The Formulation of Working Hours Legislation — Corporate Pluralist Deliberation as Consensus Building?

As has been reiterated earlier in this thesis there are several features of contemporary Finnish politics and policy making that would imply consensus at the basic and procedural levels, i.e. consensus over common goals in society and how conflicts are resolved. The first aim of this chapter is to focus on the third dimension of consensus, i.e. the policy level. The chapter concentrates on how the working hours issue was discussed and decided, how dissensus and opposition was treated, and how consensus on the issue was eventually reached.