| The Åland example |
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The Åland Islands is a unilingually Swedish-speaking autonomous province in Finland. Because of historical reasons Finland (including the mainland) has a Swedish-speaking population that comprises 5.6 % of the population, or 290 000 people. Of them 27 000 live on the Åland Islands. Finland was part of the Swedish empire until 1809, when Sweden lost Finland to Russia. At the end of the Crimean war in 1856 the islands were demilitarized.
The Åland Islands were not only granted broadened demilitarisation, including neutralisation and extensive autonomy, but received further guarantees, notably:
Facts about Åland and its special status under international law
Geography
Demilitarisation and Neutralisation Åland in International Relations Link collection: International treaties and documents concerning Åland Articles on the Åland example
Reflections on the core elements of the autonomy of the Åland Islands as a minority protection device, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark. The Direcor of the Åland Islands Peace Institute presented this text for the President of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, during his visit to Åland in October 2007. The right to be small and different. On self-governing Åland and the EU/ By Martin Ekman, a geophysicist with an interest for history and international law, and a special interest for autonomous islands.A list of examples of literatures about Åland in Russian can be downloaded here. A list of examples of literatures about autonomy in Russian can be downloaded here. AuthoritiesThe Parliament of Åland The Parliament of Finland Global.finland.fi Sweden's Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
The term ‘the Åland example’ aspires to give insights into the components and preconditions that made the peaceful solution to the dispute between Finland and Sweden possible in 1921, and to understand and explain why this regime has survived for more than 85 years (of autonomy and neutralization) and more than 150 years of demilitarization. 
After the First World War and the Finnish independence in 1917 the Swedish-speaking Ålandians wished to reunite with the ”mother-country” of Sweden, which also wanted sovereignty over the islands. Finland did not want to let Åland go, especially not the Finnish Swedes on the mainland who needed Åland as a strong base for the Swedish language. The issue was submitted to the newly-established League of Nations on British initiative under the Charter as ”a matter affecting international relations which unfortunately threatens to disturb the good understanding between nations”.