Browsing by study line "Yhteiskuntatieteiden opintosuunta"

This thesis examines the role of markets in speeches made by Ministers of Finance Iiro Viinanen and Jyrki Katainen in the plenary sessions of the Finnish parliament in 1991-1994 and 2007-2010. The aim of this study is to analyse political discourses in speeches made about state budget proposals during two economic crises, the depression of the 1990s and the Global Financial Crisis. The thesis employs Bob Jessop’s Cultural Political Economy approach to view crises as moments of contestation for hegemonic discourses and ideologies, and an opportunity to examine political and social change in the age of neoliberalism through speech. Both crises were also characterised by the contestation of the relationship between Finland and the EU, first centred around accession to the EU and in particular the role of EMU convergence criteria in designing economic policy, and in the second crisis on the nature of centre-periphery relations amid the Eurozone crisis. The purpose of this research has been to uncover the way in which ministerial speeches reflect the neoliberalisation of Finland through a specific national context, which is characterised in particular by the relationship between the state and individual, the moral nature of economic decision-making, the increasing influence and power of the civil service on decision-making through the Ministry of Finance, and the gradual replacement of defence policy by economic policy as the defining factor of Finland’s independence and sovereignty. The thesis explores these concepts through the use of Theo van Leeuwen’s conceptualisation of discourse as the recontextualisation of social practices, analysing the speeches using a comparative and thematic perspective. The analysis finds that while the Ministers of Finance did not draw on discourses of legitimation by authority with regards to the Ministry of Finance, the consistent themes during both periods drew heavily on themes of absolute necessity, responsible decision-making, moralistic attitudes towards the Finnish citizen, and constructions of unity of the Finnish people. Both Ministers also referred to market forces, investor confidence, and trust as existential questions for the sovereignty of the nation and emphasised the need for permanent changes in Finland towards the direction of a neoliberalised market economy. Similarly, the Ministers appeared to draw on paternalist understandings of the state as a shepherd of its people, a guardian of a small nation against predatory international forces, and yet a reasoned disciplinarian of an irresponsible child. The study concludes that in particular the discourses on which the Ministers draw that rely on moralistic and paternalistic articulations of the relationship between the state and the individual can be seen as indicative of the national context of neoliberalisation in Finland. Furthermore, the extent to which the crises are framed as learning opportunities varies, though both Ministers consistently refer to the permanence of the changes (structural in particular) to be made to the Finnish economy, and in differing ways envision a new age in Finland, nonetheless one of credibility, responsibility, and a stable market economy. The study also offers new avenues for research, particularly for the wider debate in parliament and crisis construals therein, in addition to using the theory and the methods of this thesis to analyse other crises, perhaps non-economic in nature, such as the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, the thesis also suggests that further research could be conducted on the paternalistic and moralistic aspects of ministerial politics in particular.

Dialogue on the definition of Europe is often dominated by geopolitical undertones. However, since the dawn of the Enlightenment era, it has been recognised that such a definition of Europe is insufficient in formulating a comprehensive meaning of Europe which encompasses the wide regional diversity which exists within the continent. This argument gained new relevance during the interwar period, where discourse on Europe as an idea that goes beyond the strict geopolitical implications of the continent, started to emerge. Select interwar studies shone a new light on the idea of Europe as they allowed for the founding of unity amidst diversity; an endeavour which cannot be considered within the geopolitical realm. Additionally, reflecting on the turmoil and crises of the interwar period, the resulting idea of Europe was said to have emerged from a major schism in intellectual trends of the time. In this regard, the formulation of Europe as an idea borne out of crisis and reinvention was perfectly demonstrated within the works of Edmund Husserl and Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi. Both authors recognised the limitations of adopting only a geopolitical definition of Europe, and thus presented their own theories on what could constitute an all-encompassing idea of Europe. Husserl determined the core of Europe to lay within abstract factors such as universalism. Coudenhove-Kalergi considered concrete politics to be a tool which can bring Europe under the main locus of tolerance. While Husserl and Coudenhove-Kalergi took different routes in tackling this question, their respective answers can be said to highlight the interdependence between philosophical considerations of the former and the latter’s pragmatic solutions to the idea of Europe. At first glance, the only commonality between Husserl and Coudenhove-Kalergi seems to be their time-period. However, the works and theories of these two authors experience a sense of complementarity; while taking on very different approaches, the respective views on idea of Europe of Husserl and Coudenhove-Kalergi could point to a new perspective on the topic of study. While both have their limitations, the side-by-side study of their different views on Europe allows for a unique perspective in which one makes up for the other’s shortcomings in terms of thoroughness and applicability. Such is the benefit of examining and comparing Husserl and Coudenhove-Kalergi; much like their standing on the idea of Europe, their diversity only adds to the credibility of their review.

