Political culture and Forest Programmes in Finland

1. Political culture and Forest Programmes in Finland Pekka Ollonqvist & Harri Hänninen Finnish Forest Research Institute

2. Political culture and Governance in Finland • Elements of Political Culture • State and Local Governance • Main features of power structures of political arena: • dominance of president during 1956-1981 • steps to parliamentary democracy during 1982-1991 • adaptation to international communities from 1992- • Forest policy culture through decades

3. The Concept of Political Culture • Political cultureCase: Parliamentary democracy • Concentration of public and private power and activities on policy arena • Legal base of institutions; extent and coverage • Levels of political arena • Legislative level - President/constitutional monarch - Parliament • Executive level - Government – NGOs • Political culture implement: • how to legitimate social institutions • the set of legitimate actions for: • Public power • NGOs on legislative(lobbying)/executive (corporatist networks) levels • set of candidate actions to modify or revise social institutions • set of candidate agendas to modify or revise social institutions

4. State governance in Finland • Legislate level • president • common (currently direct) election, • a six-year term, • prior strong status dismantled for parliament • unicameral parliament • common (proportional) election • a four-year term • president can dissolve (for specified reasons) • Executive level • government • multi-party tradition • non-governmental organisations (NGOs) • strong advocacy colitions among labour unions and agriculture

5. Local governance in Finland • provincial advocacy administration • only executive institutions on state power (parliament election, justice, defence, environment…) • strong municipal self-governance • 450 municipalities • common (proportional) election • access to taxation, educational and health institutions • Multicultural regionsin culture, language, religion and strong minority rights • Identification of citizenship on local and national state level

6. President substituted Parliament and Government during 1956-81 Forest policy arena Intensive, expanding timber production Legislate level: • Unchanged STM Executive level: • Timber investment programs (MERA I-III, 1963-1975) • integrated part of macroeconomic planning • initiative from forest strong, closednetwork • top-down approach • technocrat planning Political arena Towards Scandinavian welfare state Legislate level: • president and elite dominates Executive level: • Governments • short lived • short run policy targets • freqent parliamentary minority • NGOs • increasing political power • single advocacy for organised interest • Economic Council • major arenaneo-corporatist actions

7. Towards parliamentary democracy during 1982-92 Political arena Parliamentary state for individuals Legislate level: • new president initiated actions to strenghten parliamentary power Executive level: • Governments • multi- party majority • living parliamentary period • long run policy tragets • NGOs • multiple advocacies for organised interest • strong diversified political powerstrong • Economic Council • neo- corporatist actions extends to market prices and social policy • International dimension • associate contracts to international networks Forest policy arena Intensive, expanding timber production and use Legislate level: • Unchanged STM Executive level: Programsfor timber investments and use • Forest 2000 (1985) • Rev Forest 2000 (1992) • Economic Council initiator • forest network • dominating role • forest science society higly involved • extended representation of interest groups • first ENGO since 1991 • top-down approach

8. Adaptation to international communities during 1992-2003 Political arena Internationalization & pluralism Legislate level: • strog parliament substitutes president into formal position by new constitution Executive level: • Government • multi-party parliamentary majority • living parliamentary period • detailed long run policy tragets • NGOs • multiple advocacies for organised interest • diversified arenas • pluralist participation • Market allocation • International dimension • restricting agreements & commitments • EU & EMU membership Forest policy arena Increasing timber use parallel with ecological biodiversity preservation Legislate level: • comprehensive revision of legislation for SFM Executive level: • Environmental Programme for Forestry (1994) • Finland’s NFP (1999) • formal status by government • forest network • forest science society in minor role • pluralist participation • many ENGOs involved • new participation channels • bottom-up approach • regional forest programmes

9. Forest policy culture through decades • Policy initials: government substitute forest networks • Policy preparation: from mono-corporatism to pluralist-corporatism • Policy agenda: • from closed preparation to new channels providing access to participation • from top-down approach towards bottom-up approach • from technocratic planning towards participatory planning • Policy implementation: • from fixed compherensive plans towards iterative policy formulation