Consultation in the Finnish Legislative Process

The aim of the paper is to analyse the consultation of stakeholders and citizens in the Finnish legislative process. According to a Finnish guide on legislative preparation (Säädösvalmistelun kuulemisopas 2016), the aim of consultation is the “openness and good quality” of legislative preparation. According to the guide, consultation augments trust in democratic decision-making, enhances norm compliance, strengthens the fulfilment of civic and political rights and creates “open and constructive” interaction between public authorities, stakeholders and citizens. The analysis of Finnish consultation processes is interesting as they are anchored in the Nordic tradition of participation and in the (neo-)corporatist elements of the political system. At the same time, as the guidelines presented above show, consultation process are at least rhetorically interrelated with the current administrative “megatrends”: the discourse on the openness and quality of public management started in the New Public Management era (e.g. Erkkilä 2010); the “better regulation” agenda emphasizing the quality of regulation (e.g. Rantala 2011); the governance or post-New Public Management ideas of stakeholder involvement; and the demands for citizen participation and/ or deliberative processes in public administration. The data consists of two parts: first, official guidelines on consultation processes and second, the analysis of consultation processes presented in government bills, available in the Finnish legal database Finlex.fi.