This thesis analyses the global role of the European Union (EU) as a crisis and conflict manager from the viewpoint of the launch of the European Peace Facility (EPF). The European integration has often been pictured as a peace project and in fact, in 2012 EU was even awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize. However, recent changes in EU’s policies pose question on whether the role of EU in international arena is changing. This thesis focuses especially on the EPF, which is EU’s new off-budget funding instrument that was officially launched in March 2021. The EPF is used to fund EU’s external actions with defence and military implications. The decision to launch EPF was a historical one because it for the first time provided the EU an opportunity for the provision of lethal military equipment, including weapons. Especially this aspect of the EPF was strongly criticised by civil society organisations before, and after, the launch the facility. The EPF is very topical, because in year 2022 the EU used the change to send weapons to support Ukraine because of the Russia’s attack. However, research on the EPF and especially on its impact on the EU’s role is so far very limited. The main idea of this thesis is to research, whether the launch of the European Peace Facility is an example of the EU’s role changing towards a more military and a less civilian role in international arena, especially in the realm of crisis management. The thesis analyses the way that the EU justifies and frames the EPF and the role conception that the EU has of itself on global arena. Besides, the thesis analyses the role expectations of other actors, more specifically civil society organisations, towards the EU and on their views on the possible impact of the EPF for the EU’s role. The theoretical and conceptual base of this thesis is role theory and the concept of civilian power since the EU has often been referred as a civilian power. From role theory especially the concepts of role conception and role expectation are relevant for this thesis. The analysis is conducted by using qualitative document analysis. The data consists of documents produced by the EU, for example press releases and a speech, and documents of NGOs, mainly joint statements, and letters of groups of NGOs. The analysis of the data shows that for the EU the creation of the European Peace Facility was part of the discourse of making the EU a stronger security actor. The EU’s role conception of its role is not merely a civilian actor or an actor focusing on soft power. However, the EU still highlights its normative values as well as conflict prevention. The role expectations that the civil society has towards the EU, however, are more in line with the traditional civilian power role conception. The civil society expects the EU to have a role of a peace actor. To conclude, the analysis shows elements of a role conflict between the role conception of the EU and the role expectations posed towards the union. The NGOS see more military instruments as a threat for the role they expect the EU to have. The EU, however, tries to balance between soft normative values and a stronger military emphasis.

This master's thesis conducts a qualitative, single-case thematic research on Finland’s revised security policy from the spring of 2022, when security environment of the whole Europe changed remarkably, as Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine. The data which this thesis examines consists of a government’s report, and a parliamentary debate from the plenary session where the report was presented. In addition to organising the data thematically, this thesis creates and employs a theoretical framework of neorealism, consisting of the works of Kenneth Waltz, Stephen Walt and Joseph Grieco. In the analysis, this theoretical framework is applied to the developed themes to produce a neorealist reading of Finland’s new security policy and its parliamentary debate. Additionally, this thesis endeavours to explore the extent to which neorealist theoretical literature can be applied to current phenomena, and seeks to fill a gap in previous research, which is the lack of application of realist theory to Finland’s security policy in contemporary times. The analysis produces five main themes, which focus on major change and unpredictability, strong and sovereign Finland with independent interests, Russia as a threat and adversary, international aspects to peace and security, and NATO membership as a security solution. Additionally, contested and disputed role of the European Union as a security provider, memory of war, and broad conceptualisation of security arose as additional findings, outside the main themes. The findings are to a large extent aligned with previous research. The selected neorealist theories interpret and explain the data rather well with a focus on sovereign security and survival interests, alliance-formation as well as cautious and attentive characteristics of a small-state. However, the focus on international law in the data turned out somewhat difficult and ambiguous to interpret with neorealist theory. From a theoretical perspective it is concluded that neorealist literature has potential value in explaining a present-day security policy, but equivocally. Further studies incorporating competing theories, such as those of a liberal nature, are encouraged to further address this dilemma. Moreover, to move from a single-case design to examine multiple case longitudinally or cross-sectionally in a future study, could prove useful here.

