»Rödmyllan» i komparativt perspektiv

En forskningspropå

Författare

• Lauri Karvonen

Abstract

The 1937 Coalition Cabinet between Social Democrats and Agrarians signified a new consensus around parliamentary democracy in Finland. It also meant that Finland entered the same political course as the rest of Scandinavia, where similar red-green compromises had been reached a few years earlier. The author stresses that the provious course of political development in independent Finland — civil war, viable Communism, strong indigenous fascism — would have suggested a transition to authoritarian or fascist rule as in many countries with similar conditions. The gist of the article is devoted to a preliminary discussion on those factors which linked Finland to the Scandinavian path of development. The heritage of agrarian politics, party systemic factors, the network of inter-Scandinavian exchanges and the timing of the red-green agrements are seen as important explanatory factors.