Kristi Raik to run for head of Finnish Institute of Foreign Affairs
Kristi Raik, deputy director of the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS) and director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, has announced she will be running for the head of the Finnish Institute of Foreign Affairs (FIIA).
By the Monday deadline, 21 applicants had registered for the competition to find the new head of the FIIA, among them Estonia's Kristi Raik, Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported Tuesday. According to the paper, Raik is one of three leading candidates.
Incumbent FIIA head Mika Aaltola is seeking a new term while also running for the European Parliament on the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) ticket.
Aaltola has said that he plans to go to the European Parliament should he win. He also ran for president of Finland earlier this year where he got more than 47,000 votes in the first round.
Other candidates include FIIA Program Director Juha Jokela and Tampere University Professor of International Relations Hiski Haukkala who has also worked as President Sauli Niinistö's chief of staff and foreign policy adviser. Also Tampere University Professor of International Politics Tuomas Forsberg and the university's Research Director Hanna Ojanen.
Kristi Raik is also a docent of international politics at the University of Turku and a former employee of FIIA. Raik has also worked as a guest researcher at the Center for European Policy think tank in Brussels and the International Center for Policy Studies in Kyiv.
Raik defended her doctoral degree in political science at the University of Turku in Finland. She has published numerous scientific publications, reports and analyses on European foreign and security policy.
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Editor: Mait Ots, Marcus Turovski
