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(2020)Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract This Master´s Thesis strives for increasing knowledge about women as minority in politics in general and, particularly, as minority in electoral politics when it comes to electoral candidates and their electoral promises. The aim is to contribute to solving the long-standing research problem of relationship between women´s descriptive and substantive representation in the field of political representation. Electoral candidates and their electoral promises in the context of Finnish Parliamentary Election in 2015 was chosen as research object because there is research gap concerning electoral promises from the perspective of women´s political representation in Finland. The theoretical framework emerges from the key theories, theoretical frameworks, and concepts in the fields of women in politics, feminist political theory, political representation, and women´s descriptive and substantive representation. Hanna Pitkin´s conceptual categories descriptive and substantive representation, and Anne Philip´s theory of politics of presence are the main theoretical approaches applied in the empirical analysis of the electoral promises. The data consists of 5244 electoral promises made by 2146 electoral candidates in the Voting advice application of YLE. To examine women´s descriptive representation, quantitative research method is applied. To examine women´s substantive representation, women´s interest are operationalized, and the electoral promises analysed from the perspective of women´s interests applying qualitative content analysis. To examine if there is relationship between women´s descriptive and substantive representation, women´s interests are operationalized, and the electoral promises are analysed in terms of women´s interest qualitatively applying content analysis. To answer the research problem, the promises including women´s interests are analysed quantitatively to find out to what extent the women candidates make promises that include women´s interests. Based on previous research on women´s political representation, the hypothesis of this study is that women´s descriptive and substantive representation are related which in this study means that women candidates are more willing to make electoral promises that include women´s interests than the men candidates. The main finding of the empirical analysis of this study is that there is relationship between women´s descriptive and substantive representation in terms of electoral promises that include women´s interests because the results show that the women candidates proportionally make significantly more promises that include women´s interests than the men candidates. The results also clearly show that the men candidates prefer making promises that include other than women´s interests, and as they make considerably more electoral promises than the women candidates owing to their descriptive overrepresentation, the women candidates´ possibilities to make difference in politics through their promises that include women´s interests are reduced. Overall, the main finding of this study support the hypothesis that there is relationship between women´s descriptive and substantive representation and that women candidates are the best representatives of women in terms of electoral promises. As this study is limited on women candidates and electoral promises, further research in the field of women´s political representation is needed to solve the problem of the relationship between women´s descriptive and substantive representation. Consequently, the research problem remains for future research to solve. This study contributes with empirical knowledge about women´s descriptive and substantive representation in general, and about the electoral candidates´ behaviour in the context of the Finnish Parliamentary Election from the perspective of gender and parties. Concerning research on voting advice applications, this study takes different perspective focusing on the content of the written electoral promises instead of examining the political implications of voting advice applications on the behaviour of voters.
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(2021)Previous studies have indicated that short cohabitation spells are associated with childlessness. However, there is little detailed knowledge of relationship trajectories and their implications to the completed number of children other than childlessness in Finland. In addition, previous studies mainly focused on residential relationships, and non-residential relationships were seldom studied. This study provides an overview of different relationship trajectories for women born in 1924-1966 and explores the connections between the complete trajectories and the number of biological children. The relationship trajectories were established using longitudinal retrospective data. This study utilized sequence analysis that visualizes the relationship stages on the life course forming a relationship trajectory. The trajectories were clustered to reveal prominent patterns in the data, and the connection between the clusters and the number of children was explored. Additionally, the changes that occurred in the different cohorts were investigated to reveal historical patterns. The results indicate that most women born between 1924 and 1966 dated, cohabitated, and married before the age of 30 and stayed with the same partner, resulting in a steady pattern of 2 or more children. If a divorce occurred, the number of children depended on whether the individual married again. Long-term cohabitation was connected with a lower number of children. Lack or postponement of long-term relationships often resulted in a significantly smaller number of children. The connection between the first relationship and the first marriage got weaker over time, and the trajectories marked by more complex partnership histories and long-term cohabitation increased. Relationship trajectories shape childbearing outcomes in distinct ways. The study increases knowledge about the processes of relationships and childbearing in the changing landscape of family formation.
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(2018)Memory has become one of the most vibrant areas of research within the field of media studies. Due to the technological advancements of the past two decades, our media consumption has developed globally. Collective memory and media memory scholars argue that our memories are increasingly influenced by media as well as our surrounding social groups. This study focuses on the media memories of the Lebanese diaspora in North America concerning two significant Lebanese political events. The main research questions are: What do the Lebanese living in North America remember about the two events? What is the role of media in the way they remember the events? This thesis also explores two sub-research questions: How do the participants’ social groups influence the way the individuals remember the events? How does their media consumption affect their memories? The data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews with participants from two different age groups in the Lebanese diaspora in North America. The data was analyzed with thematic analysis, and the findings showed that participants remembered very specific details about the events from what they remembered seeing on the TV news. There were some noticeable differences between the memories of the two age groups. This could be contributed to the fact that for the younger participants, their families and other social groups affected their memories of the events. This pointed in the direction that their memories were influenced by the traumatic significance of these events for their social groups. There were types of memories evident throughout the analysis, which were categorized under the concepts of postmemory and flashbulb memories. Essentially, these memories also had influences rooted in social groups and/or media sources for the participants.
