Social Movements, Voluntary Associations and Cycles of Protest in Finland 1905‐91

Abstract

During the 20th century five cycles of protest have emerged in Finland: 1905‐18, 1928‐32, 1944‐48, 1966‐76, and the continuing cycle of new social movements beginning around the end of the 1970s. This article begins with an examination of the differences and similarities in the formation of these cycles against the background of antecedent political opportunity structures. The question of the relationship between social protest movements and formal voluntary associations is then addressed. It is shown that social movements and formal voluntary associations have been interactive, mutually reinforcing ways of reacting to different manifestations of social crisis. Existing formal associations have created the preconditions for the occurrence of protest movements and vice versa: new voluntary associations have been born out of cycles of protest and protest movements. Movements and voluntary associations have also been central in creating pressures for reforming state institutions and thus in developing the Finnish welfare state.

Group formation, styles, and grammars of commonality in local activism

“…In previous analyses of contemporary Finnish social movements, the prevalence of expertise and constructive ‘efficiency‐led’, even consensual, participation over contention and confrontational styles has been stressed (e.g., Siisiäinen ; Berglund and Harper ; Alapuro ; Luhtakallio ). Risto Alapuro’s () influential explanation grounds on the definition of representation in the Finnish context: in a nutshell, the mediation of citizen‐state relations by voluntary associations, and a dominating idea of the society as a transparent, thoroughly represented entity with no threatening, obscure forces looming behind.…”

‘I do not trust any of them anymore’: Institutional distrust and corrective practices in pro-asylum activism in Finland

“…This is partly because different countries have various traditions of political activism (Rosenberger, 2018). In the Finnish context, which is characterised by high trust in institutions, consensus-oriented political culture, and modest protest culture (Alapuro, 2005; Luhtakallio, 2012; Siisiäinen, 1992), the questions of how and why citizens lose trust in institutions and of how distrust affects individuals and their civic activism offer interesting new insight into how trust and distrust play out in political activism.…”