(September 2015) The Finnish Defence Command (Finnish: PÃ¤Ã¤esikunta, Swedish: Huvudstaben) is the headquarters of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its duty is to care for the maintenance, planning and preparedness of the military defence of the realm.
Making foreign policy requires the participation of the President, the executive branch, Congress and the public. Conducting foreign policy, on the other hand, is the exclusive prerogative of the President and his subordinates in the executive branch. The distinction is fuzzy but important: you make policy when you decide to protect the security of the Persian Gulf; you conduct policy when you send the Navy to do it.
In a classic parliamentary system, a foreign minister can potentially exert significant influence in forming foreign policy but when the government is dominated by a strong prime minister the foreign minister may be limited to playing a more marginal or subsidiary role in determining policy.