What to learn if not law?

On the long and twisting road of the training of administrative government officials in Finland starting from the early 1900’s

• Paavo Tarvainen Suomen Akatemia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33336/aik.96640

Abstract

The article deals with the topic of training in work life and looks at the training of administrative government officials in the years 1905–1945. In a modern state, government officials should be active in the fulfilment of their office and not simply apply the current legislation. This being so, law studies on their own are not sufficient. This was the conclusion made when dealing with the issue of government officials already at the beginning of this century. The article examines these ideas, suggestions and measures taken to change the basic and further training of government officials in the direction of greater social content and current matters. Of the plans actually implemented, the most important one was the establishment in 1945 of the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Helsinki. This was largely due to the need to train government officials. But the old dispute concerning the training of administrative government officials remained unsolved.