Browsing by Author "Tyrväinen, Taina"

Recent increase in immigration has resulted in new politics and practices, which aim to integrate immigrants and new ethnic minorities into the political decision-making process. One example of these politics is The Advisory Board for Ethnic Relations (ETNO), the object of this study. Since established in 1998 ETNO has brought immigrant and ethnic representatives together with the Finnish authorities to discuss issues related to immigration and integration. The assumption here was that there were many challenges which relate to representation in a consultative body. The focus of this study was to find out what kind of representative claims are made about ETNO’s representation and how they relate to immigrants’ and ethnic diversities’ positioning in the Finnish politics. The empirical data for this study was gathered by interviewing ten members of ETNO, who represented the ethnic communities and immigrant groups. In addition one interview was done with the ETNO secretary in order to receive more information about ETNO’s functions. The interviews were half-structural theme interviews. The results were analysed according to the method of content analysis and organised according to themes. Four different claims were made about claims of ETNO’s representation and different attitudes towards these claims were discussed in the analysis. First claim showed that the representatives give value to ETNO’s aim of including immigrants in to the political process. ETNO’s role as a forum for discussion was perceived more efficient than consultation. The second claim proved that there were many different perceptions of how the composion of ETNO should be arranged: some of the respondents felt that representation was successful when the representative and the constituent resemble each other. Other emphasised the meaning of shared interests in politics. The third claim showed that the respondents had different views on representation of ethnicities and immigrants. Also the views on ETNO’s representation varied. The fourth claim showed that consensus was central aim in ETNO. Some critisised this objection by stating that it does not give space to different opinions. The results of the study confirm that there are many different perceptions about ETNO’s work and representation. ETNO was critisised for focusing on the idea of the diversity at the expence of ethnical diversity.