Finland GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS
Figure 19. System of Government, 1988
The four acts that make up the Finnish Constitution
provide
for a central government divided into three overlapping
branches--legislative, executive, and judicial
(see
fig. 19). Their
mutual
control by an elaborate system of checks and balances has
permitted Finnish democracy to flourish. Decisions of the
central
government are implemented by ministries, semiautonomous
national
boards, and governments at the provincial and the local
levels.
Finnish local government is comparatively extensive, has
broader
powers than that of many other countries, and, in
accordance with
the Constitution, is self-governing. An efficient, but
somewhat
politicized, civil service staffs these governmental
structures.
Underpinning the system is an electoral system that
permits the
Finnish people to determine their own affairs in a
democratic
way. One region of the country, the Aland Islands, is to a
degree
autonomous, a reflection both of its unique linguistic
heritage
and the respect for individual freedom embedded in the
Finnish
system of government.
Data as of December 1988
|