Short review of "2004 Information Society Report to the Parliament of Finland by Pekka Himanen"

Reasons for the report

Initially, the report focused on the difficulties associated with reforming the "Finnish model." The model is a combination of welfare and information societies. Some of the issues, at the time of writing, would become acute by 2010 if they were not addressed.

Ten major trends in global development of information society

Below are the ten trends, which were on the rise in 2004.

1. Increasing international tax competition
2. The new global division of labor
3. Population ageing
4. Increasing pressures on the welfare society
5. The second phase of the information society
6. The rise of cultural industries
7. The rise of bio-industries
8. Regional concentration
9. A deepening global divide
10. The spread of a “culture of emergency”

Development scenarios

1. Silicon Valley model

Although this approach is technologically and commercially dynamic, it comes at a great social cost. One-fifth of the population is poor, has no health insurance, and is functionally illiterate. People have emerged as a result of this, for whom crime is the only means of survival. Furthermore, putting someone to prison for a year costs society more money than sending them to school.

2. Singapore model

This model is built on the concept of tax competitiveness. This has a dynamic mode, however it still has restrictions and competitive issues. Because countries may always lower their tax rates to entice multinational corporations, production continues to shift to cheaper and cheaper countries.

Long-term competitive success necessitates the ability to innovate. The issue with the Singapore model is that the government attempts to limit the freedom of its citizens. People cannot be creative in an information society unless they have free access to knowledge and the freedom to think for themselves.

3. Finnish model

This model has people defending all of the welfare state's industrial-era structures, but they fail to recognize that the welfare state's only viable future is if it is changed with the same level of inventiveness that the information economy has shown. In actuality, passivity leads to a scenario in which welfare needs to be pulled back more and more, and the economy's dynamics diminish. People defend their own vested interests and envy others for the advantages they enjoy. This is also known as the society of envy.

The values of the reform of the European model

Below is a list, which describes the values which could serve as the basis for the continued combination of the welfare state and the information society.

   1. Caring
   2. Confidence
   3. Communality
   4. Encouragement
   5. Freedom
   6. Creativity
   7. Courage
   8. Visionariness
   9. Balance
   10. Meaningfulness

Key concepts of social development

1. A creative economy

Under the pressures of international tax competition and the new global division of labour, developed countries can only rely on expertise and creativity, as routine jobs and routine production will not help them to compete with the cheap Asian markets. Developed countries must enhance productivity through innovations: creativity will make it possible to increase added value

2. A creative welfare society

As global competition gets more difficult and the population ages, the welfare state must be reformed to be viable. This reform might be referred to as the building of version 2.0 of the welfare state, which ensures the welfare society's future.

3. Humanly meaningful development

In the information society, the human sustainability of rapid global development has become an increasingly pressing issue.

The growth of a "culture of emergency" from the economy to workplaces and from the public sector to people's lives is currently defining the evolution of the information society.

The information society is also known as the risk society because financial market volatility has increased, job relationships have become increasingly unstable, the public sector does little except react to crises, and individual individuals are always in a hurry.

In the information age, where all types of danger are increasing, the importance of the protection given by the welfare society is emphasized.

4. A global culture

In terms of global development, we must move toward global joint development that is sustainable on a global scale. All nationalities must be more open-minded in order to achieve this.

The preservation of our creative culture necessitates a more open-minded culture as well. In this sense, both ethical and economic arguments point in the same direction. We must regard the required progress to be essentially a chance for all.

Sources

https://web.archive.org/web/20170221105053/https://www.eduskunta.fi/FI/tietoaeduskunnasta/julkaisut/Documents/tuvje_1+2004.pdf


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