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12 Baltic J.L. & Pol. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/bjlp12 and id is 1 raw text is: BALTIC JOURNAL OF LAW & POLITICS A Journal of Vytautas Magnus University VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1 (2019) ISSN 2029-0454 sciend O Cit.: Baltic Journal of Law & Politics 12:1 (2019): 1-34 https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/bjlp/bjlp- overview.xml DOI: 10.2478/bjlp-2019-0001 MARITIME SECURITY AND THE ROLE OF COAST GUARDS: THE CASE OF FINLAND AND THE ALAND ISLANDS' DEMILITARISATION Asa Gustafsson Ph.D. Student Abo Akademi University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Economics (Finland) Contact information Address: Tuomiokirkontori 3, FI-20500 Turku, Finland Phone: +358 40 1899117 E-mail address: asagusta@abo.fi Received: November 13, 2018; reviews: 2; accepted: June 10, 2019. ABSTRACT The measures and policies states adopt and apply related to law enforcement at sea in peacetime, such as setting up and legislating about Coast Guards and their role, increasingly take maritime security into account. A grey area between military and civilian rules, actors, and activities, can be discerned in relation to maritime security. The article explores the issue of security concerns as a basis for the on-going widening of powers of the Finnish Border Guard, which includes the Coast Guard - in particular how such a widening of the powers relates to the Aland Islands' demilitarised status. The main question here is whether there is a conflict between possible military aspects of the Coast Guard vis-b-vis the demilitarised status of the Aland Islands. The article identifies aspects of a military nature regarding how the Finnish Coast Guard functions; these are not assessed as being decisive: the Border Guard is not part of the armed forces in peacetime. The article highlights the