Lars Evald Christoffer Taxell (born July 14, 1948, in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

) is a Finland Swedish politician, business leader and former chancellor of

Åbo Akademi University Åbo Akademi University ( sv, Åbo Akademi , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activiti ...

. He is known in

as an influential decision-maker in Finland Swedish politics, economics and culture. In 2009, he was chosen by Iltalehti as the third most influential decision-maker in the Finnish economy after

Björn Wahlroos Björn Arne Christer Wahlroos (born 10 October 1952 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Swedish-speaking Finn, best known as a banker, investor and the chairman of the Board in Sampo Group and UPM-Kymmene. Before switching to banking Wahlroos worked as a ...

and

Antti Herlin Antti Herlin (born 14 November 1956) is a Finnish billionaire businessman, and the chairman of the Finnish KONE Corporation. He is the son of Pekka Herlin, former chairman of KONE. He is the former chairman of the Confederation of Finnish Indust ...

Life and work

Taxell was a member of the Swedish People's Party of Finland from 1975 to 1991 and was chairman of the party from 1985 to 1990. Taxell served as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from 1979 to 1987 in the cabinets of

Mauno Koivisto Mauno Henrik Koivisto (; 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 1 ...

and

Kalevi Sorsa Taisto Kalevi Sorsa (21 December 1930 – 16 January 2004) was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland three times: 1972–1975, 1977–1979 and 1982–1987. At the time of his death he still held the record for most day ...

, after which he was Minister of Education in the

Holkeri Cabinet The cabinet of Harri Holkeri was the 64th government of Finland, which existed from 30 April 1987 to 26 April 1991. It was a majority government formed by the National Coalition Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Swedish People's Party, and ...

from 1987 to 1990. Taxell's term of office lasted 4 037 consecutive days (11 years). From 1990 to 2002, Taxell was the CEO of Partek Oy and from 2005 to 2006 he was the chairman of the

Confederation of Finnish Industries The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK, fi, Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitto, sv, Finlands Näringsliv) is the largest employers' association in Finland. It was formed at the beginning of 2005 when the two employers' associations ''Palvelutyö ...

. Taxell has also served as chairman of the Board of

Finnair Finnair ( fi, Finnair Oyj, sv, Finnair Abp) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...

and as a member of the boards of EFFOA Byggproduktindustrin,

ABB ABB Ltd. is a Swedish- Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to crea ...

, Merita bank, Sampo, Varma-Sampo, KCI Konecranes, Wärtsilä (Metra), Kalmar Industries,

Raisio Group Raisio Oyj, known internationally as Raisio Group, is a Finnish company specialised in healthy, responsibly produced food and ingredients. Raisio Group's well-known international brands are Benecol and Elovena. Benecol foods were launched in ...

Nordkalk Nordkalk is a manufacturer of limestone-based products based in Finland. It operates at more than 30 different locations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland and Estonia. History Limestone has been quarried in Pargas at least since the 17th cent ...

, Hormos Medical,

Boliden Boliden is a locality situated in Skellefteå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 1,566 inhabitants in 2010. It lies 28,5 kilometers from Skellefteå City. This is where Boliden AB Boliden AB is a Swedish multinational metals, m ...

, Lifim and Skandia. Outside the corporate world, Taxell has served as chancellor of

, among others. He was also the chairman of the board of the Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi and Föreningen Konstsamfundet rf. Taxell is the chairman of the Board of the University Alliance and headed the foundation for the European Capital of Culture in

in 2011. Taxell's father,

Lars Erik Taxell Lars Erik Taxell (6 April 1913 – 7 October 2013), was a Finnish legal scholar and politician. He was the leader of the Swedish People's Party of Finland in 1956–1966. He was also the Rector of the Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, ...

, also served as chairman of the Swedish People's Party of Finland. Taxell graduated with a bachelor's degree in law from the

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

in 1972.

Taxell's Paradox

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

language policy discourse, Christoffer Taxell is often attributed a central concept of the long-term viability of bilingual services and institutions, often referred to as Taxell's Paradox (in Swedish ''Taxellska paradoxen''). The concept claims that

monolingual Monoglottism (Greek μόνος ''monos'', "alone, solitary", + γλῶττα , "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language, as opposed to multilingualism. ...

solutions best ensure bilingualism, while bilingual solutions lead to monolingualism. The thinking is based on the observation that the position of the Swedish language in environments such as schools is subordinated to the majority language Finnish for practical and social reasons, despite the positive characteristics associated with mutual language learning. The origin of the term is said to be an inaugural speech in 1985 at the South Ostrobothnia Vocational School (in Swedish ''Sydösterbottens yrkesskola''). Taxell himself does not consider the term to be described as a paradox or attributed to him, but refers to repeated experiences during Finland's independence period.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taxell, Christoffer 1948 births Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish politicians Swedish People's Party of Finland politicians Ministers of Justice of Finland Ministers of Education of Finland Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences People from Turku Living people