Futures of Democracy

Futures of Democracy Mika Mannermaa, Jim Dator and Paula Tiihonen, Eds. Democracy and Futures Helsinki: Parliament of Finland, 2006Mika MannermaaDemocracy and the Turmoil of the FutureHelsinki: Parliament of Finland, 2007Osmo Kuusim, Hanna Smith and Paula Tiihonen, Eds.Russia 2017: Three ScenariosHelsinki: Parliament of Finland, 2007Farrington Hall is no more. It was built in 1930 to honour Wallace Rider Farrington, the sixth territorial governor of Hawai'i-and a staunch Republican. Just off the original quad, it provided the University of Hawai'i with its first theatrical venue. It was, however, already decrepit and moldy when I first met Jim Dator. He was coming out of his office one fine summer day in 1970. We were introduced and exchanged pleasantries. That was shortly before Farrington Hall was demolished.In its place, the University has built a modern high-rise and hermetically sealed tower to house its social science faculty. It has a palm tree in its central arboretum. It has air conditioning, wifi and vending machines that take credit cards. The new building is called Saunders Hall. It was named in honour of Allan Saunders, who taught political science at the University and who helped start the Hawai'i chapters of the League of Women Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Association of the United Nations. He also led the movement to allow male professors to wear aloha shirts on campus. Times change.It was in Saunders Hall that I most recently saw Jim Dator, one fine winter day, in 2007. He has lasted longer than Farrington Hall. The future has caught up with him. Me too.Saunders Hall is said to be environmentally sustainable. Personally, I liked the old building much better. Not feeling the tropical breeze through an open window just seems wrong. In any case, Farrington Hall was and Saunders Hall is about as far away from Finland as it's possible to be. The books under review were all produced by the Parliament of Finland. Small world.In 1970, Jim Dator won some local renown by addressing a committee of the state legislature. I was tremendously impressed. So were the committee members-almost enough to take his advice seriously and engage in public sector innovation. Dator suggested a number of new ways to do things. He tried to convince the legislators of the reality and the urgency of environmental issues. He advocated a systematic and not a merely analytic approach to problems. He told them to think scientifically and experimentally. He undermined their penchant for law making and asked them to understand the wisdom of law discovering. He may have upset them a little when he suggested that they not punish, but instead reward non-violent social deviants and nonconformists. In any case, they listened attentively. They could have acted; but, they didn't. Almost no one has.Fast-forward forty-odd years and three books appeared on my desk unannounced, unsolicited, about 6,600 kilometres from Helsinki and also about 7,500 kilometers from Saunders Hall. They were handsome volumes made with excellent paper. They were well-designed, featured fine graphics and displayed a photo of a splendid bronze statue of a mother and child on the front of each one. The sculpture was named Future. Jim Dator's name was on the cover of one of the books.I had never thought much about Finland until relatively recently; when it began to dawn on me that it might be the most successful country in the world. By almost every measure of social well-being-education, health care, life expectancy, civil liberties, economic equity, prosperity and so on-Finland always seems to rank in the top ten and usually in first, second or third place. Its only consistent rivals appear to be Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and sometimes Switzerland. I don't speak Finnish and I detest the cold. So, I haven't begged the country to let me in. …

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