"Ne jotka ei pysty ihmisten töihin, menee eduskuntaan ja ministeriöihin" : Juice Leskinen epävirallisena poliittisena edustajana

Kirjoittajat

• Aki Luoto

Abstrakti

The article examines representative talk of Finnish MPs at plenary debates of the Finnish parliament concerning Talvivaara mine between 2012 and 2015. With representative talk it is referred to talk that puts forward representative claims to represent something or somebody. It is asked: What representative claims did the MPs make? At first instance a distinction is made between traditional empirical representation research and the concept of representation after the so-called representa­tive turn. In the vein of the latter approach, the article treats MPs as makers of representative claims rather than as de facto representatives of something or someone. It is found that MPs made rep­resentative claims by referring to different human categories and areas, making thus interpretations of what or whom were important. These categories and areas were interpreted so that they fitted the MPs’ political agendas, yet the interpretations seemed rather reactionary and politically correct. The MPs took the role of speaking on behalf of ‘the people’, thus fulfilling their expected role in the polity. As such, it is suggested, representative claims reveal something of the wider political culture and they cannot be examined detached from the institutional environment in which they are presented.