Associational Activeness and Attitudes towards Political Citizenship in Finland from a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This article first focuses on the development of the system of associations and association memberships in Finland as well as additional forms of political participation from a comparative perspective and, second, expands the examination by analysing ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ dimensions of participation, i.e., the development of the number of Finnish association memberships and people's ideas of, and attitudes towards political citizenship. The typology of polity regimes adopted in this article (Schofer & Fourcade-Gourinchas) functions as a structuring scheme for understanding the differentia specifica of Finnish political participation. Two structural characteristics of the civil society have had special importance and continuity: First, the close relationship between the state and voluntary associations in all subfields of civil society, and, second the sovereign position of formal, registered associations along with the weakness of alternative forms of collective action. In Finland a strong, relatively equal civil society has developed as a combination of active voluntary associations, individual actors with many association memberships and citizens who on average have relatively weak attitudes towards political citizenship and who are not very eager to use alternative, less conventional repertoires of acting collectively.

Keywords:

• Voluntary association
• political participation
• civil society
• citizenship
• Finland