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(2013)The thesis explores narrative techniques used in the genre of news reportage, specifically related to reporting from disaster contexts. This particular context is highly interesting, as the journalistic idea of ‘witnessing’ is very pronounced and also a major journalistic rational of deploying reporters. At the same time, reporters in this context might often ‘parachute’ in to the country, they will often have to work in poor security conditions and are exposed to stress and trauma. There are strong indications of an increase in the frequency and effect of disasters globally, which underlines the need to know more about how media reports on such events. This thesis is a small contribution to that end, exploring what narratological choices can be observed in the published news reportages. The material examined consists of news reportages from Haiti published in four different daily newspapers in Finland and Sweden immediately after the devastating earthquake there in January 2010. Out of a total of 30 articles, 8 have been examined in detail with a descriptive and also comparative approach. The method is that of narratological analysis, to a large extent based on the structuralist narratology. The categories included in the analysis are the narrative situation (how the author is present/absent in the text and how she regulates the information), narrative space (how the author present the space on which the reportage is centred) and characterization (how the author presents the characters in the text). The main findings regarding the narrative situation is that the author is present in all the analysed articles, but often not in a clear and consistent way. Rather the author will ‘place’ herself in the text more for temporary effect, particularly in the preamble, but the presence is not for example used to drive the narrative forward. In the category of narrative space, frame space (where the space is passive) is clearly the dominant narratological choice, despite the fact that disaster often has a clear effect on the ‘landscape’ and could potentially be given quite a lot of narrative weight. Regarding characterization, there is very little of it in the analysed articles; interviewees or people observed are generally not introduced or characterized in any way. The analysis of the results and the overall process of writing the thesis leads to two distinct features in the examined material that are discussed in the summary: fading narrativity and low descriptiveness. Fading narrativity refers to the fact that the use of narrative techniques is patchy and often with a focus on the preamble and the beginning of the article, whereas the end of the article often resembles a more traditional news text. External issues can be assumed to be one clear reason for this fading narrativity (time pressure, difficult context, etc.) but I argue that there are internal issues as well, namely that the genre of news reportage and the expectations on the reports is ill defined. Low descriptiveness, in turn, refers to the fact that in all of the articles the narratological categories of narrative space and characterization is used sparsely. This is highly interesting, considering the basic rational behind deploying reporters to such context, i.e. the idea of witnessing. I argue that one possible explanation for this is linked to the McLuhan Galaxy, i.e. that we are dominated by the audio-visual and that this has – consciously or unconsciously – led to a reduction in the perceived need to be descriptive in print journalism.
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(2017)Modern life is saturated with advertisements that use images. We see them on our phones, our TVs, on billboards and signs, though very few are memorable or meaningful to us once they have reached the end of their lifecycle. One campaign that challenged the notion of traditional advertisements was HSL’s “Faces of Public Transport” campaign, which ran in autumn of 2013 and winter of 2014 in Helsinki. The HSL campaign featured 526 portraits of people from the Helsinki area who utilize public transportation in a unique and notable campaign in celebration of HSL reaching an annual ridership of one million people in the Helsinki region. The HSL campaign brings up questions about representation, the intersection of identities, and the power of images and the creator of images. Dyer (1997) and Hall (2003), among others, inform the theoretical background of the research on identity and representation, though the main focus of this work is methodological development and practice, specifically in terms of visual research methods and the use of photography as an ethnographic research tool. As the results show, making meaning from images does not produce neat datasets, but instead prompts further interrogation of local, national and global power structures that affect how identities are represented.
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(2011)Pro gradu uppsatsen diskuterar betydelsen av representation för grupper i samhället genom att diskutera kvinnors representation. Kvinnor är en grupp i samhället som länge varit underrepresenterad, men som under de senaste 100 åren fått en betydligt bättre position i den offentliga beslutfattningen. För att ge bakgrund till frågeställningen beskrivs kvinnors deltagande i den finska riksdagen. Begreppen deskriptiv, substantiell och symbolisk representation diskuteras. Undersökningar av kvinnors representation både deskriptivt och substantiellt på parlamentsnivå presenteras. Forskningsfrågan i uppsatsen består av fyra frågeställningar om hur motioner görs i riksdagen och hur kön kan identifieras i motionerna. Frågeställningarna bygger på den teoretiska diskussionen och meningen med frågeställningar är att styra analysen av motionerna. I teoriavsnittet behandlas kvinnors representation och den vetenskapliga diskussionen om sambandet mellan substantiell och deskriptiv representation. Diskussionen utgår från Hanna Pitkins olika kategorier av representation. I den teoretiska diskussionen behandlas även begreppen den kritiska massan, närvarons politik och kritiska aktörer. I stycket diskuteras även vilka frågeställningar, som är relevanta att undersöka när man diskuterar kvinnors representation i samhället. När representationen av kvinnor diskuteras är det viktigt att minnas att kvinnor inte utgör en homogen grupp och att även män kan representera kvinnor innehållsmässigt. Efter den teoretiska diskussionen presenteras metoden för undersökningen. Som metod används kvantitativa statistiska metoder för att kunna undersöka ett större material, som kan ge en bättre helhetsbild av hur kvinnor representeras i motionerna. Materialet för undersökningen är motioner som är gjorda i den finska riksdagen 2007. Resultaten i undersökningen visar att motionerna används av både opposition och regering och att det finns en möjlighet för samarbete över partigränser. Andra faktorer, som påverkade hur aktivt man gjorde motioner var bland annat riksdagsledamöternas ålder och den valregion ledamöterna var från. När man såg speciellt på motionärernas kön framkom det skillnader i kvinnors och mäns motionsbeteende. Överlag gör män mera motioner än kvinnor i den finska riksdagen. Kvinnor har än idag en större tendens att göra motioner om socialpolitik och speciellt familje- och barnpolitik än vad män har. Männen igen väljer att göra motioner, som traditionellt har setts som starkt manliga, så som trafik och allmänna utrymmen. Resultaten visade också att kvinnors intressen inte är vanligt som motivering för motioner. Man fann också att riksdagsledamöters koppling till kvinnoorganisationer hade en betydelse när det gällde sannolikheten att göra motioner som motiverades med kvinnors intressen i samhället. Uppsatsen diskuterar orsaker till resultaten och ser att det finns orsaker att fortsätta diskutera sambandet mellan deskriptiv och substantiell representation.