This study examines the way in which four key European social partner organisations - ETUC, BusinessEurope, SGI Europe and SMEunited – frame the issue of platform work, shedding light on the differences and similarities between the employer and employee organisations. The context of the study is the European Commission legislative proposal “Directive on Improving Working Conditions in Platform Work”, published in December 2021, following several national court decisions and intense political debate. Recent policy initiatives taken by the Commission have increasingly paired the regulation of digital platforms with the wider social policy aims of the EU and simultaneously granted a central role for the European social partners, whose positions on digitalisation have not been much researched. This thesis aims to contribute to filling this research gap and extend our knowledge on social partners’ positions on platform work, digitalisation and employment. The data consists of 35 policy documents, collected from the websites of the four organisations. Through frame analysis, four key frames on platform work were identified. “Platform work as historical continuation of precarious work” -frame, employed by the employee side, constructs platform work as precarious work, and its digital aspects as inherently exploitative. “Platform work as flexible work” -frame, used by the employer side, constructs platform work as a personal choice of the self-employed workers. “Platform work as not a separate category” -frame, is employed by both employer and employee organizations, employers using it to support their position on the self-employed status of the workers and the employee side opposing it. Last, “platform work as new type of work” -frame presents platform work as inherently innovative line of business ultimately benefitting everyone, if the potential is not hampered with regulation. The social partner organisations bring forward competing understandings on digitalisation and its implications for labour, which supports the conception of platform work regulation as an extremely contested area of political action. The contestation between the organisations highlights the role of framing as a political act. The organisations are not only competing for platform work to be understood in a certain way, but also for the future arenas on which the policy discussions on platform work are held.

A few weeks after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia on 24 February 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron warned against ‘the temptation of humiliation’ of Russia in order to negotiate the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war. This statement sparked a lot of discussions among allied partners, and raises the question of the place of France in the Western support to Ukraine, as well as in the EU and NATO. While France had reclaimed its role as an exemplary ally in the Euro-Atlantic space, Emmanuel Macron’s statements came at an important political and reputational cost. This thesis addresses the origin and relevance of Macron’s humiliation narrative drawing from the literature on the role of emotions and status in international relations, as well as the history of French foreign policy, in particular towards Russia. It analyses the French response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine by examining three dimensions of policy change: modes of action, institutional commitments, discourses. This thesis demonstrates that, while Macron’s cautious stance about Russia can be explained by the domestic political context in France, his discursive practices contradict the French efforts to support Ukraine, and harm the Eastern allies’ perception of France as a reliable provider of security. This has notably led Macron to toughen his position on Russia in 2023.

Blame avoidance research mainly assumes that it is in the interest of people in positions of power to minimize the amount of blame directed at them. But the perspective can be different when it comes to populist leaders. A discourse theoretical analysis focusing on Janez Janša, former Prime Minister of Slovenia, shows how populist rhetoric and conspiracy theories can be used as blame avoidance strategies. The data consists of interviews with Janša, published by the Slovenian government, as well Janša’s participance in the European Parliament during a discussion on media freedom and the rule of law. According to Ernesto Laclau (2005), articulating an antagonistic frontier is an important part of the populist logic. The antagonistic frontier is a central aspect of the rhetoric of Janez Janša, who depicts himself as a victim of a socialist elite controlling large parts of society. Janša’s claims can be understood as a conspiracy theory, fulfilling the criteria by Jovan Byford (2011). This conspiracy theory can also be understood through the framework of populist logic and the antagonistic frontier. This framework of populism can be applied to understand the underlying patterns of the blame avoidance strategies used by Janez Janša, as well as the possible effects on accountability. Blame can play a part in articulating the antagonistic frontier and Janša does not always attempt to minimize blame, but on the contrary sometimes acts in a way that is certain to attract blame. When looking at this through the perspective of populist logic, there is a central difference between two types of blame. It is in the interest of a populist leader to avoid criticism from their own side of the antagonistic frontier in order to keep the chain of equivalence intact. On the other hand, blame from the other side might strengthen the antagonistic frontier and even be beneficial for the populist leader.

The Finnish population is quickly aging. The aging of the population is reflected in the Finnish economy and in the availability of skilled workers in several fields. The governmental focus has consequently in recent years concentrated on increasing the immigration of the highly skilled in the country. The growing fields such as the technology industries in which the need of highly skilled immigrants is emphasized in the governmental aims are still statistically dominated by men. As such, female immigrants are still often discussed in the context of female dominated industries such as the care work industries. This thesis consequently aims to emphasize the position of highly skilled immigrant women in the traditionally male-dominated industry of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in Finland. Intersectionality as coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the 1980s focuses on the advantages and disadvantages in the lived experiences of different identity groups. Originating from considerations of challenges faced by African American women in the United States, intersectionality has since then expanded to depict the challenges on various groups. The theory will be consequently utilized in this thesis to depict the experiences of highly skilled immigrant women in the field of STEM in Finland, with immigrant women being seen as an often-marginalized group. Qualitative interviewing acts as the selected methodology of the thesis with five individuals working in the field of STEM being interviewed for the thesis. The interviewees were selected to represent different backgrounds, with the aim being portraying the possibilities and challenges faced by the interviewed individuals comprehensively in a manner of a case study. The data collected through the interviews is assessed through four analytical categories of education, bureaucracy, language skills and social networks. With each category being taken into the analysis separately, the individual impact of each in the labor market position as well as the societal position and the perception of these by the interviewees is being considered. Despite the international nature of the field of STEM, the analysis reveals there to still exist factors favoring native Finns in the labor markets. Furthermore, similar challenges are faced by people coming from within the EU and outside of the EU with for instance non-Finnish education and work experience impacting interviewees coming from both backgrounds. The differing experiences of the interviewees illustrate that the idea and reality of the (dis)advantages that are essential to intersectional thinking are not implicitly tied to persons who are viewed to belong to the groups seen often be the most burdened. The results of the analysis consequently demonstrate the non-universal character of migrating for certain purpose and oppose the traditional image of intersectional concerns associated with certain groups. Nevertheless, to reach a more comprehensive idea of the position of immigrant women in the Finnish field of STEM research with more extensive sample of data is needed. With the number of the highly skilled likely growing in the near future, understanding the position of highly skilled female migrants within such group will also become more emphasized both academically and societally.

