IntroductionAll societies are diverse, and one of the tasks of the state is to organize this heterogeneity. In this essay, I will analyze the last 200 years of the history of Finland from the point of view of managing ethnic, linguistic and cultural plurality. The story starts from the nation-building process in the 19th century and it ends with a discussion about contemporary and future challenges in finding the right balance between rights and duties, inclusion and exclusion. I argue that Finland makes an interesting case in combiningnationalist thinking with extensive minority rights, and the true nature of the country is therefore often misunderstood. Increased immigration in the last decades, efforts to renew national self-understanding and the Finnish branch of European neo-nationalism make the current situation especially interesting.
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