Virtual Event
Helsinki Security Forum Debrief
Event Details
Join us live online for an exclusive session with Charly Salonius-Pasternak, Leading Researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. In this town hall briefing, Charly will share his fresh takeaways and insider perspective from the invitation-only Helsinki Security Forum Conference. You will also hear additional commentary from Mika Aaltola.
Held on 29 September–1 October, Helsinki Security Forum 2023 hosts discussions on a range of defence and security policy topics from nuclear deterrence and enhancing European defence to Indo-Pacific security and rejecting Russian spheres of influence.
You will get the most up-to-date analysis on geopolitical security matters. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights from Finland’s top experts and the host of the Helsinki Security Forum itself.
Please note that this event is for Amcham Finland members only.
Event Speakers
Mika Aaltola
On leave of absence, Director
Finnish Institute Of International Affairs
Dr. Mika Aaltola is the Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. He is also a tenured professor of International Relations and European Union Affairs at Tallinn University (part-time), Estonia, and holds the rank of Docent at Tampere University. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, Sciences Po (CERI), and Johns Hopkins as well as a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota. Aaltola’s areas of expertise include the U.S. global role, dynamics of major power politics, democratic vulnerability, pandemic security, and Finnish foreign policy.
His published peer reviewed monographs include research on Finnish foreign policy (Tampere University Press, 2003), on the cultural foundations of the U.S. foreign and security policy (Brill, 2008), on ethics and humanitarianism as geopolitical practices (2008, Palgrave), on pandemic security (Routledge 2012), on the power politics of U.S. global infrastructure (Palgrave 2014, Routledge 2016, co-authored). His latest published monograph is Democratic Vulnerability and Autocratic Meddling – The ‘Thucydidean Brink’ in Regressive Geopolitical Competition (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2021). He has also published a monograph on Finnish foreign policy after Crimea (Docendo 2019) as well as an edited volume together with Mikael Wigell and Sören Scholvin (Geo-economics and Power Politics in the 21st Century: The Revival of Economic Statecraft, Routledge, 2018).
He defended his doctoral degree at Tampere University in 1999 (“The Rhythm, Exception, and Rule in International Relations: The Case of Mad Cow Disease”), received his MA degree from Tampere University (1994) and BA degree from Columbia University (1992).
Charly Salonius-Pasternak
Leading Researcher
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Charly Salonius-Pasternak is a Leading Researcher at FIIA and leads the work of the Center on US Politics and Power (CUSPP). His work at FIIA focuses on international security issues, especially Nordic and transatlantic security (including NATO), as well as U.S. foreign and defence policy. Recently he has focused on Finnish-Swedish defence cooperation and the evolution of US and NATO alliance reassurance approaches in light of the changed regional security situation. In 2017, he was a visiting research fellow at the Changing Character of War programme at Pembroke College (Oxford University), where he studied the hybridization of warfare and the impact of the Information Age on the character of war.