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(2017)Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka hur Finlands största dagstidning Helsingin Sanomat representerar de centrala parterna i Ukrainakrisen i pressfotografier med tillhörande rubriker, ingresser och bildtexter. Analysen fäster särskild uppmärksamhet vid hur Rysslandsbilden konstrueras och hurdan bilden är. Vidare är syftet att undersöka om Finlands gemensamma historia med Ryssland och Finlands position bland västländerna har påverkat Rysslandsbilden. Området för avhandlingen är visuell konfliktjournalistik. Analysmaterialet består av 840 fotografier som har publicerats i Helsingin Sanomats pappersversion under cirka åtta månader 2014. Två forskningsmetoder tillämpas: kvantitativ innehållsanalys och kritisk diskursanalys. Målet med den kvantitativa analysen är att registrera innehållet i fotografierna samt att kartlägga mönster och tendenser i materialet i sin helhet. Resultatet används för att motivera urvalet av fotografier för den kvalitativa diskursanalysen, som används för att analysera hur de centrala parterna i krisen representeras. Avhandlingens teoretiska referensram består av Norman Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys samt av teori om fiendebilder utgående från exempelvis Marja Vuorinen och Vilho Harle. Resultatet för analyserna visar att de centrala parter i Ukrainakrisen som Helsingin Sanomat identifierar följer den allmänna uppdelningen: Ryssland, Ukraina, den ukrainska civilbefolkningen, de proryska rebellerna och västländerna. Tidningen lyfter även upp ytterligare en part, nämligen Finland. I sin visuella rapportering betonar tidningen ofta krisens möjliga negativa följder för Finlands ekonomi, i och med Finlands bilaterala förhållande till Ryssland. Samtidigt får de finländska politikerna och president Sauli Niinistö rollen som neutrala medlare mellan västländerna och Ukraina å ena sidan och Ryssland å andra sidan. Vidare visar de empiriska resultaten att det finns skillnader i hur parterna i Ukrainakrisen representeras i Helsingin Sanomats visuella diskurs. Tidningen konstruerar en fiendediskurs kring Ryssland och de proryska rebellerna. Samtidigt representeras Ryssland som ett ekonomiskt och militärt hot i förhållande till Finland, Ukraina och de övriga västländerna. De proryska rebellerna fungerar som ett ställföreträdande exempel på Rysslands militära makt, samtidigt som de representeras som aktiva krigare och får personifiera krisens grymheter och våldsamhet. Civilbefolkningen i östra Ukraina representeras som krisens offer, medan västländerna representeras som skeptiska och fördömande i förhållande till Ryssland. Forskningsresultatet stämmer överens med tidigare forskning som visar att parterna i en konflikt tenderar behandlas ojämlikt i mediernas rapportering. Mediernas urval av fotografier och de diskurser som produceras påverkas av den kultur där de verkar och av det egna landets inblandning. Forskningsresultatet visar att Finlands gemensamma historia med Ryssland har påverkat hur Helsingin Sanomat representerar parterna i Ukrainakrisen i sin visuella diskurs.
