Browsing by Author "Puhakka, Laura"

Throughout history, conflict situations have affected people differently depending on the gender. The United Nations Security Council acknowledged the problem by adopting Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security to be implemented by all member states. The aim of this thesis is to examine the country image that Finland has created of its peace mediation policy from a gender perspective during 2015-2018. This research is a qualitative content analysis. As the Finnish model of peace consists of cooperation between the government and non-governmental actors, the research material was divided into two perspectives. The first primary source was Finland’s National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs during the years of 2012-2018. The second primary source was the Finnish member profiles of the Nordic Women Mediators Network. The research followed a thematic structure of the themes Nordicness, gender mainstreaming and sustainable peace. The study shows that Finland’s country image on gender-equal peace mediation emphasises the role of women in particular. One central finding from the thematic perspective is that the Action Plans have given more importance to sustainable peace after the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was launched by the United Nations. The profiles of the Nordic Women Mediators Network emphasise versatile cooperation between peace actors and through multidisciplinary backgrounds. In addition, the Nordic Women Mediators Network bring added value to the Nordic presence of the Action Plans. All in all, the Finnish Women, Peace and Security agenda has diversified in its themes the more Action Plans have been launched. The findings of this study reflect that creating a country image is a significant part of nation-branding. The visibility of values in different contexts also reflect how the country identifies itself. Cooperating with independent actors by sharing skills not only strengthens the foreign policy but the overall image of the Finnish way in peace-making.