noun

• The process whereby a country is induced to favour, or refrain from opposing, the interests of a more powerful country, despite not being politically allied to it (originally with reference to the influence of the former Soviet Union on its neighbour Finland).

  ‘By 1981, the Soviets were rushing toward what some characterized as the ‘Finlandization’ of Western Europe.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘‘The maximum task [for the future],’ he underscores, ‘is the ‘Finlandization’ of all of Europe.’’
  • ‘The generation over 65 remembered a time before ‘Finlandization’ and the 1939-40 and 1941-4 wars against the USSR.’
  • ‘This group originally doubted the goals of Willy Brandt's statecraft and later deplored any lessening of tension with the Warsaw Pact - which, in their view, could only lead to the ‘Finlandization ‘of Western Europe.’’
  • ‘Taiwan's ‘Finlandization’ has gone too far as it is.’