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(2014)Our world has been changing rapidly during the last two decades. Such processes as globalization and internalization are the key factors contributing to this development. As a result, existing problems of our planet have aggravated and many more appeared. The problem of climate change has acquired unfavourable features. Consequently, researchers around the world have started to predict the future of our planet and the issue of climate change has become an increasingly important theme in the mass media sphere. It is a fact that the mass media is an important mediator (Painter, 2011) between researchers and people. Thus, public awareness in terms of some issues strongly depends on curiosity and honesty of journalists. That is why, I have decided to analyze climate change in the media. Precisely, I focus on the Russian journalism in order to explore the main characteristics of the climate change problematics representation in Russia. In other words, I am interested in the amount of attention given to this global problem in the Russian press. Russia is an interesting and also contradictory case of media development. It is characterized by researchers as a ‘freedom challenged country’ with consolidation of state control within the media sphere (Becker, 2004, p. 140; Ilyichev, 2004; Sharmina et al., 2013; Tynkkynen, 2010). The main feature of the Russian journalism is a daily representation of economic and political events, while almost no attention is paid to saving the planet propaganda, unlike in some other countries as Finland, Sweden, Norway, the UK (Lyytimäki & Tapio, 2009; Poortinga et al., 2011; Ruth et al., 2000). Everyday Russians read detailed articles about the President’s and the Prime Minister’s activities, about the Parliament’s and MPs’ decisions. But there is very little information in the Russian media about the existing environmental issues (Sharmina et al., 2013; Wilson Rowe, 2009). Within the interpretive methodology I carry out the quantitative and qualitative content analyses as well as the comparative study of representation of the global climate change issue in different Russian newspapers and their articles. The central theoretical ideas, which I consider in this thesis, are scientific concepts about globalization, climate change and the mass media. The data for my research are collected from six popular Russian newspapers, specifically from their online versions. They are the following: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Gazeta.ru, Argumenti i Fakti, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Kommersant, Izvestia. The articles regarding the climate change and global warming issues selected for the quantitative analysis encompass the period of five years (2009-2013). Within the qualitative part I focus on the articles published in 2013. The main findings of this study show that generally the climate change issue is present on the Russian agenda. However the concern of the six Russian newspapers for the global warming issue has declined in 2009-2013. The media discourse analysis has shown that in the year 2013 the Russian newspapers focused mainly on economic and political issues, strenuously underlining the role of Vladimir Putin in everyday news. At the same time, journalists paid much less attention to the themes concerning social and environmental problematics. One more conclusion here is that the presence of scientific voices in the climate change debate within the coverage by the Russian press is undisputable (see Table 3). The most obvious finding that emerged from this study is that Russian journalists, when they said their word about the topic, systematically published the articles devoted to the scientific nature of climate change as well as paid a lot of attention to participation of the international community in the climate policy making. Russia’s involvement in the climate change agenda setting is presented in a less developed way. Anyway, the journalists emphasize Russian inactivity in the ecological safety undertakings.
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(2024)Respecting cultural diversity is crucial in multicultural societies, especially given rising xenophobia and racism in Finland. This growing anti-immigrant sentiment emphasizes the importance of this research, highlighting the need for politically and academically inclusive discussions on multiculturalism and racism. This research addresses Eurocentric narratives supporting a Western-centric view, often reinforcing biases, and marginalizing other perspectives. Correcting these one-sided stories in an educational context can foster a more inclusive understanding of global history. This dissertation aims to evaluate how fifth- and sixth-grade history textbooks in Finland represent Global South regions and countries, focusing on development-related themes. The study examines Eurocentrism in these textbooks by analysing language and discourse through cultural and decolonial studies, using the World System History approach for a broader context. The aim is to offer suggestions for improving the representation of Global South countries, promoting a more inclusive and balanced historical narrative. The methodological framework combines historical inquiry, cultural studies, and decolonial studies with content and discourse analysis to examine how Global South countries are portrayed and how historical roots and power dynamics influence these narratives. The study finds that Finnish history textbooks for fifth and sixth grades include references to the Global South, covering regions like China, India, the Middle East, and South America. This inclusion provides a broader perspective on world history, challenging some Eurocentric narratives. The textbooks suggest that early civilizations were interconnected by focusing on ancient trade routes and cultural exchanges, illustrating that different parts of the world have been connected throughout history, culminating in the Modern Ages and unprecedented globalization. This promotes a more inclusive understanding of historical development, even though some Eurocentric elements remain, as the focus still tends to highlight Western perspectives and achievements. However, a significant gap exists in the representation of African history, with textbooks primarily focusing on ancient Egypt and the transatlantic slave trade, overlooking other crucial aspects of Africa's past. This lack of representation has implications for understanding global history and can reinforce Eurocentric perspectives. By omitting critical parts of African history, these textbooks miss an opportunity to present a more balanced view, contributing to broader issues like racism in Finland. To address these shortcomings, more inclusive approaches that decolonize the mind from Eurocentric biases are needed. This involves integrating a wider range of historical narratives and emphasizing the contributions of diverse cultures, allowing for a more equitable and comprehensive portrayal of global history.
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(2011)This study deals with social representations of social order in Finland. While empirically testing a recent theoretical model of social order representations (Staerklé, 2009), I also investigated the role of values in social representation. Additionally, by including a group diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) into my study, I explored the roles that reflexivity and perspective taking on the one hand, and marginalisation on the other, have in representing social order. I therefore compared social order representation contents and processes of an undefined group of Finnish people (N = 281) with a group of Finnish people diagnosed with ASDs (N = 36), using a mixed method, questionnaire-based design, which included both open and closed questions. Quantitatively, my methods were based primarily upon confirmatory factor analyses and correlation procedures. Qualitatively, I used discourse analysis based in Hallidayan (1978) linguistics, rhetorical analyses based in the methods outlined by Burke (1945; 1950), and Greimas’s (1966/1983) actantial model. While focusing upon the dialogism paradigm within social representations theory (Marková, 2003), I had two theoretical aims. First, I began an articulation of treating values as part of the meaning in representation. Second, I explored the development of a social semiotic approach to representation, which included power dynamics as part of representation processes. Empirically, the Staerklé model held up well and largely conformed to its theoretical underpinnings. The participants demonstrated all of the social order conceptions proposed by Staerklé. Based upon the results, I did, however, suggest some modifications to the model due to some awkwardness related to marginalisation, Finnish-style liberalism, and the welfare state. Results showed that overall, Finnish people conceptualise social order in terms of an equality/inequality thema influenced heavily by security value expressions and power dynamics, while anchoring that understanding in the modern welfare model. Differences in positioning towards that common understanding were related to marginalisation, differences in perspective taking, and different ways of expressing power. I concluded by suggesting that representation is very much a motivated process with value-laden contents, and that social representations research needs to better incorporate these dimensions into its agenda.
