Editing Old boy network (section)

==Finland==
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In [[Finland]], the Finnish term '''hyvä veli -verkosto''' (literally ''dear brother network'') is used to refer to the alleged informal network of men in high places whose members use their influence to pervert or circumvent official decision-making processes to the members' mutual benefit. As such, the term is pejorative.

The term derives from the salutation "Hyvä veli!", or "Dear brother!", traditionally used to open a letter to a not quite intimate friend. The implication is that since the elites of all fields are drawn from a fairly small pool of people who are mostly more or less acquainted with each other, they can and often do manage public and private affairs amongst themselves, off the record, and outside public scrutiny as they like. As the word "brother" implies, the network is usually presumed to consist of males, and thus the term is also sometimes used to refer to the [[marginalization]] of women and their exclusion from high positions in both the public and private spheres. There is an equivalent term, ''hyvä sisko'' ("dear sister"), used about informal networks of women in high positions.

President [[Urho Kekkonen]] was notable for directly communicating with senior officials (past his [[Finnish Council of State|cabinet]]s) through letters, which famously began with the salutation "Hyvä veli". These have been published in three volumes.