Episode 149 · 2022-08-21 · 57:46 · Original in Finnish
Finland's Only Republican? | Matti Apunen | Negotiator 149
Originally published as “Suomen ainoa republikaani? | Matti Apunen | Neuvottelija 149”
Matti Apunen — chair of the board of the Finnish public broadcaster Yle, former editor-in-chief of Aamulehti and co-host of the A&M podcast — has described himself as Finland's only republican. He explains what classical liberalism and republicanism in Buckley's tradition mean to him, and why he treats every euro paid in tax as a piece of personal freedom given up. The host presses him to set Finland's 42 per cent tax ratio against other Western countries and asks why Finnish private wealth has fallen behind Sweden's. The conversation runs from editing Aamulehti to Yle's competitive position, the decline of business journalism, and why statism is in Apunen's view the fundamental problem of the Finnish economy.
Core theses
- Apunen's republicanism is the American tradition, which is why the label reads as strange in Finland and why he uses it.
- Treating tax as surrendered freedom is a framing choice, and the episode is most useful where the host makes him defend it against the comparative numbers.
- Chairing Yle's board while arguing for a smaller state is the tension the episode is built on, and it does not resolve it.
- The decline of business journalism is offered as a cause rather than a symptom of how economic policy gets debated.
Watch and listen
Summary
Matti Apunen — chair of the board of the Finnish public broadcaster Yle, former editor-in-chief of Aamulehti and co-host of the A&M podcast — has described himself as Finland’s only republican. He explains what classical liberalism and republicanism in Buckley’s tradition mean to him, and why he treats every euro paid in tax as a piece of personal freedom given up. The host presses him to set Finland’s 42 per cent tax ratio against other Western countries and asks why Finnish private wealth has fallen behind Sweden’s. The conversation runs from editing Aamulehti to Yle’s competitive position, the decline of business journalism, and why statism is in Apunen’s view the fundamental problem of the Finnish economy.
A label that does not translate
Republicanism in Buckley’s sense is a specific American tradition, not a statement about Finland’s head of state, and Apunen uses the word precisely because the mismatch forces the question. What he means by it is a fairly orthodox classical liberalism with a particular attitude to the state’s claim on the individual.
Tax as surrendered freedom
This is the premise the rest of his position rests on, and it is where the episode earns its keep: the host does not let it stand as an assertion, but puts Finland’s tax ratio against comparable countries and asks what the framing predicts. The exchange is more informative than either position stated alone.
The chair of Yle arguing for less state
He holds the position and makes the argument at the same time, and the episode does not pretend the two sit comfortably together. Reading it as a contradiction or as a principled separation is left to the listener, but the fact belongs on the page.
Watch
The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: Suomen ainoa republikaani? | Matti Apunen | Neuvottelija 149. A Finnish edition of this episode is published at www.neuvottelija.fi.
In depth
The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode: English · suomeksi.
Go deeper
People and topics
Guests: Matti Apunen