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(2015)The number of African immigrants in Finland is constantly growing. A public debate around migration perceives them often as passive and inactive receivers of support. During the past years there has been a shift away from this in order to emphasize the role of active immigrants. Rather than using the term immigrant, this research uses the term diaspora to further emphasize this active role immigrants have in developing their countries of origin. This research studies how the African diaspora in Finland experienced the consultations for a new set of global development goals, post-2015 agenda in Finland. The post-2015 agenda setting has ambitious goals; it aims to harness the voices of the most marginalized into the decision making. The theoretical framework of this research is built on the concepts of diaspora and deliberation. The theory of deliberative democracy aims to legitimize political decisions by assessing whether they have been an outcome of free, equal and rational agents. This study will focus on one of the new ideas around deliberative democracy; the discursive representation, which further highlights the discursive profiles of citizens participating in deliberation. This research utilized the qualitative research method. The data consisted of eight semi-structured elite-interviews with diaspora representatives and establishing stakeholders. Interviews were conducted during the spring and summer 2014 in Helsinki, Finland. The data was further analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The African diaspora interviewed for this study can be considered as elite, even though they are perceived as marginalized in the agenda setting. This study aimed to enable the respondents to reflect on participation experience and it does not aim to create generalized statistics. The analysis is built around two research questions: 1) What were the African diaspora representatives perceived roles and self-declared motivations, and experienced limitations for participation and how did they push their agendas in the post-2015 agenda setting and 2) How did an understanding of ‘diasporic’-identity influence the deliberative nature of the post-2015 agenda setting in Finland? The findings of this research reveal that only few diaspora members were seen actively engaging with the post-2015 consultations in Finland. These diaspora advocates were seen as representatives of entire African diaspora in Finland and often maintained strong links to the establishing stakeholders. The diaspora interviewed, whom had not been active in the agenda setting, felt excluded and patronized. They felt that there had not been any real efforts to reach the ordinary diaspora members. They argued that they had not been informed enough to be able to participate in the discussions and had not authorized those few representatives to speak on their behalf. Furthermore diasporic-identity was seen problematic. It was difficult for the focus groups to define who belongs to diaspora. The findings revealed a use of two types of discourses ‘immigrant’ versus ‘diaspora’. Diaspora members used the diaspora discourse whereas the establishing stakeholders used immigrant discourse and tended immediately link diaspora with immigration themes. The results of this research give new insights considering diaspora advocacy within Finland. Unifying the extremely heterogeneous African diaspora to speak with one voice was often seen difficult. In order to be heard there was a shared understanding that African diaspora members should form coalitions in order to advance their participation. Those participating to the diaspora advocacy work tended to have established strong advocacy ties with the Finnish government and promoted diaspora as expert group: highly-educated, active self-motivated actors who maintain connections to their countries of origin. The main result shows that discourses can work as a mechanism to include and exclude participants from the decision making. The fusion of ‘diaspora discourse’ and ‘migrant discourse’ explains why in the post-2015 agenda setting diaspora representatives were consulted mainly in immigration matters. Due to that the members of African diaspora interviewed were left unsatisfied as they were not identified according to diaspora discourse that highlighted their expertise in multiple sectors.
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(2015)This research inquires into change in the relations between Iran and the United States after the Iranian presidential elections in June 2013 and until the achievement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program in July 2015. The author argues that moving beyond the definition of the state as a unitary actor and the international as well as challenging the dominant understanding of causality is necessary in order to gain deeper understanding of the social phenomena under study within the discipline of World Politics. Through empirical analysis based predominantly on qualitative evidence the research addresses the questions of whether there has been change in the relations between Iran and the United States, what has caused this change and what information the process provides about future developments in these relations. The theoretical basis of the study consists of Alexander Wendt’s theorization of the cultures of the international system as well as relevant critical realist criticism of Wendt’s ideas. The study employs the (meta)methodology of iconic modeling as introduced by Heikki Patomäki for structuring the study of change in open systems. In line with the reductive approach to iconic modeling, a set of the most important causal components responsible for the process is identified and an explanatory story told. The research discovers that significant but limited change has taken place in Iran—US relations. This change has been driven by reflexive thinking on behalf of the Obama administration and the Rouhani government to change the logic of enmity in order to avoid destructive outcomes. Several important causal forces enabling and constraining the actors are found including the positions of the main actors within their respective states, as well as the dominant norms of the international system. It is argued that the international sanctions regime against Iran has been an important but not a sufficient cause in bringing about the end result. The author maintains that without compromise and responsiveness from the other party, the process would have developed in a different direction. The findings of this study draw attention to the importance of adequate methodological and theoretical tools in grasping the complexity of the social world in the discipline of World Politics. The study constitutes an example of how intricate processes can be studied by moving beyond the definition of the state as a sole unit and the international as a separate sphere from other social structures. It also demonstrates how Wendt’s theorization can be combined to the insights of the critical realist approach and how this can lead to deeper understanding of important processes in world politics.
