STRONG is a consortium led by Åbo Akademi University, with Tampere University, the University of Vaasa, and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) as partners. The STRONG consortium sets out to test whether democratic innovations, especially deliberative mini-publics or citizens’ panels, can improve both inclusion and trust in the democratic system, its institutions, actors and decisions. In collaboration with several relevant stakeholders on different levels of government, the project implements democratic innovations and studies their impact on participants, politicians and the public at large. STRONG is financed by the Strategic Research Council of Finland. STRONG is part of the SRC’s research program DEMOC – The Future of Democracy.

STRONG assumes that one of the major shortcomings of Finnish democracy is the insufficient inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable social groups. This means that not everyone’s interests are equally represented in decision-making, which in turn threatens the resilience of democracy, especially when serious crises challenge society. Therefore, we pose the fundamental question of how democratic participation can be increased across all social groups and how both external and internal inclusion can be ensured. STRONG proposes that a key remedy is to increase civic participation through institutionalized forms of deliberative citizen panels.

The consortium’s research is divided into four work packages:

• Identifying Challenges and Strengths (WP 2)
• Designing and Testing Solutions (WP 3)
• Building Trust in Democratic Institutions (WP 4)
• Institutionalizing Democratic Innovations (WP 5)

Through multidisciplinary research involving scholars in political science and public administration, health and policy systems, public law, and anthropology, combined with collaboration with stakeholders, we aim to make Finnish democracy more inclusive and resilient.