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Introduction
Finland has largely been overlooked in the literature on multi-level political systems. This is largely because Finland constitutes one of the most stable unitary states in the world. Despite the creation of regional administrative structures to implement EU Regional Policy in the mid-1990s, Finland ultimately lacks an 'independent administrative meso-level' (Kull, 2009, p. 22). Regional self-government has been a low concern in a country built around a strong central state and thriving municipalities.
However, this categorisation of Finland as a highly centralised, unitary state that lacks 'real regions' (Ryynänen, 2003) neglects the status of a territorially concentrated and distinct population that possesses a substantial degree of autonomy. The Swedish-speaking Åland Islands - an archipelago located in the northern Baltic Sea - are the smallest and wealthiest province in Finland, and the only one that has been granted significant legislative powers. Despite having a population of only 27 000, Åland enjoys many of the trappings of sovereign statehood, with its own national flag, postage stamps and citizenship laws. Thanks to a decree by the League of Nations in 1920, Åland's Home Rule is guaranteed by both Finnish and international law, and can only be altered with Åland's approval.
Åland's constitutionally embedded autonomy enables us to classify Åland within the 'federalised' box of cases examined within this Special issue. Åland's Autonomy Acts (1920, 1951, 1991) guarantee a non-hierarchical form of 'partnership' with Finland, whereby Åland can veto any competence transfer away from it. In other words, Åland is able to escape the constitutional uncertainty of its powers being revoked, as so happens in the case of substate units in 'regionalized' states that endure a hierarchical relationship with the centre. However, because Finland has not decentralised powers to other regions, Åland is very much an autonomous 'loner' in the Finnish unitary state. As there are no structures of shared rule, and no scope for multilateral negotiation, Åland's relations with Finland are conducted on a bilateral basis.
The special situation of a substate unit possessing constitutionally protected autonomy, but without a guarantee of shared rule at the centre, has led some scholars to create a new type of federalised relationship: a federacy. According to Stepan et al (2011), 'a federacy is a political-administrative unit in an independent...