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(2013)This thesis studies the negative labeling of a neighborhood or territorial stigmatization in a residential suburb of Helsinki called Mellunmäki. The purpose of this thesis is to find out whether a territorial stigma features in local residents accounts of the area. The theoretical framework for this thesis is drawn from Loic Wacquant’s idea of a territorial stigma. Wacquant proposes that a negative label or a stigma easily becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, when the residents of stigmatized areas begin to look for ways of distancing from their neighbors and begin to blame neighbors for the area’s alleged hardships. Another theoretical tool to better study the topic in the Finnish context is drawn from previous research on media depictions of Finnish residential suburbs or lähiös through recent decades. The data has been collected by semi-structured interviews. The residents of Mellunmäki have been interviewed in depth about their experiences and opinions on Mellunmäki. Only by understanding the experiences on an individual level can we say something concrete about the wider phenomenon of territorial stigma. By comparing the collected data, themes have been constructed of the phenomenon. The analysis of these themes provide findings as follows. A stigmatizing discourse is found in Mellunmäki through a distinction between Old and New Mellunmäki. New Mellunmäki is used in local discourse to denote areas of social housing within Mellunmäki. These areas are looked down upon by homeowners in Old Mellunmäki and seen as concentrations of unemployed and immigrants. The lived social realities between new and old areas are marked by a symbolic distancing from neighbors. Mellunmäki was also reported to suffer from a wider stigma of East Helsinki. The bad reputation of East Helsinki was seen as easily affiliated to a rather unknown neighborhood of Mellunmäki. Amongst others, a strong need arises from this thesis for further research on the effects of territorial stigma on neighbor relations.
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(2022)The 2008 financial crisis was a disaster for people around the world, which caused the downturn of the world economy and ruined the lives of countless people. However, the Nordic countries stood out with the resilience they showed during the crisis. They were capable of controlling the unemployment rate even during the crisis and recovering from the recession quickly. The reasons behind this are worth digging. Combining literature analysis and interviewing experienced scholars in the field of the welfare state, this thesis aims at providing a unique perspective, analysing the welfare scholars’ views on the performance of the Nordic welfare state in the context of the 2008 financial crisis, to explore the possible sources of the resilience power of the Nordic welfare state and the challenges for the Nordic welfare state during and after the crisis. As a result, several essential elements of the Nordic welfare state are identified. Among them, a high level of social security, strong labour unions and heavy investment in human capital and education are found to be essential sources of the Nordic welfare state’s resilience power. Funding issues stood as a significant challenge during the crisis. Other than that, the privatisation of public service, the ageing population, and migration also lay a great burden on the welfare state in the post-crisis era. Finally, the results also suggest that the 2008 financial crisis also have an impact on the status of the welfare state in Nordic branding.
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(2023)Online disinformation has been identified internationally as a concerning phenomenon due to its potential effects on communication, democracy, and the very conceptions of truth and reality. This thesis aims to examine the question of what factors may make societies resilient to disinformation. Based on the theoretical framework originally outlined in Humprecht et al.’s (2020) cross-country ranking of 18 Western democracies, this thesis analyzes how structural environmental factors at the country level may strengthen resilience to online disinformation in two countries: Finland and Poland. Based on longitudinal mixed methods analyses informed by international indices, reports, and national scholarship, this thesis analyzes the political, media, and economic environments of Finland and Poland to consider how these environments—colored by cultural, historical, and societal contexts—may contribute to each country’s respective resilience to disinformation. This within-case analysis shows the challenges of quantifying and ranking resilience to disinformation and to develop the theoretical framework further. While Finland has historically been found to perform well in resilience studies, its examination alongside the Polish case demonstrates the necessity of nuancing each factor, informed by questioning what each factor actually entails as well as the impact of country contexts. Indicators such as populist communication, public service media, and trust in news were revealed to be more complex than originally outlined in the framework when applied to two different country contexts. This thesis also identified two novel additions to further contribute to the framework: journalistic standards, roles, and ethics and media literacy. By proposing additions to the framework and critically discussing the interactions between factors, this thesis also identifies key areas of future research to contribute to the field of disinformation studies.
