‘Completely New Challenges’?: Continuity and revision in Finnish political parties’ objectives on immigration, 1986–1991

This study analyses the discussion of four Finnish parties – Centre Party, National Coalition Party, Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) and Finnish People’s Democratic League/Left Alliance (SKDL/VAS; Suomen kansan demokraattinen liitto/Vasemmistoliitto) – on foreign workers, refugees and asylum seekers in 1986–1991. The turn of the 1990s marked a period of substantial change in Finnish immigration policy and legislation and included the first comprehensive immigration policy papers by the parties. The study sheds light on the contemporary history of Finnish party politics and discourses on immigration and the challenges faced by mainstream right-wing and left-wing parties when dealing with immigration. The analysis of a wide range of policy papers and documents produced for parties’ internal use indicates that the changes in foreign policy, developments in national demographic and economic circumstances as well as the parties’ broad base of supporters and distinctive ideological traditions facilitate explanation of party stances. The parties’ objectives of the period represented both continuity and revision in relation to previous decades’ considerably restrictive politics.