Indigenous People’s Self-governing Bodies and the Role of Civil Society: The Case of the Norwegian Sámi

Abstract

In this paper, the authors look at the relationship between the Sámi Parliament in Norway and the Sámi civil society as seen both from the perspective of the party leaders and representatives, the civil society organisations, and the voters. While strong civil societies are important in ensuring responsive democratic governance systems in general, they may be particularly important in a political system such as the Sámi. Sámi politics operates within the Norwegian unitary state, where the tension between Sámi autonomy and integration into the Norwegian is systemic and where the pressure towards increased co-optation is constantly present. The authors find that Sámi interest and participation in civil society are at the same level as that of the population at large when the authors measure participation in Sámi and Norwegian organisations combined, but only one out of four memberships are in a strictly Sámi organisation. The authors also find that the level and type of contact between the parties represented in the Sámi Parliament and Sámi civil society organisations is very limited, except for organisational contact with the Sámi Parliaments’ administration for information and services. Little points in the direction of these organisations having an important advocacy role. Their control- and opposition role is weak. The rise of a new challenger party, Nordkalottfolket, becoming the second largest party in the election of 2021, breaking with what makes Sámi politics indigenous, seems not to change the structure of the relationship between civil society organisations and the Sámi Parliament.