How did the parliamentarian, the rapper and the comms head end up planning Finland’s national crisis strategy?

At Finland’s National Defence Course, leaders from politics, business, arts, academia and the media are regularly thrown together to practise what would happen if the unthinkable occurred: an enemy attack so severe that civilians might need to step in and lead. Along the way they discover how cooperation, trust and a few sleepless nights in an army barracks can turn strangers into lifelong allies.

They’ve been doing it for generations.

At the Defence Course headquarters in Helsinki, an older group is wrapping up their reunion — the alumni of a Course from 1982, all now in their eighties. Only twenty of the original forty members are still alive, and half of them have made the trip to meet one last time.

Colonel Jussi Kosonen, Director of Finland’s National Defence Courses, has just finished course no. 253. “We talk about comprehensive security in Finland,” says Kosonen, “That’s actually our security strategy and the thinking behind this course.”

After gaining independence in 1917 from Russia and enduring World War II, Finland emerged from post-war reparations and rebuilding with a clear conviction that if the country were ever to face war again, it would require the attention of the whole society, not just the military.

The course, established in 1961, put that idea into practice — bringing together leaders from across society to understand how Finland could stay functioning through any crisis, from war to environmental disaster.

“This idea,” Kosonen says, “was radical then and still unique now.” While there are other countries with security-oriented courses, none bring together such a broad spectrum of society. “In many, the private or third sector is barely involved, whereas here, they form a central part.” In addition to political decisionmakers each course brings together CEOs, scientists, even celebrity artists; one recent session included a well-known Finnish rapper.

Why is it so popular?

The course is oversubscribed with 800 nominations this year for only 200 places. There are four courses a year, each with around 50 participants with an average age of 48 years old and around 40% women. So why is it so popular?

Arja Suominen who took the course fifteen years ago, has one answer. “I’ve never been so patriotic as I was after that course,” she says. She also gained a lifetime network. Her group still meets regularly, taking educational trips each year and attending alumni briefings and mixers. “Proof that the lessons in cooperation don’t end with the course itself.”

Suominen, who was then Nokia’s Global Head of Communications, recalls finding herself swapping ideas with CEOs, generals, and politicians — among them, a man who would later become Finland’s Prime Minister.

“Even a sitting prime minister once took part” Kosonen laughs. “And in a role play, he got to play himself.” Although generally participants are there to step into other people’s shoes as they discover how government, business and civil society must function together when the stakes are highest.

“People don’t learn much about their own sector,” Kosonen explains, “but their eyes are opened to so many new perspectives. That understanding,” he adds, “is what makes the model endure.”

What does the course involve?

Over three and a half intensive weeks, participants leave their day jobs to be immersed in every aspect of Finland’s security and infrastructure. Each course features more than sixty expert lectures from ministers, military officers, academics and industry leaders. This is alongside hands-on visits to range of places including the parliament, the port, children’s hospitals, rescue centers, underground bunkers, and the armed forces.

Suominen recalls travelling north to Lapland on a three-day trip to stay in a military barracks. They met with conscripts and observed an Air Force exercise. “We even got to climb into a fighter jet,” she says. “Though they warned us not to drop anything. Even a single button and they’d have to take the whole plane apart to find it.” She also remembers firing a rifle for the first time and discovering that the future Prime Minister on her course turned out to be “a very good shot.”

Beyond the field visits and lectures, the role-plays were a highlight. Participants are divided into small groups acting as ministries, each tasked with managing a national crisis — such as damaged undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, a nuclear powerplant malfunction or a hybrid attack. They must assess the situation, set priorities and coordinate across sectors, mirroring how Finland’s real decision-makers would act under pressure.

“The model itself is nothing, only a piece of paper if there are no people involved,” says Kosonen. “That is our part: to make it real for the people attending the course.”

More than 10,500 Finns have taken part since it was established, forming a quiet but influential alumni network that reaches across government, business and civic life.

What are the challenges?

In putting the course together Kosonen says, “We try to prepare the participants for the future — not for the current, and not for the history.” That is a challenge in itself. Finland’s 125 mile (1,300-kilometer) border with Russia has shaped Finland’s security thinking for generations. “It’s not only Putin,” Kosonen says. “Although that’s what everyone focuses on.” The course must keep pace with other aspects of a rapidly changing world, from state threats to environmental crises, cyberattacks and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. “The aim,” he explains,” is to prepare for the most difficult situations, knowing that the same groundwork will strengthen Finland for any type of crisis.”

Kosonen also admits that participants arrive with high expectations, but they do tend to leave satisfied. In the feedback forms, many describe the experience as clarifying, and motivating. Others talk about a renewed sense of confidence in their country.

Or as Suominen puts it, “You leave the course with a sort of safer feeling — that, hey, we are actually pretty well prepared.”