Finnish democracyReflections on future and past

Jyrki J.J. KasviParliament of Finland

Committee for the Future

Committee for the Future

• The first committee for the future in the world!• Established in 1993 in the middle of a deep national recession

– Initiative by the members of the Parliament (167/200)

• Does not take actively part in day to day legislation by choice• Prepares Parliament’s replies for Government’s Futures

reports concerning national long-term development – e.g. Finnish population policy

• Responsible for parliamentary technology assessment – e.g. Information society, gene technology, RFID, future of health care

• Brings into political discussion longer term (10-100 yrs) issues– ”A parliamentary think-tank”

Opportunities

• New technologies involve new people in governance– New tools for public awareness and interaction

• Participative and deliberative democracy– Citizen can follow political processes, get background information and

participate in public debate– Challenge: How to include less active people in decision making

• Interactive ”amateur” media vs. edited broadcasting media– Anyone can become a mass media provider

• New interactive participative media create new social cultures – Network cultures, even nations replace geographical identities

Informing

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Public debate

Politicaldecisionmaking

Civil servant

preparation

Knowledge management

InteractionBack office

Front office

Client office

Challenges

• Populistic pollcracy replaces democracy– Constant direct interaction with voters does not necessarily encourage

informed, compromise seeking decision making• Legislative process is too slow

– e.g. the brand new Finnish modem hijacking prevention policy• Easy to pick only those information sources that support our

preconceptions– e.g. CNN vs. Fox and U.S. public debate on Iraq

• As ICT becomes ubiquitous, the digital divide evolves into an activity divide– ICT gives active people more opportunities to be active members

of the society– ICT gives passive people more opportunities to be passive.

Digital value questions

Democracy = privacy + freedom of speech– Right to get information freely and without tracing – Right to express oneself without fear of retribution

• e.g. the background of the Finnish Constitution 100 years ago, when censorship of critical papers lead to civil unrest and political terrorism.

• Right for personal privacy is being questioned– Private letters vs. private emails– retention of telecommunication vs. retention of mail

communication data• Right for freedom of speech is being questioned

– Anonymity in a demonstration vs. anonymity in Internet discussion– Discussion about drug manufacturing tech. vs. copy protection tech.

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Finnish survival story

• In the early 1990’s Finland was almost taken over by IMF– Collapse of the Soviet Union– Global recession– Incompetent (but necessary) liberalisation of Finnish banks

• In the early 2000’s Finland was the most competitive nation in the world– 1990 2.467,000 pwy = 1995 2.070,000 pwy (f.ex. banking industry)– Early adopter of new information and communication technologies– Strong points: Technologies, Company operations and strategy,

clustering/networking, corporate ethics, environmental management, lack of corruption

– Weak points: Exchange rate, inflation, interest rate, bureaucratic red tape, inflexible wages, agricultural policy, pay/productivity, lack of wage equality of sexes, maternity laws…

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What went right

• Whole society focused on education and research and development– Massive public and private investment particularly on

telecommunication E&R&D – Welfare services and benefits were cut simultaneously– Fortunately this started even before the recession

• E.g. The number of engineers passed the number of dairy farms in 1986

• Tax cuts and foreign loans– Keeping society stable with borrowed money instead of

bleeding Finnish economy dry

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How was this possible

• The decisions made were politically totally unacceptable– A unique rainbow coalition government

• Stable multi-party system creates continuity– Coalition governments with parties from previous ones – Good interaction between parliament and government– (Consensus policy makes politics boring and discourages voters)

• Shared vision across society– Shared history (war)– Shared social institutions (national security and economy courses)– Shared culture: Sauna, summer cottages, Midsummer, Christmas

• Cooperation between government, unions, industry labour and industry and resarch institutes and universities– Consesus at its best

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Challenges left

• Mass unemployment vs. lack of qualified employees• Overshooting educational targets

– A nation of engineers is not possible– Lack of competent people on other critical fields (geronpsychology) Rapid

changes have been very stressful to people

• Work related mental health problems, particularly depression • Delayed preparation for ageing population

– In 2009, 50% of the Finnish voters will be over 50 years of age– Finnish welfare system encourages delayed child making– Finnish immigration policy is still in its infancy

• Uneven development of productivity – Private sector vs. public services

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Discussion?