A Study on the Governance Reform of the Social and Health Services in Finland: The Establishment of the Wellbeing Services County and the Result of the First Regional Council Elections (핀란드 사회보건서비스 거버넌스 개혁에 관한 연구: 복지서비스자치주 설립과 첫 광역의회 선거 결과를 중심으로)

Shin, Young Kyu (신영규); Seo Hyeon Su (서현수)

A Study on the Governance Reform of the Social and Health Services in Finland: The Establishment of the Wellbeing Services County and the Result of the First Regional Council Elections

Journal of the Scandinavian Society of Korea
Abbr : JSSK
2022, (29), pp.81-116
Publisher : The Scandinavian Society of Korea
Research Area : Social Science > Area Studies > North Europe(Scandinavian)
Received : June 13, 2022
Accepted : July 4, 2022
Published : June 30, 2022

Shin, Young Kyu ¹, Seo Hyeon Su ²

¹한국보건사회연구원
²한국교원대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Since the 2000s, Finnish governments have tried to transform social and health services provided by the municipality-centered delivery system. After several failed attempts for last two decades, the reform bill of the PM Marin’s government was finally passed through the Eduskunta (Finnish Parliament) in June 2021. The core aims of the bill are to create 21 wellbeing services counties (hyvinvointialueet), to transfer the responsibility to provide social and health services from municipalities to the newly established administrative organizations, and to develop Future Health and Social Services Centres (Tulevaisuuden sosiaali- ja terveyskeskukset) for the improvement of service accessibility and the reduction of inequality in service provision. The first elections to constitute 21 county councils were held on 23 January, 2022. During the election campaign, the key issues were about how to fix both inequality and inefficiency simultaneously and how to reform the decision-making system related to social and health services. The findings from this study on the Finnish case demonstrate that the role of public organizations will be emphasized and strengthened in the new service delivery system, and the three-tier governance of “central government-wellbeing services counties-municipalities” will replace the existing two-tier governance of “central government- municipalities.”

KEYWORDS

Finland, Nordic Welfare States, Social and Health Care Service Reform, Well-being Service Counties, Regional Council Elections, Central-Local Governance

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Journal of the Scandinavian Society of Korea 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.21