Keskusteleva edustaminen ja luottamus eduskunnassa

Authors

• Juri Mykkänen

Abstract

Deliberative discussion is a common feature of all parliaments. In this article parliamentary deliberation is linked to organisationally created trust. Theoretically it is often assumed that deliberation and trust are mutually reinforcing aspects of human interaction. Here it is argued that contrary to intuition, deliberation and trust should be treated as partially exclusive social processes. It seems that in conditions of high trust parliamentary deliberation will be present only in a very limited sense, mainly because trust is based on members’ ability to appear selfish and to restrict dissemination of knowledge on parliamentary proceedings to non-specialist members. Based on ethnographic evidence, it is also shown that members of parliament are aware of this limitation. Hence, it is subject to manipulative tactics the success of which can be linked to sustained parliamentary careers.