Scrutiny of private lives of government ministers seen to reflect political change

Political scientist says Kanerva case is indicative of increase in public scrutiny

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The most important change in Finnish political culture would seem to be the increase in political control over government ministers, says Ilkka Ruostetsaari, Professor of Political Science at the University of Turku.
      He notes that before this week’s removal of Minister for Foreign Affairs Ilkka Kanerva (Nat. Coalition Party), no minister had been compelled to resign because of issues related to relations with the opposite sex.
     
Ruostetsaari admits that the concept of “political culture” is rather broad and vague. As he defines it, it is simply the way of doing things in politics that prevails in a country. It has not been customary in Finland for politicians at the ministerial level to be kicked out because of something in their private lives.
      “Ministers have had to resign for reasons related to their economic decisions, such as in the cases of Kauko Juhantalo, Suvi Lindén,
Matti Aura, and Arja Alho. Scrutiny over politicians has become tougher”, says Ruostetsaari, who has investigated politicians’ networking, among other things. He suspects that the old boy network did not deliver in Kanerva’s case.
      “The network appears to have crumbled, because the minister was not helped even by his good contacts in society. The deterioration began already in the years of the recession [of the 1990s].”
      “The general perception is that Finland is adopting a Western political culture. For instance, in Britain, messy affairs in a politician’s private life have led to resignations. There has even been talk in France about the relationships of President Nicolas Sarkozy”, Ruostetsaari says. A few years ago, this would have been unheardof.
      He concedes that the change does not appear to have emerged from the realm of politics itself, at least in the case of Ilkka Kanerva. Male politicians especially have been quiet, so the promoters of political change appear to have been women. "Even women of the National Coalition Party actively present criticism”, notes Ruostetsaari, who studies politics.
     
Nevertheless, surprisingly few citizens engage in political debate on the Internet, notes Pekka Hyvärinen, the Chairman of the Council for Mass Media in Finland. Hyvärinen and Kari Haakana, managing editor of the computer magazine Tietokone, recently pointed out that politics is examined in perhaps up to 1,000 Finnish blogs, with possibly tens of thousands of people taking part in the online discussions on them.
      “This is a guess by an informed expert”, Hyvärinen notes. There were 4.3 million people eligible to vote in the last Parliamentary elections, so in that respect at least, the number of people involved in the discussions is still small. Those taking part in online discussions are typically men under the age of 50. Women rarely are involved.
      Hyvärinen is not so sure that there really has been a change in the political culture.
      “It remains to be seen whether the cases of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and Foreign Minister Kanerva ... are ultimately just isolated incidents occurring in the same year”, Hyvärinen ponders.
     
Some politicians themselves have dismissed the idea of a changing culture, arguing that the same rules, laws, and moral codes apply irrespective of whether someone is in public office or not.
      The differences emerge in the context of whose affairs emerge in the public domain and whose do not.
      The Centre Party secretary Jarmo Korhonen also pointed the finger at the media's behaviour, arguing that commercial objectives had led some parts of the media to the edge of what is legal.
      The Social Democratic Party chairman Eero Heinäluoma feels that the Kanerva case only reinforces previously-held principles, arguing that ministers' private lives have always had certain demands placed upon them.
      He warns nevertheless that it would be very important to avoid slipping into the American style of politics, where style and appearance dominate.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  MEP Alexander Stubb to replace Ilkka Kanerva as Foreign Minister (1.4.2008)
  Exhausted Kanerva cancels participation at conference in Estonia (31.1.2008)
  Johanna Tukiainen: Nothing improper in Kanerva´s SMS messages (28.3.2008)

Links:
  Kanerva apologises over SMS uproar (14.3.2008)

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