A tale of three cities: Washington‐Paris‐Bonn and triangular asymmetry

This article has two main aims: to identify the sources of Presidential power under the long‐serving Urho Kekkonen and to delineate his important, if at times strictly unconstitutional, role in the domestic policy process. Stress is given to the prestige accruing from his successful handling of Fenno‐Soviet relations and how, when traditional cleavages have threatened the central task of economic management, Kekkonen has used his enhanced authority to mediate. At such times of consensualism in crisis, the Finnish system has been both President‐dominant and President‐reliant.