This thesis examines how the concept of Nordic added value is defined and understood in Nordic social and health policy cooperation. Although the concept serves as an evaluation criterion for funding and a guiding principle in all official Nordic cooperation projects and activities, there is no single, widely accepted view of the meaning of the concept. The goal of the research is thus to investigate and understand the underlying principle of Nordic cooperation, through which the research also supports the practical work of Nordic actors and institutions operating in the social and health sector. In addition, the research supports the implementation of the Nordic Council of Ministers' Vision 2030 action plan, according to which the Nordic region will become the world's most sustainable and integrated region by 2030. The research is mainly inductive in nature, and its conceptual framework includes an examination of Nordic cooperation narratives, the Nordic epistemic community, and the added value of transnational cooperation. It is a case study that investigates and compares the understanding of the concept of persons working in or with Nordic social and health policy cooperation at two separate levels of formal Nordic cooperation. In addition to survey and interview materials, the research analyses official Nordic cooperation documents using qualitative content analysis. The survey and interview materials were gathered from both the official level, which includes Nordic Welfare Centre operating under the Nordic Council of Ministers, as well as the practical level, which consists of several networks that Nordic Welfare Centre coordinates. The results of this study show that there are no significant differences between the understandings of the two levels, but the concept appears to be relatively flexible and ambiguous and dependent on the individuals using it. However, the concept can be understood in both symbolic and practical terms, whereby the former is closely related to the common background and values associated with the Nordic welfare state models, and the latter to the exchange and sharing of knowledge and experiences. The research shows that the greatest added value in Nordic social and health policy cooperation arises from useful comparisons that lead to learning, inspiration, and ultimately development both in individual countries and in the entire Nordic region. Although the research results suggest that a lot of added value is produced in the Nordic welfare sector, the study also highlights that many factors, such as lack of resources and administrative and language challenges, limit the realisation of the full potential of Nordic added value.

The Benelux Union is an international intergovernmental organization consisting out of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. It is not a very well-known institution, but it has been existing for many decades. As the three member states are also founding members of the European Union, these two institutions have an interesting dynamic. For as long as it has existed, the Benelux Union has been functioning as laboratory for European integration. The Benelux can thus be seen as frontrunners, and therefore as some sort of leaders. The research goal was to find out if the Benelux Union is used as a vehicle by the Benelux countries to increase their influence in the European Union. This thesis draws upon the concept of multi-speed integration, where countries who decide to integrate further than the current European integration pressure other states to follow. Thus by being frontrunners, countries could increase integration within the European Union. These frontrunners also have more to say about the way and degree in which integration takes place. It can therefore be beneficial for EU member states to act as frontrunners. In order to find the answers to the research and sub-questions, the choice was made to use qualitative methods. To be more precise, a combination between document analysis and elite interviews have been employed to provide the answers. Evaluations by the Dutch government on the Benelux Union or Benelux cooperation in the EU were the most important documents. These evaluations, together with some other documents, were supplemented by nine interviews conducted with one academic expert and officials from the three countries and the Benelux Union itself. There are three main findings. Firstly, the Benelux puts a huge emphasis on its role as laboratory because it sends out a signal to the other European countries. A signal that expresses the Benelux’ support for European integration, which increases trust towards them. From the Benelux Union itself, it sends the signal they are still a relevant institution, even though the EU has taken most policy fields in which the Benelux is active. Secondly, in some occasions, Benelux integration may serve as a catalyst for further European integration. If the Benelux countries launch successful projects, many other European states may decide to join this initiative. Whenever enough countries have joined, the project might be scaled up to the European level. The last and main finding gives an answer to the research question. The Benelux Union increases Benelux influence in the EU indirectly by supporting coalition building among the Benelux states. Moreover, it gives its member states a very positive image on the international stage. If this is not enough, the Benelux states might decide they want to implement a new project in the Benelux Union to use these results as an argument to implement this at the European level. It has to be noted that there are not a significant amount of examples of this direct form.