In Finnish health care and social welfare legislation, a shift towards strengthening the individual’s right to participate has been significant during the past two decades. While the traditional presumption of citizen involvement and developing of deliberative democracy lies on normality and social activism, it is becomingapparent that the substantial amount or Finnish social and healthcare expenditure is used by one tenth of citizens who do not fit into this category and can be considered as large-scale consumers of the services. We refer to this group, identified by high service consumption and low participation, as the absent minority. In this paper, we illuminate the legislative and participative possibilities of involving and acknowledging this group in communal welfare service development.

Broadly defined, deliberative democracy aspires the decision-making legitimacy by deliberation of equal citizens. As a response to the growing discontent with the representational governance, the normative and empirical development of the deliberative democracy theory addresses the increasing desiderata of public engagement beyond party politics and constituencies. Generating knowledge for the use of policy-making, foresight shares a common ground of participative and policy-impacting challenges with the deliberative democracy theory. In this article the prospects and mutual advantages of deliberative democracy (DD) alliance with the field of futures studies are discussed. The exploration strives to accentuate the societal policy-making advantages of the cross-disciplinary development. The article begins with introducing the deliberative democracy theory and the theoretical development, following with an account of some encouraging deliberative practices. A brief sketch of two recent projects enhancing participation detail the discrepancies in defining the concept. After examining the common epistemic ground of futures studies and social studies, the cross-disciplinary interface and shared key elements in policy-making impact are described. The article proposes a multi-voiced and future-oriented dialogue as a prerequisite for ameliorating societal preparedness and resilience in a world marked by proliferating uncertainty.

Changing public administration and guidelines for working life competencies in Finnish higher education What are the requirements of working life in the public administration in the future? What working life skills should be emphasized in national education of Public Administration? The results of the article base upon four empirical research materials: (1) a study based on anticipatory material, (2) a survey, (3) a workshop, and (4) an expert panel on working life requirements in public administration. The findings are analysed and construed with reference to international and national literature. The results emphasize change, transformation ability, networking public administration, phenomenon-based orientation, collaboration and customer orientation. Keywords: public administration education, competencies, working life skills, development

Shared, experience driven and value based perspectives in an ongoing interaction of agents constitute the basis of the co-evolutionary dynamic of a complex system. The interpretation of good governance comprehends participation as increasingly fundamental in approaching policies in complex systems. This chapter presents a Delphi-study of the possibilities and obstacles of participative policymaking (PPM) in municipal welfare services viewed by an expert panel consisting of 37 participants representing the executive managers of 3 rd sector organizations, the chairmen of the municipal councils or welfare service boards and the leading office-holders of municipal welfare offices in Finland. The panel estimated and discussed the projections of participatory welfare policy making in 2030. The outcomes of the study indicate that regardless of technological preparedness and the structural opportunities offered by a reform, cultural inertia and unawareness generate attitudes inhibitory on PPM practices. Albeit participative practices were considered influential to policymaking legitimacy as well as central to the nature of equal and flexible resource distribution, there were reservations about the inclusion of the participation. There were concerns over the validity and the liability of the decisions reached by participative means. Several undercurrents affecting the development of PPM were discernible in the conversations.

Hallinnon tutkimuksen tulevaisuus VastapainoTampere 2022 © Vastapaino, tekijät isbn 978-951-768-995-3 (painettu kirja