changes in the Autonomy Act are discussed in order to see if the intentions of the two parties coincide or differ. The article concludes that the committees mainly agree on the foundations of the autonomy. The principle of protection of language and culture seems to be rather unproblematic, whereas it is unclear how far the parties are willing to go regarding the right of Åland to manage its own affairs. For instance, the committees have identified the division of legislative competences and the economic system as two crucial domains in the revision. Åland is interested to extend its mandate in those spheres further than at least the Government of Finland seems to be willing to allow.

This article accounts for and contextualizes a newly discovered monumental longhouse, a potential hall from the Late Iron Age, on the Åland Islands, Finland. The 45 m long building and its location are discussed in regional and historical context, in comparison to the full data set of coeval houses on Åland, and are argued to signal a social stratification, manifesting a higher level of achievement in this Late Iron Age society. This is further examined in the context of Iron Age settlement development. A rapid and large-scale colonization to Åland, evident in the middle of the first millennium AD, is for the first time explanatorily discussed, addressing the question of why this process occurred. Sudden population growth is linked in part to large-scale climatic disturbances, with fatal consequences in those areas of heavy agricultural dependency, forcing population movement to Åland driven by the presence of maritime resources, particularly seals, and available land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Åland Islands are major feeding grounds for threatened whitefish, Coregonus lavaretus (Linnaeus, 1758), in the Gulf of Bothnia, Baltic Sea. Diet of the foraging whitefish, however, has been poorly studied in this area. In the presently reported spot-check study we analysed stomach content of whitefish (n = 88), sampled by gillnets at hard bottom shallows during spring and summer (June-August) 2012. Molluscs and benthic crustaceans were the main prey items, where the rank order of abundance and biomass of food items was Theodoxus fluviatilis > Idotea spp. > Gammarus spp. > Hydrobia spp. > Mytilus trossulus > Radix spp. A shift towards T. fluviatilis was observed from June to July-August. The acquired knowledge on the diet composition could help to shed more light on the ecology of whitefish in the Baltic and may serve to indicate food web alterations due to climate variations and long-term change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine invertebrates on rocky shores form dynamic communities in time and space. Invertebrates constitute important links in the food chain and in biogeochemical cycles and are thus essential for functioning ecosystems. Species can be diurnal or nocturnal, and adaptions can be explained by predation pressure and resource availability. Contrary to terrestrial species, marine invertebrates are less specialised in single hosts and can, when needed, switch habitats, a trait that favours survival, growth, and reproduction. Variation in movement patterns of macroinvertebrates was studied on the northwestern Åland Islands (Åland Sea) to assess changes in activity on a diel timescale along the summer season. Two methods were used to collect representative samples of both swimming and non-swimming species. The pool of macroinvertebrate taxa in the study area was controlled for by sampling ambient macroalgae-associated fauna. Results show that all swimming and epifaunal mobile macroinvertebrate taxa move actively either in the free water body or along the sea floor within a 24-h period. A preference towards nocturnal activity could be observed as the total abundance of macroinvertebrates was higher during the night. Mean taxonomic richness was somewhat higher at night for the swimming macroinvertebrates. The community structure of mobile macroinvertebrates changed within a 24-h period as, e.g. Palaemon spp. and P. ulvae were more prevalent, and larger individuals were generally more active at night. The methods used were suitable for describing the activity patterns of macroinvertebrates on shallow rocky shores, and the results are essential for understanding the temporal dynamics of complex littoral rocky shore communities. • Baltic Sea rocky shore macroinvertebrates exhibit higher night-time activity • >80% of rocky shore macroinvertebrate taxa move actively in the environment • Macroinvertebrate community composition changes within a 24-h period • High mobility and dynamicity characterise rocky shore macroinvertebrates [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this piece Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark reviews the book “Demilitarization in the Contemporary World” edited by Peter N. Stearns. The book appeared already in 2013 and is still highly relevant and important. Associate professor Spiliopoulou Åkermark is head of research for the research project “Demilitarization in an increasingly militarized world. International Perspectives in a multilevel framework – The Case of the Åland Islands”.

This article will review the Åland Islands in the European and Finnish security context. The Åland Islands is a demilitarised, neutralised and autonomous province of Finland, and the aim of the article is to look at how the more than 160-year old demilitarisation regime relates to the current security context. The time period to be examined is limited to the 21st century, encompassing deeper security cooperation of the European Union and debates on Finnish foreign policy in the European context as a non-NATO country. A major theme of the discussion is to look at the militarisation trends in Europe and how that might affect Finland and the Åland Islands. The article also touches upon topical issues such as Brexit, advancement of European security cooperation and Finnish NATO debates. It examines the demands for change concerning the status of the Åland Islands as well as how security is approached from the Ålandic perspective. Moreover, the issue of what could happen if Finland would join the NATO is discussed. The article concludes that the status appears to have very stable role stipulated in international law, despite securitising and militarising trends in the surrounding region. Indeed, a multilateral solution such as demilitarisation serves as a contrast to the regionalisation operating on military logic.

