Sosialidemokraattien kertomukset : SDP:n periaateohjelmakeskustelu 1995-1999 kertomusanalyysin valossa

Authors

• Rauli Mickelsson

Abstract

This article analyses the discussion that took place during preparation of the 1999 Finnish Social Democratic Party programme in 1995–1999 as well as the finished programme itself. Through what kinds of stories did the Party constitute, legitimate, reproduce and change itself during these years? I compare the Social Democrats’ main manifestos with the stories by which the Party constituted and legitimated itself in the past, and with the visions presented in the European discussion of the state and of the challenges facing social democratic parties (also analysed in this article). The main conclusion of this research is that during these years the basis of the Party’s legitimacy began to be defined spatially rather than historically. The future was seen as unpredictable and even frightening, the epoch of progress having been left behind. Eco-catastrophy, globalisation, neoliberalism, egocentrism and the changes brought by to working life by information technology were seen as the threats of the future. Whereas before the Party had been legitimated with a linear story of progress, during preparation of the 1999 programme the central story was one of discontinuity.