This article examines the role that the constitution and the deep-seated, cultural respect for constitutional and administrative stability have played in Finland. The text examines this tradition in a long historical perspective stretching from the nineteenth-century administrative and cultural ‘defence’ battles to the militant legalist protection of the constitutional stability in the 1930s, and, finally, analyses the slow but determined turn towards a more distinctively ‘Nordic’, more integrative and inclusive, model of managing the fragilities within modern democracy. The article argues that Finland of the early twentieth century presents an exceptionally early case of militant and defensive democracy, and, moreover, one that demonstrates the role of the long-term politico-cultural traditions in the adoption of features of militant democracy in a society. This distinctively defensive, and at times, militant constitutionalist ethos has served to protect democracy at many critical moments in the history of twentieth-century Finland. Yet, the protection has often been secondary to the main priority, namely, the maintenance of the stability of the existing constitutional order. This attitude has marked the notions and practices of modern democracy throughout the twentieth century in Finland.

中文翻译：

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管理脆弱的民主：芬兰的立宪精神和受限的民主

本文考察了宪法以及对宪法和行政稳定的根深蒂固的文化尊重在芬兰所发挥的作用。文本从 19 世纪的行政和文化“防御”斗争到 1930 年代激进的法家保护宪法稳定的长期历史视角审视了这一传统，最后分析了缓慢但坚定的转向更加鲜明的“北欧”，更具综合性和包容性，管理现代民主中的脆弱性的模型。文章认为，二十世纪初的芬兰是一个非常早期的好战和防御性民主的例子，此外，一种证明长期政治文化传统在社会中采用激进民主特征方面的作用。在 20 世纪芬兰历史上的许多关键时刻，这种独特的防御性，有时甚至是好战的立宪主义精神有助于保护民主。然而，保护往往次于主要优先事项，即维护现有宪法秩序的稳定性。这种态度标志着整个 20 世纪芬兰现代民主的观念和实践。维护现行宪政秩序的稳定。这种态度标志着整个 20 世纪芬兰现代民主的观念和实践。维护现行宪政秩序的稳定。这种态度标志着整个 20 世纪芬兰现代民主的观念和实践。