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(2022)Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan Aila Meriluodon ja Märta Tikkasen omaelämäkerrallisia tekstejä keskittyen analysoimaan resilienssiä ja koherenssin tunnetta sekä niiden rakentumista. Aineisto koostuu kahdesta kaunokirjallisesta teoksesta, joiden avulla tarkastellaan myös kirjoittajasubjektien toimijuutta. Teokset ovat Aila Meriluodon (1996) Vaarallista kokea − Päiväkirjat vuosilta 1953–1975 ja Märta Tikkasen (1978) Vuosisadan rakkaustarina. Tutkielmassa vastaan kysymykseen: Miten resilienssi ja koherenssin tunne ilmenevät omaelämäkertakirjoittajien teksteissä? Taustaoletuksen mukaisesti klassikkoteosten tunnetuksi tekemät haastavat parisuhteet tarjoavat mahdollisuuden resilienssin ja koherenssin tunteen paikantamiseen ja tutkimiseen. Parisuhteista toista varjosti puolison alkoholin käyttö (Tikkanen) ja toista puolison mielenterveysongelmat (Meriluoto), mitä tutkielmassa katsotaan toiseuden kautta, vieraina parisuhteen yhteisyydessä. Toiseus muodostaa myös viitekehyksellisen lähtötilanteen, jossa kirjoittajien tekstejä tarkastellaan. Kvalitatiivisen aineiston analyysissa käytettiin teorialähtöistä sisällönanalyysia. Analyysin pohjalta aineisto on jäsennelty kuuteen alueeseen: 1) toiseus, 2) vuorovaikutus, 3) parisuhde, 4) muutos, 5) ajallisuus ja 6) toimijuus. Resilienssi ja koherenssin tunne ilmenivät teksteissä kirjoittajien lisääntyneenä toimijuutena. Niillä oli vaikutuksensa parisuhteen sidoksellisuuden säätelyyn, jossa tunnistettiin erillisyyttä ja haettiin tilaa oman merkityksenannon mukaisesti. Subjektiuden kasvaminen heijastui myös vallan jakautumiseen. Muutoksessa keskeistä oli siirtymä, johon liittyi voimavarojen uudelleenkohdistus. Teksteistä pystyi paikantamaan resilienssiä ja koherenssin tunnetta sekä tuottamaan niille sisältöjä. Resilienssiä tarkasteltiin prosessimaisesti kehittyvänä, mikä haasteellisen elämäntilanteen ajallisessa jatkumossa muodosti omanlaisensa rakenteen. Koherenssin tunne resilienssiä täydentävänä näkökulmana tuotti tietoa kirjoittajien kyvystä suhtautua sosiaalisen ympäristön haasteisiin. Kaunokirjalliset teokset tutkimusaineistona sekä elämänkokemusten ja ilmiöiden kuvaajina täyttivät tehtävänsä toisenlaisena tiedontuottamisvälineenä, minkä moninäkökulmaisuudesta myös sosiaalityö voi hyötyä. Aineiston julkisuus ja aihepiirin sensitiivisyys nostivat eettiset kysymykset pohdittaviksi. Tutkielman haasteena näyttäytyi tulkinnallisuus, mitä myös resilienssin ja koherenssin tunnistaminen omaelämäkerrallisista teksteistä vaativat.
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(2018)This paper examines Hezbollah’s identity construction and ideology from its establishment in 1985 until 2009. Hezbollah is a hybrid organization, consisting of military, social and political structures, and it’s designed as a terrorist organization by several states and organizations. After its participation in the Lebanese politics from 1992 onwards, it has adjusted its rhetoric and objectives to match the domestic environment and its demands, however preserving its resistance and Shi’i religious identity as integral parts of its articulation. This study shows that despite more moderate language, Hezbollah has been successful in sustaining its key identity and reasoning behind its political agendas. The theoretical ground of this study derives from Ernesto Laclau’s post-foundationalist discourse theory, which suggests that meanings, structures and social relations are always discursively constructed, transformed and dissolved. The data under scrutiny consists of Hezbollah’s Open letter of 1985, the Parliamentary election programs of 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2005, the New manifesto (2009), Statement of Purpose (1998) and Hizbullah: Identity and Goals –statement (2004). These documents are English translations from the original Arabic documents, translated by Joseph Alagha. A logics approach, as introduced by Jason Glynos and David Howarth, is applied to single out the social, political and fantasmatic logics in Hezbollah’s articulation. The aim is to show how these logics have discursively shaped the identity of Hezbollah and its ideology, considering the historical social and political context, as well as outside influence affecting these processes. This study takes part in the research of armed non-state actors and Islamist movements, having social and political structures and agendas in addition to military objectives. This paper shows that resistance and religion have remained as the main identifications of Hezbollah throughout the timeframe. These identities rest heavily on historical narratives and reasoning, reviving the historical Shi’i narratives of hardship, martyrdom and early resistance. Hezbollah is often viewed as a regional actor that is heavily dependent on Iran and its funding, as well as on its ally Syria. Therefore, the regional changes, conflicts and power balance affect its articulation and orientation throughout the timeframe. A variety of identities stand out in the documents: while focusing on presenting itself as a solely Lebanese movement after the elections of 1992, it has strived to present itself also as a pan-Arabist and pan-Islamist movement, stressing the Arab and Muslim identities of the region. This paper concludes that in the center of Hezbollah’s identity construction and ideology is the antagonistic relationship with its stated enemies: America, Israel and other imperialist powers. By constructing a picture of a hostile enemy through the processes of differentiation and equivalence it also legitimizes its existence as a militant organization. In the future, this study will serve as a historical overview on Hezbollah’s identity and self-legitimization from a discursive viewpoint.
