Schedule:
Venue: Online
The International Day of Democracy seminar will examine the link between democracy and economic stability. The V-Dem Institute has carried out extensive research on the socio-economic benefits of democracy and democratisation. Among other things, democratisation promotes economic growth and democracies are more resilient to crises such as economic downturns. Is promoting democracy wise economically? And how does democracy strengthen the stability of societies?
The seminar will be opened by the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Ville Tavio. The keynote speaker of the seminar is Dr. Marina Nord, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Gothenburg and one of the principal authors of V-Dem’s Case for Democracy report. In addition, politicians from different parties discuss what lessons the link between democracy and economy has for Finland. The seminar will be hosted by journalist Eeva Lehtimäki, MTV Uutiset.
The event will be in Finnish, except for Marina Nord’s keynote speech. There will be live captioning as well as simultaneous interpretation from Finnish to English.
Join us in the live webcast by registering no later than 11 September using this form. Please note that the time zone is EEST (UTC+3).
Programme
10.00 Opening remarks
– Ville Tavio, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development
10.10 Welcome
– Johannes Koskinen MP, Demo Finland’s Chair (Social Democratic Party)
10.20 Keynote: Case for Democracy
– Dr. Marina Nord, University of Gothenburg
10.50 Panel: Democracy in Finland’s foreign and trade policies
– Johannes Koskinen MP (Social Democratic Party)
– Riitta Kuismanen, Party Council Chair (Christian Democrats)
– Jenni Pitko MP (Greens)
– Saara-Sofia Sirén MP (National Coalition Party)
11.20 Panel: Democracy and economy in Finland
– Vilhelm Junnila MP (Finns Party)
– Mikko Ollikainen MP (Swedish People’s Party)
– Jouni Ovaska MP (Centre Party)
– Hanna Sarkkinen MP (Left Alliance)
11.45 Closing words
– Anu Juvonen, Executive Director, Demo Finland
The seminar is organised by Demo Finland in co-operation with the Parliament.
Further information: Communications and Programme Manager Anna Juhola (anna.juhola@demofinland.org, +358 50 543 8581).