Etujärjestöedustus asiantuntemuksen muotona

Authors

• Pertti Lappalainen

Abstract

The aim of this article is to describe the logic of the representation of interest organizations in the state bureaucracy, i.e., to find reasons that have resulted in the representation of interest organizations. This is done from two starting points. The one is the inner technical rationalization of interest organizations and the other is rationalization of the state bureaucracy. These two viewpoints are then bound together by the concept of the division of labour. The former point of view explains the problem so that when an interest organization wishes to survive, it has to rationalize its inner activity which leads to professionalization of its decision making, to cooperation with the state bureaucracy and to different interests on the various levels of an organization. From the latter point of view we can reach the conclusion that modern state bureaucracy, because of its rationalization principle (Weber), needs expert knowledge in order to be as efficient as possible — and one necessary form of expert knowledge is the representation of interest organizations. The meaning of expert knowledge in general in a political system is very problematic. On the one hand it is necessary, but on the other it may — as an extreme case — eliminate the realization of the political nature of a society because the power of expert knowledge as an ’objective’ and unchangeable structure may prevent the formation of power struggle and steadily changing conflict fronts between men.