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Changing Feminist Politics in a ‘Strategic State’

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Feminisms in the Nordic Region

Part of the book series: Gender and Politics ((GAP))

Abstract

The chapter analyses the shifting relationship between feminist politics and the state in Finland in the 2010s, with the aim of providing new insights into this relationship in a changing political context. The chapter focuses on a particular form of neoliberal and managerial governance that aims to make government decision-making processes more strategic by narrowing down policy objectives and aligning them explicitly with fiscal objectives that have moved the Finnish welfare state in the direction of becoming a strategic state, in which economic imperatives overrule other political concerns. The chapter asks: (i) How do different feminist actors operate in the strategic state? and (ii) How are gender issues politicised in the strategic state by different feminist actors? The chapter approaches these questions through three different conceptualisations of feminist politics in Finland, namely, the idea of the velvet triangle, governance feminism, and intersectional feminism. The chapter shows how the network model of the velvet triangle is challenged in the context of the strategic state, while both governance feminism and intersectional feminism are strengthened.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    2016 saw the publication of a pamphlet authored by the TASAN!-network (Juntumaa et al. 2016), as well as books such as Let Go! A Guide to a Funnier Life (Meriläinen and Särmä 2016). In 2017, Brown Girls was published by Koko Hubara, and in 2018, 10 Myths about Feminism, a new anthology of feminist activism by Swedish-speaking Finns (Nyman 2018), along with two books on the Finnish #metoo-debates and Dammen brister appeared.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Anna Elomäki, Johanna Kantola & Anu Koivunen

  2. University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Hanna Ylöstalo

Authors
  1. Anna Elomäki
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  2. Johanna Kantola
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  3. Anu Koivunen
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  4. Hanna Ylöstalo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anu Koivunen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Suvi Keskinen

  2. Department of Politics and Society, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Pauline Stoltz

  3. Department of Gender Studies, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Diana Mulinari

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Elomäki, A., Kantola, J., Koivunen, A., Ylöstalo, H. (2021). Changing Feminist Politics in a ‘Strategic State’. In: Keskinen, S., Stoltz, P., Mulinari, D. (eds) Feminisms in the Nordic Region. Gender and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53464-6_4

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