Abstract
This chapter provides an insight into practices and public debates about minority rights in Finland. The theory of multicultural citizenship outlined by Will Kymlicka (2010; 2001a; 1995) provides a framework for this presentation. In his widely influential publications in political philosophy, Kymlicka has distinguished between the minority rights of two different types of minorities in modern nation-states: on the one hand, old national minorities, and on the other hand, new minorities that have emerged as a consequence of immigration. This dichotomy provides an analytical tool for discussions about minority rights. In this chapter, the cases of Swedish-speaking Finns and Kurdish immigrants in Finland are presented and discussed in the light of this analytical dichotomy. The chapter discusses the different needs and rights of these two minorities from a general sociological point of view. Furthermore, in the last part of the chapter, the support for a backlash against multicultural policies coming from populist and far-right parties is exemplified with the case of the minority rights statements of the political party called the True Finns.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Banting, Keith and Kymlicka, Will (ed.). 2006. Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brubaker, Rogers. 2001. ‘The Return of Assimilation?’ Ethnic and Racial Studies, 24(4): 531–548.
Engman, Max. 1995. ‘Finns and Swedes in Finland’. In Sven Tägil (ed.). Ethnicity and Nation Building in the Nordic World. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 179–216.
Finnäs, Fjalar. 2010. Finlandssvenskarna 2009-en statistisk rapport [The Swedishspeaking Finns: A Statistical Report]. Helsingfors: Folktinget. Available at http://www.folktinget.fi/, accessed 24 October 2011.
Joppke, Christian. 2004. ‘The Retreat of Multiculturalism in the Liberal State: Theory and Policy’. British Journal of Sociology, 55 (2): 237–257.
Kivisto, Peter. 2002. Multiculturalism in a Global Society. Oxford: Blackwell.
Klövekorn, Martin. 1960. Die sprachliche Struktur Finnlands 1880–1950 (‘The Linguistic Structure of Finland 1880–1950’). Helsingfors: Finska vetenskapssocieteten.
Kymlicka, Will. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kymlicka, Will. 1998. Finding Our Way: Rethinking Ethnocultural Relations in Canada. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kymlicka, Will. 2001a. Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism, and Citizenship. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kymlicka, Will. 2001b. ‘Liberalism, Dialogue and Multiculturalism’. Ethnicities, 1(1): 128–136.
Kymlicka, Will. 2007. Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kymlicka, Will. 2010. ‘The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism? New Debates on Inclusion and Accommodation in Diverse Societies’. International Social Science Journal, 61(199): 97–112.
Kymlicka, Will. 2011. ‘Multicultural Citizenship within Multination States’. Ethnicities, 11 (3): 281–302.
Kymlicka, Will and Norman, Wayne (ed.). 2000. Citizenship in Diverse Societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kymlicka, Will and Opalski, Magda (ed.). 2001. Can Liberal Pluralism Be Exported? Western Political Theory and Ethnic Relations in Eastern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kymlicka, Will and Patten, Alan (ed.). 2003. Language Rights and Political Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Martikainen, Tuomas; Valtonen, Kathleen and Wahlbeck, Östen. 2012. ‘The Social Integration of Immigrants in Finland’. In James Frideres and John Biles (eds.). International Perspectives: Integration and Inclusion. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 127–146.
May, Stephen. 2011. Language and Minority Rights: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Language (2nd Edition). London: Routledge.
May, Stephen; Modood, Tariq and Squires, Judith (eds). 2004. Ethnicity, Nationalism and Minority Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McRae, Kenneth D. 1997. Conflict and Compromise in Multilingual Societies: Vol. 3, Finland. (Waterloo Canada): Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
McRae, Kenneth D. 2007. ‘Toward Language Equality: Four Democracies Compared’. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 187(188): 13–34.
Myntti, Kristian. 2010. Nationalspråk och minoritetsspråk i ljuset av finländsk lagstiftning och internationella konventioner (‘National Language and Minority Language in the Light of Finnish Law and International Treaties’). Helsingfors: Svenska kulturfonden.
Myntti, Kristian and Nuolijärvi, Pirkko. 2006. ‘The Case of Finland’. In Spiliopoulou Åkermark, Sia (ed.). International Obligations and National Debates: Minorities around the Baltic Sea. Mariehamn: The Åland Islands Peace Institute, 171–225.
Parekh, Bhikhu. 2000. Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory. London: Macmillan.
Parekh, Bhikhu. 2001. ‘A Response’. Ethnicities, 1(1): 137–140.
Rex, John. 1996. Ethnic Minorities in the Modern Nation State. London: Macmillan.
Saukkonen, Pasi. 2011. Mikä suomenruotsalaisissa ärsyttää? Selvitys mediakeskustelusta Suomessa. (‘Why are Swedish-speaking Finns Annoying? Report on the Media Debate in Finland’) Helsinki: Magma. Available at http://www.magma.fi/images/stories/reports/ms 1101_mikasu_s.pdf.
Sheikhmous, Omar. 1993. ‘Kurdische Kultur und Politik im Exil’ (‘Kurdish Culture and Politics in Exile’). In Kurden im Exil (Vol. 3). Berlin: Edition Parabolis, 2.12.1–11.
Statistics Finland. 12 September 2012. Statistics Finland: Statistical Databases. Available at http://www.stat.fi/til/index_en.html.
Stenius, Henrik. 2003. ‘The Language Issue in Finland’, In Clive Archer and Pertti Joenniemi (eds). The Nordic Peace. Aldershot: Ashgate, 157–170.
Taylor, Charles and Gutmann, Amy (ed.). 1994. Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics ofRecognition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Valtonen, Kathleen. 1998. ‘Resettlement of Middle Eastern Refugees in Finland: The Elusiveness of Integration’. Journal of Refugee Studies, 11(1): 38–60.
Wahlbeck, Östen. 1999. Kurdish Diasporas: A Comparative Study of Kurdish Refugee Communities. London: Macmillan.
Wahlbeck, Östen. 2002. ‘The Concept of Diaspora as an Analytical Tool in the Study of Refugee Communities’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 28(2): 221–238.
Wahlbeck, Östen. 2003. Mångkulturalism i Finland — en kritisk litteraturöversikt (‘Multiculturalism in Finland: A Critical Review of the Literature’). Åbo: Åbo Akademi.
Wahlbeck, Östen. 2004. ‘Kurds in Finland’. In Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember, and Ian Skoggard (eds). Encyclopedia of Diasporas. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 1004–1010.
Willett, Cynthia (ed.). 1998. Theorizing Multiculturalism: A Guide to the Current Debate. London: Blackwell.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Östen Wahlbeck
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wahlbeck, Ö. (2013). Multicultural Finnish Society and Minority Rights. In: Kivisto, P., Wahlbeck, Ö. (eds) Debating Multiculturalism in the Nordic Welfare States. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318459_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318459_12
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-34769-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31845-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)