Parliament and Direct Forms of Citizen Participation: The political impact of Citizens’ Initiative in Finland

The Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) established the Act of Citizens’ Initiative in 2012, which allows the citizens to participate in legislative agenda-setting. Between March 2012 and April 2015, more than 370 initiatives were launched, 6 were transferred to the Eduskunta and 1 initiative on same-sex marriage law succeeded in passing through the legislative process. Why did the Eduskunta enact the citizens’ initiative which allows for a direct channel of civic engagement in the legislative process? What are the distinctive features of the Finnish version of citizens’ initiative? Who have initiated and how has the Eduskunta responded? How have they influenced on parliamentary decision-making? Based on parliamentary document analysis and in-depth interviews with citizen initiators, MPs and parliamentary staff, this paper examines the institutional design, practical use and political role of the citizens’ initiative in Finland. Despite being a ‘top-down’ project of the Finnish government, this institution of participatory democracy has quickly proven its ‘functionality’ as an alternative channel of legislative agenda-setting. It has generated new political dynamics in parliamentary decision-making, while contributing to expanding public discussion and opening up parliamentary procedures. The study finds, however, that the publicity of committee deliberation is still very limited and long-term impacts on the state of democracy and citizenship remains unclear.