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- Title
Laantuuko poliittinen tuki osallistuvalle demokratialle? Tapaustutkimus Turun kaupunginvaltuustosta.
- Authors
Salminiitty, Ritva
- Abstract
In recent years, empirical studies in Finland have indicated that municipal decision makers' support towards direct citizen participation has weakened. For example, in a survey conducted by the Foundation for Municipal Development in 2011, a clear majority of city councilors rejects the idea of increasing the use of referenda. The same study noted that city councilors were more skeptical towards the suitability of referenda than ever before since 2000. In addition, prior studies have indicated that despite wide discussion about citizen participation and governmental programs to develop democracy, the implementation of new procedures of citizen participation proceeds rather slowly in Finnish municipalities. My research focuses on decision-makers' attitudes towards citizen participation. In this article, I introduce results of a case study conducted at Turku City Council. The research material consists of two surveys, which were conducted in 2005 and 2013, and interviews of city councilors. In this article the conception of participatory democracy is considered more widely than only referenda. According to the results the support for participatory democracy has diminished despite of the general positive attitudes of councilors. Constant general positive attitude is explained more by the fact that those councilors, whose previous attitudes were already positive towards participatory democracy have strengthen their attitudes instead of indication of increasing number of supporting councilors. Simultaneously the minimalist attitudes seem to be strengthened. The results indicate quite clear polarization in councilors' attitudes towards citizen participation.
- Subjects
FINLAND; DECISION making in government policy; CITIZEN participation in planning
- Publication
Sosiologia, 2018, Vol 55, Issue 2, p130
- ISSN
0038-1640
- Publication type
Article