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As a member of the Nordic welfare regime, Finland has been acknowledged for its encompassing family policies with high degrees of parental employment and low incidence of poverty. During recent years, however, sluggish growth, high levels of unemployment and recurrent austerity measures have gradually undermined the economic security of families, notably among single-parent and multi-child families, and this has put families under increasing strain and increased the risks of poverty, inequality and other forms of ill-being. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this paper, the authors investigate risks and coping strategies and well-being of Finnish families with children. Family well-being is defined as an umbrella concept covering economic, social or psychological well-being and physical health. The data consist of 22 qualitative semi-structured interviews with parents from the region of Ostrobothnia in Finland and were collected in the winter of 2016–2017.

Based on the findings, the authors argue that the risks the families in Finland confront are linked to lower well-being, most notably for families encountering sickness, unemployment or divorce. The findings also show that parents have to employ various coping strategies themselves and that the society’s support is insufficient.

This paper, thus, contributes to the literature on the effects of austerity policies on families by focussing on the consequences on family well-being, but also on the risks that families face and the coping mechanisms they use for handling with these risks.

This paper looks into the controversial Buddhist Asoke group generally known as Santi Asoke in Thailand. The group has challenged the state Buddhist hierarchy (Mahatherasamakhom) by ordaining women as sikkhamat. The sikkhamats observe Ten Precepts and are highly respected in the group. In the wider Thai society, they are less known and often confused with visiting Chinese bhiksunis. Santi Asoke has been controversial since its emergence in the 1970s due to its strict vegetarianism and harsh criticism on capitalism, consumerism and monastic corruption. It became highly politicised when their most famous lay member Major-General Chamlong Srimuang was elected as the governor of Bangkok and later on established his own political party Palang Dharma (Power of Dharma or Moral Force) to contest in the national elections in 1988. Palang Dharma failed to change Thai politics, but when in 1998 the former Palang Dharma member, telecom tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra established his nationalistic Thai Rak Thai party (Thais Love Thais) to contest the elections in 2000, many Asoke people enthusiastically supported him until 2006 when they joined street protests to oust him. Asoke group has been widely criticised for their involvement in politics. Asoke movement administers several autonomous self-reliant villages in rural Thailand where it practices sustainable organic agriculture, produces herbal shampoos and medicine and runs primary and secondary schools. The sikkhamats are primarily involved in teaching and preaching but have also participated in the street demonstrations. The purpose of this paper is to look into the role and status of the sikkhamats in the Asoke group; explore social and economic background of Asoke sikkhamats; ask why women choose to become sikkhamats; and why do they not seem to want to be ordained as bhikkhuni. The paper is based on many years of observation and interviews with the Asoke sikkhamats and laywomen in their temples, schools, villages, and on the streets of Bangkok.