What is the nature of democracy? And what kind of democracy do we have in Finland? Do we have the government that we deserve?

In the complexity of the modern world the decisions made by politicians affect the lives of all of us and we need to trust these decision-makers. In four case-studies, based upon interviews with the people intimately involved, Arja Alho examines how power is exercised in Finland and how we learn about decisions. She places these cases within a broader context to consider whether the process that they show is what we really want. Isthere such a thing as the public sphere as a domain of democracy or is it only an illusion? Alho argues that we need genuine communication andtransparency, not just information and entertainment. Finland was among the first countries to enter Economic and Monetary Union.

How was this decision debated? And how did Finland come to adopt its policy on free trade and towards the World Trade Organization? These two cases are studied in the framework of globalization, a trend of increasing importance in the modern world.

How did the privatization of Sonera lead to the first of a series of scandals, with the dismissal of Sonera´s CEO Pekka Vennamo and resignation of Minister Matti Aura? And why did attempts to restructure Finland´s labour policy in the 1990s lead to scandal? These two cases are analyzed to look at the role of the media in how we learn about politics and whether transparency also means scandal.

Arja Alho first entered Parliament in 1983 and her study offers a fascinating insight into government, seen through the eyes of the decision-makers themselves. In Silent Democracy, Noisy Media, she sets out to stimulate debate on Finnish democracy and offer tools to understand the reality of how power is exercised in Finland.