Comprehensive Governance of Security

The governance of security in Finland has its roots in the ideology and practices of a strong legalistic tradition of Rechtstaat that seeks to guarantee the security of the state, society and people, social welfare, justice and equality. The main security sectors are internal and external security, and the administration of security is structured accordingly. Comprehensive security politics and policy build on the development of the societal security field in Nordic countries. One of the key promises of Finland’s Strategy for Public Governance Renewal is to sustain a safe and secure society. Our analysis of the governance of security covers the elements of the strategy: complexity, innovativeness, intelligence and knowledge-based governance, trust building and multi-agency co-operation. Governance of security is a challenging field of public governance. Complexity is seen as a point of departure, to be lived with and embraced in the context of developing phenomenon-based governance. The whole-of-government approach is reconciled with the whole-of-society approach in comprehensive security governance, policy and strategies. Complexity and very wicked problems of security threats are governed through trust building, co-operation and resilience rather than state coercion. In this article, societal security is seen as a peakless and centreless social system.