Finland
Finland is a high-performing democracy. It is a sparsely populated country that is fairly homogenous but also features three notable historic minorities (in addition to a small foreign-born population): the Sámi indigenous peoples, the Swedish-speaking minority, and the Roma people. Finnish territory also encompasses the Åland islands, an autonomous region that hosts its own parliament and holds one seat in the national legislature. The Finnish political culture is pragmatic, as actors often cooperate across traditional ideological divides. The country’s mixed economy is highly industrialised and is dominated by the services sector but also features some manufacturing, refining, and primary production. In terms of its democratic performance over the last five years, Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices data reveals little change; Finland continues to perform in the high ranges across all attributes.
The long history that Finland shares with Sweden accounts for much of the Western and Nordic character of the national political culture. This is not to say that its similarly deep historical ties with Russia have not influenced the development of the modern Finnish state; indeed, domestic politics have always tended to reflect the country’s geopolitical location. The latter is aptly demonstrated by Finland’s 2022 bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Today, Finnish politics takes place within the framework of a multi-party, parliamentary system that is distinctive for its oversized majority coalitions. This structuring of the political system largely reflects the key cleavages within Finnish society: the left-right dimension, and the rural-urban cleavage. To some extent, and perhaps more so historically, the language divide (Finnish/Swedish) also carries explanatory power in terms of national political competition – with the Swedish People’s Party, which represents the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking Finnish population, remaining a frequent coalition partner. Much in line with larger trends in Western Europe, sociocultural dimensions have increasingly come to drive Finnish politics – particularly in terms of post-materialist issues such as immigration, the promotion of gender equality (with special attention to gender-based violence), policy of the European Union, the environment (in connection to the domestic forestry industry), and minority rights - including with respect to the Sámi and the Roma populations. The turn to issue-based politics has partially been driven by the rise of populism since the 2011 parliamentary election, which has been accompanied by a rise in heightened polarization between right wing and most other party supporters. Tension arising from the politicization of sociocultural issues has also been evident in other spheres – with some talking of a “political climate change” associated with growing discontent with the political system.
Finland hosts a comparatively healthy democracy that is, like many of its Western European counterparts, at-times threatened by the restrictive measures advocated for by potent populist currents. Looking ahead, it will be important to watch Fundamental Rights, as Finland has registered an increase of hate speech mainly targeting asylum- seekers, Muslims, persons of African descent, LGBTQIA+ persons, Roma and the Jewish community. Additionally, the ongoing legal reform on the Sami Parliament Act as well as the new progressive trans rights law on gender recognition are likely to impact Finland’s record on Fundamental Rights. It will also be important to watch gender-based violence, with roughly one in three Finnish women having experienced intimate partner violence. This trend exists despite the fact that Finland is a leader in gender equality and has experienced a significant increase in Gender Equality scores over the last two decades. It will be important to consider how a new law that defines rape as based on consent and that toughens sentences for sexual offences may bolster Gender Equality further.
Monthly Event Reports
July 2023 | Prime Minister urges parliamentary groups to review online behavior rules
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo expressed his opposition to online harassment and called on all parliamentary groups to reassess acceptable online behavior among their members, with the goal of upholding Finland as a role model for freedom of the press. The response comes following criticism of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, who issued a statement calling the online harassment of journalist Ida Erämaa a smear campaign. Erämaa was covering the racist scandals of Cabinet members (Vilhelm Junnila, Minister of Economic Affairs – who later resigned, Riikka Purra, the Finns Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister, and Wille Rydman the Minister of Economic Affairs), when she was subjected to online abuse, including threats of physical and sexual violence, as well as personal comments by MPs. The nonprofit Coalition for Women in Journalism has also condemned this.
June 2023 | Finland forms right-wing coalition government led by National Coalition Party
Following the April parliamentary elections, a coalition deal was reached between the conservative National Coalition Party (NCP), the Eurosceptic Finns Party, the minority-language Swedish People’s Party, and the Christian Democrats. The coalition negotiations lasted 74 days and were the second-longest in the country’s history. The new right-wing coalition holds 108 out of the 200 seats in the Finnish parliament. Petteri Orpo, the NCP leader, has been voted in as the country’s new prime minister. Key policy priorities for the new government are expected to be fiscally conservative changes, such as reduced government deficit and taxes, private sector job creation, and tighter policies on immigration. Out of the 18 ministries, 12 will be led by women, including the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, interior, and justice.
April 2023 | Finland officially joins NATO
Finland has become the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), ending its neutrality and military non-alignment approach and marking a milestone for the Alliance’s and the country’s security. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Finland’s accession to NATO is a positive step not only for NATO and Finland, but for Nordic security, too. Finland’s membership process lasted less than a year. Despite close cooperation with NATO, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Finland and other Nordic countries had maintained a military non-alignment strategy. In a historical context that includes a 1939 invasion by the Soviet Union, the war in Ukraine led to the increased support for NATO membership in Finland.
February 2023 | Finland passes new transgender law
A new transgender law was approved in parliament by 113 voting in favour of amendments, 69 against and 17 absent. The gender recognition law makes it easier for transgender people aged 18 and older to change their legal gender by granting them the right to do so by a process of self-declaration, which removes the medical and psychiatric approval process. A provision requiring transgender people to provide a medical certificate that would prove they were infertile or sterilized before changing their gender identity was also abolished. The law, which was a priority for Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government, was voted in overwhelmingly by Marin’s five-party coalition members, except for 13 Centre Party MPs, the Finns Party and the Christian Democrats. Rights activists have called the law a “major step towards protecting trans rights.”
Explore past monthly event reports
GSoD Indices Data 2013-2022
Basic Information
Human Rights Treaties
State party
Signatory
No action
Global State of Democracy Indices
Hover over the trend lines to see the exact data points across the years
Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time
Use the slider below to see how democratic performance has changed over time
