Governing through absence: the analysis and wider implications of Finnish policy discourses on ageing and care in neo-liberal times

Abstract Contemporary ageing policy often constructs demographic change as a challenge requiring urgent intervention. While ageing is not seen as a problem per se, in policy debate it is often presented as a crisis. Consequently, countries and institutions have sought to identify solutions to the represented problem. A common policy response in Western nations has been to focus on individual activity as a solution. The implications of such developments are, however, seldom explicitly discussed. This article focuses on Finland, a country often positioned as a Nordic welfare state. Using the post-structuralist approach ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be’ (WPR), it examines problems of and solutions to changing demographics represented in Finnish policy, highlighting the implications for older adults and their care. From an analysis of 42 governmental policy and related documents (2002-2024), 11 documents (2008-2024) were selected for detailed examination concerning the health and social care of older adults. The analysis shows that the predominant responsibility for care of older adults is laid on older adults themselves, their family members and peers, while the responsibility of the state is largely silenced. The article highlights the wider analytical, policy and practice implications of neo-liberal ageing policy and discusses how older adults are governed through policy in the midst of the absent interaction between policy, conceptual debates and everyday life material realities through a three-level conceptual model. This absence is not merely a gap but a mode of governance that reflects broader neo-liberal shifts in welfare policy.