Browsing by Subject "policy"

This research explores how Russian national identity is constructed through political discourses pertaining to the Arctic. Theoretically this thesis addresses how national identity is constructed through these discourses and subsequently how this identity is used to justify Russia’s Arctic policy to a domestic as well as an international audience. In order to achieve this a hybrid methodology combining critical discourse analysis and political discourse analysis was applied to two forms of political discourses; speeches by politicians and policy papers. This research has identified five discourses through which a Russian national identity is constructed and policy legitimised. These are international cooperation, security, governance, Russia as Arctic, and environment.

The incomplete global coverage of current emissions trading schemes has raised concerns about free-riding and carbon leakage. EU ETS, the first and currently the biggest carbon market, is at the fore of such fears. Carbon-based import tariffs have thereby been proposed to compensate domestic industries for the cost disadvantage against their rivals in non-regulating countries. This thesis uses an applied general equilibrium (AGE) model to assess the impacts of a hypothetical EU carbon tariff on the Finnish economy. The carbon content of imported goods is first estimated with an environmentally extended input-output analysis, and the tariff is levied according to the anticipated price of EU emission allowances. To examine the sensitivity of the results, five additional scenarios are then constructed by altering the key simulation parameters. The tariff is imposed on the most energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries in 2016 and simulated until 2030. The results suggest that carbon tariffs are detrimental to the Finnish economy. The negative outcome is determined by high material intensity and a growing dependence on imported materials throughout the industry sector. As a result, the tariff-induced increase in import prices adds up to a notable growth in total production costs. Moreover, the negative impact is most pronounced within the export-oriented heavy manufacturing sector that the tariff was designed to shelter in the first place. The few sectors that gain from the tariff were not directly subject to it, but utilize the secondary impacts as the economy adapts to the shock. The findings imply that due to the deeper integration of global value chains, the appeal of protective tariffs, even if environmentally motivated, can be harmfully over-simplistic.

This thesis analyzes the digitalization policy of the Finnish government. The main attempt is to, firstly, identify the central ideas and ideologies behind the approach of the Finnish government toward societal digitalization. Secondly, the attempt is to analyze them from the perspective of the traditional ideas and ideologies of the Nordic welfare state. The underlining research question is, whether the possible approach of the Finnish government toward digitalization is compatible with the traditional ideas and ideologies of the Nordic welfare state. The method in this thesis is a combination of qualitative content analysis and historical research methods. Qualitative content analysis with a focus on an analysis of ideologies is used for analyzing primary sources. A historical perspective is used in an attempt to locate contemporary societal digitalization on a trajectory of societal transformations in post-industrial capitalist states, as well as when presenting the Nordic welfare state model. Overall, the approach of the Finnish government appears largely in line with traditional Nordic welfare state values, such as equality and inclusion. However, one of the main findings of this thesis is that the approach of the Finnish government toward digitalization is a largely apolitical and instrumentalized one. Although possible political, economic and social implications of digitalization are identified, the government appears more concerned with providing all citizens equal access to digitalization than facilitating a public discussion on the nature, form or scope of the phenomenon. While such a consensual approach may be analyzed from the perspective of the Nordic culture of conformity, one of the main arguments of this thesis is that a politicized approach to digitalization could allow for a fruitful discussion on its eventual effects on society.

The thesis assesses ethical problems pertaining to a scenario of a mandatory vaccination program against SARS-CoV-2 (“Covid-19”) in Finland, as the epidemic situation stood in the early 2022. The initial research question is whether this kind of a program would be ethically justifiable. The conclusion to this question is reached by describing the epidemic situation, presenting basic ethical norms of public healthcare, and making a synthetizing ethical analysis on their basis. The concluding answer no comes as the result of analyzing the Finnish scenario from the perspectives of eight criteria of ethical justification that would need to be adequately met in order for a mandatory vaccination program to be an ethically sound public health measure. The eight criteria are formed by examining literature of public health ethics and vaccination ethics as well as strong ethical arguments in favor and against mandatory vaccinations, and by combining a ground of shared prerequisites guiding ethical considerations on the topic. The analysis reveals numerous ethical problems present in the Finnish scenario. The mere existence of so many unsolved issues makes the potential mandatory Covid-19 vaccination program an unethical option. The thesis calls for better public discussion on public health ethics, so that the ethical imperatives of protecting public health security and protecting individual bodily autonomy are realized also in emergency situations.