This article considers key conditions and factors of the development of Aland Islands, describes main international legal regulations determining current status of the islands, identifies the trends in volume and structure of economic activities, ana lyzes processes of population change by regions and communes, as well as migration flows. The article also characterizes legal framework for socioeconomic development of the Finnish region. It is argued that the key factor behind modern welfare of the islands is not their political status or institutional makeup, but rather their economic and geographical position, the ‘concentration effect’, and the population influx. It is stressed that wide regional disparities observed within such small territory are indicative of the spatial structure of society development — primarily under the influence of natural features, which are nearly impossible to disregard.

This article considers key conditions and factors of the development of Aland Islands, describes main international legal regulations determining current status of the islands, identifies the trends in volume and structure of economic activities, ana lyzes processes of population change by regions and communes, as well as migration flows. The article also characterizes legal framework for socioeconomic development of the Finnish region. It is argued that the key factor behind modern welfare of the islands is not their political status or institutional makeup, but rather their economic and geographical position, the ‘concentration effect’, and the population influx. It is stressed that wide regional disparities observed within such small territory are indicative of the spatial structure of society development — primarily under the influence of natural features, which are nearly impossible to disregard.

This article looks at the perplexing encounter between territorial autonomies and international organizations by exploring the legal-institutional frameworks for accommodating Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands within the Nordic Council/Nordic Council of Ministers (Norden) and the European Union (EU). In Norden an attempt has been made to translate the very core of autonomy, namely constitutionally protected legislative power, into a legal-institutional framework for multi-level governance. The small number of autonomies and the scope and scale of Norden allows for a one-size-fits-all solution. The encounter between autonomies and an international organization is not only more challenging in the case of the eu, it is also broader in scale and in scope. Despite the eu's individually and often densely regulated relationships with octs and sui generis arrangements, dependent territories remain to some extent uncharted territories in the context of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the twinning rates (TWRs) in isolates relative to the TWRs in the surrounding populations. It is not uncommon that the TWR shows extreme values (high or low rates) within isolated subpopulations. Starting from the isolated populations of the Åland Islands in Finland (high rates), we enlarged our studies to other isolated subpopulations in other countries: the island of Gotland (high rates), the county of Älvsborg located in the southwestern part of Sweden (low rates), and mountain villages in Norway. In our statistical analyses, we paid special attention to the robustness of the variance formula of the TWR and to alternative confidence intervals for the TWR. Particularly, we show how to obtain the most precise confidence intervals for the twinning rates. These statistical methods are crucial when the extreme TWRs within subpopulations are compared with the TWRs within the general population. One must decide whether the differences are real or caused by random fluctuations within the small isolates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A European Union initiative is seeking ways of determining the development potential of Europe’s lagging regions, which include various islands. On the basis of the policy review, methodology and data collected by the ongoing EUROISLANDS project, this paper present Kökar (population: 262), the easternmost municipality of the Åland Islands, as a prototype archipelago that is seriously challenged by its size and multiple peripherality. It reviews the state of its social and transportation infrastructure, and of its human and financial capital. While the situation is serious, there are opportunities for branding, for developing associated economic activity, as well for appealing to a new wave of residents.

This is a brief overview of the history of the engagement by Finnish jurists with international law during the 20th century. The principal finding is that Finnish lawyers have often combined academic work with public service as diplomats and politicians, including government members. The ambition is modest - no more is sought than singling out relevant persons and some of their more interesting academic contributions. My wish is that the text might inspire others to enquire more in depth into the contributions of these and other jurists as well as to make such overviews of other countries or periods and in this way to contribute to an emerging "comparative international law". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a region that is simultaneously demilitarised, neutralised and autonomous, the Åland Islands represent a unique and long-established case in international law. However, this status was never independent of surrounding events. The early 1990s saw both the end of the Cold War and Finland's accession to the European Union. This paper offers an analysis of the discussion regarding Åland's demilitarised and neutralised status among both Finnish and Ålandic legislators during this period. It finds that Finnish policy-makers saw little need to discuss the matter. Åland's officials continuously criticised the Finnish Defence Forces' presence in the region as excessive and proved unwilling to let the issue rest. Against formal obstacles, they established themselves as a relevant actor, facilitated by differing approaches of political, diplomatic and military officials in Finland. Other sovereign states showed only limited interest in the discussion, making it a domestic one for the most part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]