Jussi Niinistö
Humanist of the day

Jussi Niinistö

Academic freedom was the stimulus for Jussi Niinistö to study at the university, write his dissertation and pursue a scholarly career. His research was put on hold when he was offered the opportunity to go into politics. Niinistö continues to follow the winds of Finnish historical research. Another relaxing activity for him is to listen to the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s Saturday Request Show on the radio.

Jussi Niinistö

Jussi Lauri Juhani Niinistö
Born October 27, 1970, Helsinki

MA 1994 and PhD 1998 (Finnish History), University of Helsinki
Docent in Finnish Military History at the National Defence University, 2004–
Docent in Finnish History at the University of Helsinki, 2004–

Minister of Defence, 2015–
Member of Parliament, 2001–
First deputy chairman of the Finns Party, 2013–
Editor-in-Chief of the Vapaussoturi (‘Freedom fighter’) magazine, 2006–11
Chair of the Defence Committee, 2011–15
General Secretary of the Finns Party Parliamentary Group, 2005–11
Researcher at the National Archives, 2003
Executive Director, Association of Finnish Culture and Identity, 1999–2000 and 2001
History researcher in various projects, 1996–2004
Research assistant, 1995–96

Photo: Ministry of Defence
Written by Tero Juutilainen
Translated by Joe McVeigh

A quick doctorate

For Jussi Niinistö the University of Helsinki was the most natural option after upper secondary school. During his military service, he had planned a career in the military academy, but he ended up studying for the entrance exam in history in 1990.

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Future plans

The field of history is nice because I can always come back to it. When I became a candidate in the 2011 election, I thought ‘Now, let’s go make history,’ and of course later we’ll be able to write it. But it is not really the history of the Finns Party, at least not from this perspective.

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