Kansalaistuva politiikka? Huomioita kuntalaisaktiivisuudesta poliittisena toimijuutena

Authors

• Tiina Rättilä

Abstract

In this article I analyse the practical features and theoretical significance of ‘kuntalaisaktiivisuus’ (local resident activism), a form of local civic action that has sprung up increasingly in Finland in recent years. ‘Kuntalaisaktiivisuus’ starts with extensive critique of the dominant norms and mechanisms of the local system of representative democracy, which, according to local activists have rendered the political-administrative complex largely unresponsive to the current needs, problems and voices of citizens. Through various struggles – centered around such issues as land use, zoning, sustainable development, and social welfare – residents have challenged the existing practices of planning and decision-making, arguing for their re-democratization via more extensive public participation. The argument of this paper is that ‘kuntalaisaktiivisuus’ as a phenomenon reflects more general changes in citizens’ political subjectivity in late-modern societies. It is a notable feature of this subjectivity that actors consciously position themselves outside traditional political and ideological divisions and institutions, instead adopting the position of citizenship as a reference point for their political action and, in effect, politicizing the concept and practices of political citizenship, a notion formerly strongly ‘statified’ in Western political usage.