IMMIGRANT GOVERNANCE THROUGH VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS

Dr. Tuomas Martikainen

Population Research Institute, Finnish Family Federation, Helsinki, Finland

tuomas.martikainen@vaestoliitto.fi

Hundreds of voluntary associations were founded by recent immigrants in Finland in the 1990s. The majority of these associations were founded by migrants of refugee and asylum seeker background. The new associations include different types of organisations. Cultural, religious, social, friendship and ethnic associations were the most common types, but there are, e.g., also women’s societies and sport associations (Saksela, 2003).

The paper argues that local and national authorities in Finland support and encourage immigrants to organise into voluntary associations, so that the authorities could better govern issues that had been defined as social problems. Financial support, providing meeting places and assistance are seen as the main tools by which local and national authorities attempt to normalise the newcomers. Whereas the migrants’ themselves may not support the authorities’ agenda, the unequal distribution of power may also induce unwelcome side-effects. Clientisation of immigrants as well as pathologisation of cultural and social difference may in time create permanent structures that support the status quo, in which many people of immigrant background are in a disadvantaged position.

The paper provides a critical viewpoint into the formation of immigrant associations as authorities’ tools of governance. Whereas voluntary associations can also be seen as tools for integration and empowerment, under certain conditions they may produce the opposite effect. The paper is based on the author’s studies on religious organisations in Finland (e.g. Martikainen, 2004), and it also takes into to reference further national studies in the field (e.g., Saksela, 2003; Pyykkönen, 2003). The theoretical background of the study is in the critical inquiry of multiculturalism (e.g. Bauman, 1999; Kivisto, 2002; Modood, 2005).

References

Bauman, Gerd (1999) The Multicultural Riddle. London: Routledge.

Kivisto, Peter (2002) Multiculturalism in a Global Society. Oxford: Blackwell.

Martikainen, Tuomas (2004) Immigrant Religions in Local Society. Åbo: Åbo Akademi University Press.

Modood, Tariq (2005) Multicultural Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Pyykkönen, Miikka (2003) ”Integraatio ja maahanmuuttajien yhdistystoiminta”, Sakari Hänninen, Anita Kangas & Martti Siisiäinen (Ed.) Mitä yhdistykset välittävät: Tutkimuskohteena kolmas sektori, 89-120. Jyväskylä: Atena.

Saksela, Sanna (2003) Mångkulturella organisationer och invandrarorganisationer i Finland. Flemming Mikkelsen (Ed.) Invandrerorganisationer i Norden, 235-281. København: Nordisk Ministerråd.