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(2023)This thesis analyses the effect of the Covid-19 crisis and the Invasion of Ukraine on the institutional power of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Presidency as an institution seems to be a somewhat under researched topic in EU studies, therefore this thesis aims to contribute to the literature around the topic. This research is done by analysing three case-study Presidencies: Finland in 2019, Portugal in 2021 and the Czech Republic in 2022. Through the study of the performance of these Presidencies, this thesis is looking to make a case for the Presidency’s increasing importance and influence as an institution, especially when considering the smaller Member States influence capabilities in the EU. The study is conducted in two parts. Firstly, with analysing indicators drawn from the empirical model of Vidacak & Milosic (2020) that measure the performance of the Presidency in quantitative matters. Then secondly, with a qualitative analysis using the qualitative content analysis method on the Presidencies Priority programmes. This part of the analysis is a supplement analysis to the first part to further measure the performance of the case study countries. The findings of this thesis state that there is clear correspondence between the presence of these crises and the increased performance of the case study Presidencies. Out of the three case countries, Portugal that held the Presidency during Covid-19 performed clearly better than the other countries, the Czech Republic who held the Presidency during the Invasion of Ukraine performed better than average, and Finland who held the Presidency before Covid-19 performed worse than average. Overall, this thesis cannot conclusively state that this constitutes as an increase in institutional power, due to the complex institutional nature of the Presidency term, and the Council decision-making. However, this research does state that these tendencies provide further opportunities for smaller countries to influence the EU decision-making through the Council Presidency. These results can also have further effect in the power balance within the Union, where the larger Member States traditionally possess more influence over the decision-making.
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(2018)Responsible investing is a topical subject in financial markets. When both environmental and societal concerns are increasing with population growth and growing demand for scarce resources, interest towards responsibility and sustainability matters have become global. This has created new investment markets of responsible investing. The aim of this thesis is to form a comprehensive analysis of the performance of responsible investments compared to non-responsible investments. The thesis analyses the financial performance, the performance under uncertainty and the volatility of responsible investments. The empirical studies are utilised in the analysis. The thesis also aims to form an understanding of the possible sources and explanations of economics for financially profitable performance of responsible investments by introducing and applying theories of economics and academic studies. The thesis creates a theoretical framework for the research question analysis, with Markowitz’s (1952) modern portfolio theory. The theory indicates that by limiting the investment possibilities to cover the preference of responsible investing, an investor faces a constraint. Since opportunities of diversification decrease, responsible investing portfolios cannot be diversified as normal portfolios and responsible investing portfolios are not considered optimal. The theory indicates that responsible investment portfolios yield a worse expected return with the same risk or higher risk with same expected return compared with the optimal portfolios. When analysing the financial performance of responsible investments, the empirical evidence shows that the positive environmental, social governance (ESG) – corporate financial performance (CFP) correlation is higher than the negative ESG–CFP correlation. In addition, when comparing the performance of responsible indices and traditional indices, there are no significant differences in the gross returns or Sharpe ratios. When analysing the performance under uncertainty, companies with high corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings compared to companies with low CSR ratings, ratings had four to seven percent higher stock returns during the financial crisis period of 2008–2009. In addition, when analysing volatility, the conclusion is that higher ESG rating correlated with lower volatility and the relationship is stronger when market volatility was high. The empirical evidence shows that responsible investing appears to be financially profitable and a rational investing strategy since it does not impose opportunity costs for an investor. In fact, responsible investing can result in good risk-management of a portfolio and yield even better profit expectations than a non-responsible investing strategy. These findings challenge the modern portfolio theory’s indications. Explanations for the research question of why responsible investments perform well, are diverse. When applying the theories of economics, responsibility can be seen as signaling and to bring a competitive advantage for companies that integrate responsibility into the business models. A competitive advantage can occur through lower costs, easier access to capital and through differentiation. The academic studies also recognize the connection between responsibility and trustworthiness as distinct. In addition, responsibility can be seen as anticipating and managing of risks when it comes to possible changes in the institutional environment, for example, in legislation or in regulation framework. Furthermore, an altruistic way of behaviour can be identified among consumers and overall there exists a significant demand for responsibility and responsible products and businesses.
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(2016)This master’s thesis is a case study of a Uruguayan based forestry company’s, Montes Del Plata’s, impact on the Uruguayan society. The company has a corporate social responsibility program, with which it is trying to steer the impact caused by its operations. The aim of this thesis is to identify what interpretations different actors give to the 'responsibility' in corporate social responsibility. Conflicts caused by the global pulp and paper industry have been studied in Latin America and this thesis is connected to that research, although no conflict has risen from the current pulp mill project. In addition, this thesis provides information how CSR connects to the wider global development, and the scope and limitations are discussed. The data in this study was collected by 18 interviews as well as doing participant observation in Uruguay in the spring of 2012. The interviews were held with stakeholders identified by the company Montes Del Plata. It was found that different stakeholders have different opinions about responsibility in this case. The corporate responsibility is seen as socially constructed by the stakeholders of the company. The reasons for the different views on responsibility can be linked to the three dimensions of corporate social responsibility: social, environmental and economic. CSR was found to not be applicable to global development.
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