Sámi Parliament

Sámi politics refers to politics that concern the ethnic group called Sámis in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In a more narrow sense, it has come to indicate the government of Sámi affairs by Sámi political institutions. This article deals with Sámi political structures, with an emphasis on the contemporary institutions.

Originally, the Sámi were semi-nomadic - moving between fixed settlements as the seasons passed. Several groups would often join up in the winter, making winter settlements (dálvvadis - n. sam) larger and more diverse than the spring-, summer- and autumn-settlements (the báiki - n.sam). In several dálvvadis, such as Jåhkamåhkke, large winter markets were established and towns grew up.

Norse sources from the 12th century and onwards, such as Heimskringla and Volundarkvida, talk about finnekonger ("Sámi kings"), which in contemporary history writing are interpreted as particularly wealthy Sámi, who were perhaps also chieftains. Archeological findings do indeed confirm that a certain degree of class society arose among the Sámi, due to the fur trade, in the early Middle Ages. Little is known about the formal status of the "finnekonger", however. The name is in any case misleading, as nobility has never been a part of Sámi culture.

From old, the term siida (n. sam), refers to a unit of people who travel together and/or share a seasonal settlement. Väinö Tanners early 20th-century account of the workings in this polity refer to it as "primitive communism", as there was an extensive sharing of goods and land - though certain parts of the land was private, and not common to the siida's members. Norraz (e. sam), a meeting of all households' leaders, served as parliament, government and court.

Other sources speak of siida-isids, people who were primus inter pares in the union of households. This person may be simply the head of the wealthiest or otherwise most successful household, a natural leader or even elected by the council of families. They are sometimes referred to simply as "village elders".

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