Euroopan unionin yhteinen turvallisuus- ja puolustuspolitiikka politiikka on edistynyt viimeisen vuosikymmenen aikana ja vuonna 2017 sen puitteissa toimeenpantiin Pysyvä rakenteellinen yhteistyö, jonka tavoitteena on yhteensovittaa ja tehostaa siihen osallistuvien jäsenvaltioiden puolustuskykyä niin yhtenäisesti kuin kansallisellakin tasolla. PRY on ollut kunnianhimoinen ja inklusiivinen policy, jolla on huomattavia vaikutuksia myös kansalliseen puolustuspoliittiseen päätöksentekoon myös Suomessa. Työn tavoitteena on pyrkiä arvioimaan näitä vaikutuksia jälkistrukturalistisella kriittisellä lähestymistavalla, keskittymällä policyn representoimiin ongelmiin. “What’s the Problem Represented to be”, eli WPR-metodi pyrkii arvioimaan policyja niiden representoimien ongelmien kautta, analysoimalla tekstiä ja tunnistamalla olennaiset ongelman representaatiot, niiden taustat ja vaihtoehtoiset ilmentymät. Arvioinnissa keskitytään siihen, mitä ongelmia policy itsessään on luonut, kun sen olemassaoloa on pyritty legitimoimaan. WPR sisältää kuusi kysymystä, joiden avulla ongelman representaatioita pyritään tunnistamaan aineistosta, joka koostuu EU:n ja Suomen valtion julkisista dokumenteista. Dokumentit ovat Lissabonin sopimus, osallistuvien jäsenvaltioiden PRY-ilmoitus, Euroopan unionin neuvoston päätös PRY:n toimeenpanosta, Suomen EU-puheenjohtajakauden ohjelma vuodelta 2019, PRY:n Strateginen arviointi vuodelta 2020 ja Suomen puolustuspoliittinen selonteko vuodelta 2021. Näiden lisäksi on huomioitava PRY:n historiallinen kehittymisen prosessi. Analyysista voidaan huomioida, että sekä EU:n että Suomen dokumentit ovat painottaneet vahvasti Euroopan turvallisuusympäristön muutosta ja sen laaja-alaisia vaikutuksia. Turvallisuusympäristön muutos ja uudet, monimuotoiset ja laaja-alaiset uhkat ovat luoneet tarpeen yhteisen turvallisuus- ja puolustuspolitiikan tehostamiselle, etenkin puolustuskykyjen ja puolustusrahoituksen yhteensovittamiselle ja kehitykselle ja autonomisen toiminnan takaamiselle. Yhteistyö hyödyntää niin EU:ta kuin sen jäsenvaltioita keskittämällä resursseja puolustustutkimukseen ja -teknologiaan, jolla yhteistä puolustuskykyä voidaan edistää. Osallistuvan jäsenvaltio Suomen näkökulmasta on kuitenkin ollut tärkeää säilyttää kansallisen päätöksenteon ensisijaisuus. Yhteistyötä on kuitenkin Suomen tasolla lisätty ja se nähdään positiivisena vaikutuksena kansallisen puolustuskyvyn kehitykselle. Kriittinen tutkimus voi tarjota normaalisti instrumentaaliselle turvallisuuden tutkimuksen kentälle uusia näkökulmia, joiden pohjalta voidaan tehdä syvällisempää tutkimusta puolustusyhteistyön merkityksistä, tavoitteita ja tehokkuudesta. Myös PRY:n ongelmien representaatioiden ja niiden vaikutusten Suomen turvallisuus- ja puolustuspolitiikkaan analysoiminen on osoittanut, että ongelmia taustoittaa pitkä retorisen legitimaation prosessi, joka on johtanut yhteisen policyn institutionalisoitumiseen. Analyysi osoittaa myös, että PRY:n ja Suomen puolustuspolitiikan tutkimuksessa on tilaa kriittiselle jatkotutkimukselle.

This research explores the way in which the Russian-speaking community of Narva, Estonia perceives their identity and sense of belongingness in relation to Estonia and Russia through self-reflection. Sixteen interviews with residents of Narva reveal perceptions of discrimination and integration and the surrounding discourses on inclusion and exclusion which define and influence how Russian-speaking Estonians balance their relationship with Russian and Estonian societies. The theoretical framework is composed of psychological and sociological theories which examine the individual and social aspects involved in the relationships the interviewees describe. The research underlines the value in having a deeper understanding of minority populations along critical borders to develop appropriate and effective national-level policies which affect the community, country of residence and country of origin of the minority community. This research aims to add to the existing literature focused on the study of minority communities along critical borders in general and Russian-speaking communities spread across the Post-Soviet Space in particular as well as describe the factors that influence their mobilization and transnationalism.

