Among the population of young adults studied, the researchers found four groups of political orientation:

Politics and elections are an important target of study not least because they influence the political system so strongly. It is especially important to get a picture of political choices among young adults, because that is where the future of our democratic system lies. Policy makers have long been worried about young people’s alienation from politics. Having the study conducted here in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area instead of elsewhere is motivated by the fact that the region often turns out to be a trendsetter: both the alienation from politics among young people and the newly awakening interest in the early 2000s could first be seen in Helsinki, then in the rest of Finland. Anyway, voting turnouts are still far from the ideal. The level of education of voters influences their propensity to vote. The lowly educated are more passive voters than the highly educated. Again, it is encouraging to note that confidence in the political system in Finland grew between 1988 and 2004.

Tuomo Martikainen  &  Sami Fredriksson
Vaalit ja politiikka
Pääkaupunkiseudun nuorten aikuisten poliittiset valinnat 1998–2004
Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskus / Tutkimuksia 2006:5

Tuomo Martikainen  &  Sami Fredriksson
Elections and Politics
Political choices among young adults in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area
City of Helsinki Urban Facts /   Research series 2006:5

In the 1980s and 1990s in particular, political ties seemed to slacken. What has been most obvious in this disengagement process has been a common, sometimes very unspecified and emotional criticism of politics, parties and party leaders, and a renunciation of the traditional party-oriented forms of participation, especially political elections. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area has been a trendsetter in this process.

Interestingly enough, however, the findings suggest that young people’s interest in politics may have reached the bottom in the first few years of the 2000s, and that signs of improvement can be seen. Many gauges show that the general aversion against politics is weakening. Voting, for example, which has been declining ever since the 1960, has stopped falling on aggregate and even started rising somewhat. But in terms of the ideals of western democracy, the level we were down to for a while was remarkably low and thereby unsatisfactory. Today, on the other hand, the Metropolitan Area – Helsinki in particular – may again be setting the trend, this time towards a reborn interest in politics.

City of Helsinki Urban Facts
P.O BOX 5500
FIN-00099 City of Helsinki
Finland
Phone: +358 9 1691*
tietokeskus.kirjaamo@hel.fi
http://www.hel2.fi/tietokeskus
Mr. Markus Laine (Senior researcher)

07/09/2006

Tuomo Martikainen & Sami Fredriksson

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Citizens' participation