Stealth democracy, elitism, and citizenship in Finnish energy policy

- Attitudinal gap between the elite and people decreased regarding the energy policy.
- The citizenry supported stealth democracy more than the energy elite.
- The citizenry prioritized more experts than politicians in energy policy-making.
- The elite prioritized more politicians than citizens in energy policy-making.
- The appreciation for classical democracy decreased within the energy elite.

The purpose of this study was to address whether the attitudinal distance between the Finnish energy elite (decision-makers and experts) and the citizenry has changed with regarding the energy policy from 2007 to 2016, and whether their attitudinal differences were more concerned with the substance of the energy policy than the process of policy-making. The year 2007 represents a period of rapid and stable economic growth, while the year 2016 represents the immediate time after a prolonged recession that resulted from both international economic crises and domestic political decisions. Theoretically this study was based on the theory of stealth democracy, and the methodology used was postal surveys and expert interviews.The attitudinal distance between the elite and the citizenry decreased regarding the substance and the process of the energy policy. The citizenry supported stealth democracy more than the elite; people prioritized the experts and businessmen more than elected officials as energy policy-makers, while the elite prioritized the elected officials more than experts and businessmen. Our findings showed a decreasing appreciation for classical democracy within the energy elite. Citizens' attitudes on stealth democracy were not clearly related to their level of conventional political involvement and civic efficacy.