The Parliament as a Model for Debate – Learning and Adoption of European Parliamentary Procedures in Finland

I shall examine 'parliamentarism' as a procedural model for debate. I approach the topic by analysing Finnish discussions on parliamentary rules and practices from the late 19th-century Diet of Finland to the early 20th-century unicameral Eduskunta. During that time, Finland was a grand duchy of the Russian Empire. The Russian rule did not consent to demands for establishing a parliamentary government in Finland, but Finnish interest in parliaments took also another emphasis. Finnish parliamentarians and members of the academia understood parliamentary work as a procedural mode of speech, debate and deliberation. The aim was to develop the Diet and the Eduskunta towards rules and practices of international parliamentarism. Even though the Finnish procedures were formally built on the Swedish Riksdag law, the understanding of parliamentarism's procedural aspect was based on and influenced by following European discussions and literature. Foreign parliaments, their procedures and debates were presented and studied especially in the Finnish press. Newspaper articles and translations of parliamentary debates introduced ideas, arguments and conceptual tools for Finnish debates. In the paper, I focus on the Finnish debates on taking, printing and publication of parliamentary minutes. In the Finnish discussions the importance of verbatim records was emphasised not only as a question of publicity and representation, but as a possibility to “parliamentarise” the Finnish procedures, fight the scarcity of time and to develop the quality of parliamentary debate to meet international models and standards. Interestingly, as a sign of a wider parliamentary influence, the procedures on parliamentary minutes were adopted in Finnish parties, associations, Church meetings and city councils. I use Finnish debates on parliamentary procedures as a window to highlight the procedural aspect of parliamentarism and its historical role in European parliamentary discussions.