Yksinäisiä ratsastajia ja monenlaisia yhteistyöverkostoja : kansanedustajien eduskunta-aloitteet 1999-2010 valtiopäivillä

Authors

• Antti Pajala

Abstract

I explore Members’ of Parliament (MP) private bills and other initiatives in the Finnish parliament Eduskunta. During three electoral periods (1999–2010) the Finnish MPs filed a vast amount of nearly 20 000 proposals. Of these over 75 % are budget amendments while law bills constitute some 10 %. Only very few proposals get processed in committees and even fewer get accepted. Roughly half of the proposals are sponsored by a single MP while the rest are sponsored by various combinations of MPs. While analyses of plenary voting primarily divide the Finnish MPs into government and opposition blocs, the analysis of private MPs proposals results in completely different pattern of MP cooperation. First, party initiatives sponsored by one or several Political Party Groups (PPG) are found. Second, local initiatives sponsored by MPs from the same electoral district are found. A handful of proposals sponsored by the absolute majority of all MPs are also found. Comparing the sponsor networks to the Swedish parliament, where the MPs tend to cooperate within the same PPG, reveals that the Finnish MPs cooperate significantly more over the party lines. According to the Finnish pattern matters can be initiated over the party lines while at the stage of decision party discipline steps in.