This thesis explores the link between South-South remittance and development. It attempts to establish improved understanding about the role of immigrants as agents of constituency growth and development. By doing so, it illuminates the dark corners of the policy implications that the unconventional development agency of immigrants might have for countries in the Organization ft Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The thesis problematises the existence of state-centric international cooperation as providing the recipe for failed Aid in the face of global poverty menace. In the last half a century, the relative shi of focus to non-state actors brought about the proliferation of NGOs. That, intrun, helped improve international access to crisis situations; however, their long-term remedial impacts on poverty and development have been contested. Major misgivings for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are, on one hand, low level goal-bound expenditures and lack of independence from influence of the state, on the other. Therefore, the thesis enterprises to empirically verify its fundamental question whether remitting immigrants constitute an alternative development agency to the traditional players: the State and NGOs. Its main arguments are: due to states failures in bringing sustainable development in many countries of the South, the future of poverty reduction and development also rests in immigrants remittances. Nonetheless, in the last decade, remittance security-nexus dominated its discourse. Because of that remittance was viewed as something requiring global regime and restrictions. These temptations to tightly regulate remittance flows carry the danger of overlooking its trans-boundary nature and its strong link with livelihood of the poor. Therefore, to avoid unintended consequences of interventions, there need to be clear policy that bases itself on a discursive knowledge on the issues of North-South and South-South remittances The study involved both literature based and empirical research. It employed Discourse Analysis (C as main method for the former and snow-balling as its approach for the latter. For the first part the thesis constructed three conceptual models, these are: metrological model, police model and ecological model on remittance development-nexus. Through this modeling, the thesis achieved better deconstruction on the concepts remittance, immigrants and development agency. The protagonists of each model, the values and interests they represent, and their main arguments along various lines of dichotomies have been discussed. For instance, the main treats of meteorological model include: it sees remittance as transitional economic variable which require constant speculations and global management; it acts as meteorological station for following up or predicting the level, direction, flow and movement of global remittance. It focuses on official lines and considers the state as legitimate recipient of advic and positive consequence of remittance. On the other hand, police model views remittance as beir at best, development neutral or as an illicit activity requiring global regulations and tight control. Both immigrants and remittance viewed as subversive to establishments. It gives primacy to state stable agent of development and a partner for international cooperation. The anti-thesis to the police model is supplied by ecological model, which this thesis is a part. Ecological model on remittance and immigrants argues that, tight global regulations alone cannot be a panacea for possible abuse of informal remittance system. Ecological model, not only links remittance to poverty reduction, the main trust of development, but also considers the development agency of immigrants as critical factor for 21st century north-south development intervention. It sees immigrants as development conscious and their remittance instrument as most stable flow of finance to the developing countries. Besides, it sees remittance as effective poverty solutions than Foreign Direct Investment and international AID. This thesis focuses on the significance of South-South remittance and investigates the South Africa - Ethiopia remittance corridor, as case study; and empirically verifies the role of Ethiopian (Kembata and Hadiya) immigrants in South Africa as agents of local development back home. The study involved techniques of interview, group discussions, observations and investigative study. It also looked into the determinants of their migration to South Africa, and their remittance to Ethiopia. The theoretical models in the first part of the thesis have been operationalised throughout the empirical part to verify if the Kembata and Hadiya immigrants played the crucial role in their household poverty and local development in comparison with the Ethiopian state and the NGOs involved in the system. As evidenced by the research the thesis has made three distinct contributions to the discourse of remittance development-nexus. Fist, it systematized the debate about linkages between remittance, immigrants, development agency and policy of international cooperation by creating three conceptual models (school of thoughts); second, it singled out remitting immigrants as new agents of development in the South; third, it deconstructed concept of remittance and established South-South remittance as additional sphere of academic investigation. In addition to the above contributions, the thesis finds that Kembata and Hadiya immigrants have engaged in various developmental activities in their locality than usually anticipated. Hence, it concludes that Ethiopian immigrants constitute an alternative development agency to the state and other non-state actors in their country, and the lesson can be applied to poverty reduction strategies in most developing countries.