Building Public Trust – Hopes, needs and viewpoints of different building blocks in Nation-Building

This year Finland celebrates the 200th anniversary of the nation-building event in 1809. At that time Finland’s 650-year connection with Sweden was broken and it became a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire. Central government bodies were established in Finland. All this made Finns happy and optimistic about the future, because it meant that they could develop their country by themselves. So what did the Finns do, and where did those actions take them? Now, after 200 years, it might be a good idea to stop for a second and take a quick look at this Nation-Building process and how does it look like today.

It is obvious that the nation does not build itself just like that; it consists of many different building blocks with various hopes, needs and viewpoints. Despite the fact that their viewpoints might vary, the ultimate goal to build a wealthy and content nation remains the same. All of them are aware, that this goal can be reached only with a certain recipe: loads of functional interaction and a large amount of trust in each other. Hence, they all have their own ways of being a part of building this public trust that is needed in Nation-Building.

When you really pay attention, you can hear these different building blocks bringing out their own hopes, needs and even demands all around you. For instance, here are few examples that you can discover when listening carefully:

One of the most common hopes is openness. Openness is an essential part of building public trust among the citizens, politicians making decisions and civil servants drafting and executing the political decisions. It is needed when reaching for good governance, well-functioning public administration and uncorrupted civil service. Openness of the public administration does not any more mean just the possibility for the citizens and journalists to get a copy of a public document when they decide to ask for it, it is expected to occur everywhere as an operational principle.

The principle of openness is expected to have more and more effects in practise. For example, Finland is a democratic state. But if the institution of democracy is full of rules, codes, traditions, specialists and think-tank’s, it can be hard for all citizens to understand. Maintaining the principle of openness means, that also the principles of democracy should be adapted and developed along with the spirit of the time.

Another central point of view is to understand the value of internationalization; the fact that diversity is a privilege, not a burden. Being patriotic and showing respect towards ones home country is as its best when going hand in hand with valuing diversity. A person does not necessarily need to be a Finn by birth to be a true Finn. A man can also become a Finn by choice; to choose a new life and use it well. When taking a wider perspective towards the matter you can see also the global privileges: A nation that encourages immigration demonstrates to the world the value of its society and culture, by the fact that people are attracted to the idea of coming there.

In addition to immigration, internationalization can be considered from many other viewpoints. For example, the membership of European Union has become a part of everyday life in Finland. It has made the Europe and the whole world smaller, and the range of different possibilities wider. Finland as a country has got the chance to learn from others’ best practises, and a single Finn has got multiple privileges as an EU citizen. Doing business over borders is not such a big issue for companies either, when comparing with the former times. Universities co-operating over boarders enable the welfare of scientific knowledge that is crucial in modern societies.

Taking a good look at things happening in the world also reminds that all things should not be taken for granted. The rights of an average citizen, peaceful living conditions or clean water are things that a person born in a developed country can easily take for granted. The process from the very beginning to these standards of living has required lots of work, and the work is still continuing. There are still goals to reach, and also important things to bear in mind. One of the most important is to value the things already accomplished, and make sure that the precious heritages are passed on for future generations to cherish.

When coming back from the global perspective to the concept of diversity, there is still one important viewpoint to be considered. Diversity is not only about nationalities, it is also about all possible potential a nation has to exploit. Diversity might actually be a word to be left totally out of the picture, and use the term “potential” instead. Think about for example the potential that hides in the young; anxious to make this world a better place to live if they only have the ways to express themselves. Listening to different representatives of the society by giving everyone equal chances to speak out increases the trust among the nation and makes the nation itself stronger.

Understanding the moments of success and failures in the past is crucial, but what is even more crucial is to learn from them. So let’s learn from the past and have faith in the future. Because without faith in it, there will be no future.