Finland-Swedes are well known for largely voting for the Swedish People’s Party of Finland or for Swedish-speaking candidates in other parties. But the question of why they do so, and under what conditions, has so far eluded researchers. University Lecturer Staffan Himmelroos of the Swedish School of Social Science aims to change that.
His project ‘Etnolingvistisk identitet som politisk strategi bland kandidater och väljare – Finlandssvenskarna i ett jämförande perspektiv’ (Ethnolinguistic identity as a political strategy among candidates and voters – Finland-Swedes in comparative perspective) seeks to deepen our understanding of the political behaviour of Swedish-speaking candidates and voters in Finland.
“Finland-Swedish voter behaviour hasn’t previously been linked to international research on ethnic voter behaviour. Our aim is to understand it through more general theoretical principles concerning ethnic minorities,” says Himmelroos.
The four-year research project receives funding from the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland. The other scholars involved are Postdoctoral Researchers Daniel Kawecki and Venla Hannuksela, University Researcher Daniel Fittante, and Professor Peter Söderlund.
A strategic choice, not an automatic one
A key premise of the project is that political behaviour is not automatically tied to ethnic or linguistic identity. Speaking Swedish or identifying as a Finland-Swede does not automatically translate into voting for a specific party or candidate.
“It’s a strategic choice. People vote according to the conditions around them: the size of their group in their local area, the opportunities that exist to genuinely influence politics, and the extent to which candidates consider it worthwhile to emphasise their linguistic identity.”
It is precisely this dynamic that the project seeks to understand better, among both voters and politicians.
Finland provides exceptionally good conditions for this type of research. All residents are registered by language, giving access to detailed data seldom found in other countries.
Finland-Swedes also live in markedly different linguistic contexts: from municipalities where they account for 5% of the population to those where they form a clear majority. This variation is valuable.
“Early results from surveys aimed at candidates already reveal clear differences: politicians behave differently according to the linguistic context in which they find themselves. A candidate in a municipality where Swedish speakers account for just a few per cent of the population behaves differently from one in a predominantly Swedish-speaking municipality,” notes Himmelroos.
How do electoral systems affect ethnolinguistic mobilisation?
To establish whether the patterns observed in Finland are unique or can be found elsewhere, the project will compare it with four other regions where ethnolinguistic identity plays a role: Catalonia, the Brussels region, Luxembourg and Wales.
“We have chosen regions that are partly similar and partly different in terms of factors such as the electoral system and the dominance of the minority language. This allows us to examine the extent to which differing circumstances explain variation in political mobilisation, that is, how people organise themselves and engage in politics and decision-making.”
Himmelroos contends that the Finnish electoral system, with its focus on individual candidates, allows for interesting patterns that may not arise in quite the same way elsewhere. For instance, candidates can profile themselves as Swedish speakers even when not standing for the Swedish People’s Party.
“In closed-list electoral systems, however, it is the parties that determine who gets elected. This means candidates don’t have the same freedom to profile themselves, and the dynamics characteristic of the Finnish electoral system do not emerge in the same way.”
Research with relevance beyond Finland
The project will draw on a range of research methods. Qualitative interviews across the different language regions will be central, allowing local politicians and candidates to explain their mobilisation strategies.
The project will also use survey material aimed at candidates, which has already yielded initial results on how politicians think about their linguistic identity in different contexts. In addition, the research group will analyse administrative register data from Statistics Finland, that is, information on voter turnout broken down by language registration.
An important aim of the project is to demonstrate that research on Finland-Swedes is not only of interest to the group itself, but that the Finnish case can make a genuine contribution to wider international research.
“The ambition in Finland has primarily been to understand our own minority group. But I believe there’s much here that could be of interest beyond Finland, given that political mobilisation along ethnic lines is a common phenomenon in many countries.”