The curious compatibility of consensus, corporatism, and neoliberalism: The Finnish business community and the retasking of a corporatist welfare state

This article addresses the apparent paradox of simultaneous neoliberal
change and welfare-statist, corporatist continuity by presenting an
empirical case study of the advent of neoliberal ideas in Finland in the
1970s and 1980s. The article focuses on the attempts of a free-market
think tank, EVA, and the employers’ association, STK, to advance policies
such as economic deregulation, international competitiveness, welfare
retrenchment, and active social and labour market policies through the
neoliberal retasking of the corporatist Finnish welfare state. EVA and
the STK utilised seemingly non-neoliberal means, that is an economic
policy consensus and tripartite corporatist arrangements, and reformulated
their content to better correspond with business interests. Instead
of demolition, the outcome has been the redefinition and incremental
transformation of the state from a provider of welfare to a promoter of
competitiveness, productivity, and employment.