Browsing by master's degree program "Globaalin politiikan ja viestinnän maisteriohjelma"

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 prompted Finland to re-evaluate its national security and led to increased support for NATO membership. This study examines how Finnish news media portrays national security at the time of heightened sense of insecurity. The objective of the study is to explore and expose the nexus of security and gender within the NATO discussion context. Drawing on feminist security studies, this study views security as a gendered concept. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, integrating security studies, gender studies, and media studies. The thesis investigates the gendered nature of security by using traditional masculine and feminine values as tools in discourse analysis. Additionally, the thesis analyses whose voices are heard in the media. This case study focuses on the NATO discussion in Helsingin Sanomat, Iltalehti, and Yle from January to March 2022. The thesis comprises two parts from the perspective of methodology and data. The quantitative content analysis of 671 online news articles examines gender representation in the media, while the qualitative analysis of 70 opinionated online news media articles employs thematisation and Wodak’s approach to critical discourse analysis. The findings of this study imply that the dominant notion of security in the media is narrow and masculine. The hegemonic notion of Finnish national security aligns with traditional masculinity, emphasising militaristic, physical, and rational characteristics. The analysis shows that growing insecurity appears to correspond with decreasing feminine notions of security. The study argues that the prevailing security discourse in the media is exclusive to the performances of militarised masculinity. Additionally, security is predominantly discussed by male voices in the media. Finally, this thesis argues that the dominant narrow, masculine, and militaristic notion of security is not contested in the media, thereby lacking a comprehensive understanding of securities and insecurities as well as inequalities. The study addresses a need for further critical research to examine the interrelation of national security, militarism, and gender in Finland.

This thesis examines the power relations of the United States pharmaceutical industry to answer two research questions: (1) to what extent does the US pharmaceutical industry have power? and (2) does the US-based pharmaceutical industry attempt to gain power abroad? This work builds on the assumption that the US industry has some level of power, particularly as it is able to operate in an environment in which it operates with unregulated prices, high profit margins, patent monopolies, all while receiving assistance in the form of publicly funded research and tax breaks from the government. Following the introductory Section 1, Section 2 provides a background of the main concepts considered within this study. A brief history of the pharmaceutical industry is provided, as well as discussion surrounding today’s era of medical neoliberalism, i.e. neoliberal ideas in the healthcare sphere. Corporate lobbying is introduced in terms of theoretical perspectives as to why firms lobby, a prominent idea being that firms lobby to create value. The importance of intangible assets and intellectual property rights for pharmaceutical firms is presented, as are two theoretical perspectives on how the pharmaceutical industry should operate: neoclassical economics and social justice. Section 2 concludes with a framework on power as presented by Steven Lukes on three dimensions of power: decision-making, non-decision-making, and ideological. Section 3 presents the research design that this study undertakes. Building on the power dimensions of Lukes, this thesis considers three forms of power: ideational power (neoliberal ideas of e.g. innovation), vertical power (political connections), and property power (intellectual property rights). As such, three collections of material are used to analyze each power type individually. Articles from the New York Times are used to examine ideational power, focusing on various discourses found in the articles. Lobbying reports of three large pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Merck are used to determine what issues and areas the firms spend resources on. The negotiation process of the TRIPS Agreement is discussed to show how the US pharmaceutical industry was a main player in terms of creating an international intellectual property rights regime. Section 4 analyzes the three power types framed above, and Section 5 discusses the findings. Ideational power showed a general norm in which the pharmaceutical industry’s operations are normalized in the United States and more broadly the Global North. Vertical power found that pharmaceutical companies are interested in engaging with issues both domestically and internationally. On an international level, the firms focused on intellectual property rights, trade agreements, and taxes. Property power showed that the TRIPS Agreement emerged in part due to corporate interests in the United States, including the pharmaceutical industry. These private actors were able to collaborate and work with governments to create a more favorable international environment in terms of intellectual property protections. Section 5 also discusses the contributions of this study to the overall field of global political economy, as well as presenting limitations and paths of future research. Section 6 concludes.

A prevalent narrative associated with contemporary academe in the current era of globalisation is one of constant and increasing mobility. This narrative is acutely modern and tends to obscure the ancient character of academic mobility as a phenomenon. This Master’s Thesis seeks to address a knowledge gap in existing literature by considering the development of intellectual networks in ancient Greece and analysing the movement of Hellenistic philosophers in a prosopographical study of academic mobility utilising an interdisciplinary approach, combining theories and methods of both social sciences and history. Does academic mobility as a phenomenon occur in the context of Hellenistic period, specifically relating to the philosophical schools of that era? Why did Athens become the centre of intellectual activity and philosophical mobility for most of the Hellenistic period? The theoretical framework draws from the study of mobilities, network theory, concept analysis, and (to a lesser extent) human geography. An analytical concept of academic mobility is constructed to enable historical analyses and evaluation of potential historical occurrences of academic mobility. The primary data gathering method employed is an applied form of prosopography, a micro-biographical approach to the study of socio-historical phenomena. The lives of ten Stoic philosophers are summarised in ten case studies, which help illustrate the mobility and social networks of Hellenistic philosophers by providing examples of philosophical movement and career paths. The entries are subsequently analysed in conjunction with research literature to generate answers to the research questions. The study shows that while some of the movement of Hellenistic philosophers indeed meets the criteria for academic mobility, it nonetheless constitutes only a fraction of the mobility exercised by philosophers as a part of their profession and lifestyle. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the pre-eminence of Athens as the centre of Hellenistic philosophical activity was predicated on a self-perpetuating process of social capital accumulation, as the presence of several prominent thinkers and organised schools of thought engaged in an intense dialectic attracted philosophically inclined individuals from all over the Greek world. The study concludes that the existence, development, and transformation of higher education networks is historically contingent and often affected by forces and factors external to the network(s), highlighting the need to examine occurrences and conditions of academic mobility on a case-by-case basis and suggesting further avenues of research to the study of historical academic mobility.

Women of colour across the globe have played key roles in leading resistance to oppressive regimes, across time and space. Beginning with the anti-slavery freedom movement in the colonial era from the 16th century onwards, and into the digital spaces of the twentieth first century, women of colour’s activism has been pivotal to securing social justice. While this phenomenon has gained momentum in international scholarship, there is very little research on the women of colour digital activism in Finland. This study seeks to answer the following research question: How do women of colour in Finland use digital media to raise their voice[s]? The notion of raising one’s voice signals the need to move from an abject silenced position to take up space in public discussion. For the purpose of this thesis, digital media platforms and spaces represent potential or actually powerful routes for forging solidarity, spreading awareness, advocacy and campaign work in pursuit of social justice. In this thesis, the notion of raising one’s voice has a second implication: it refers to activism aimed at supporting those who are not heard to amplify their voices in public spaces. The study was conducted in the form of 19 semiconstructed interviews with women of colour living in Finland who engage in activism in digital platforms. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings, based on data derived from a thematic content analysis of the interviews, suggest that women of colour in Finland use digital media platforms as a resource to facilitate their participation and amplify their voices in public conversations from which they would otherwise be silenced.

Japan today faces a series of issues ranging from unsatisfactory working conditions to labor shortages across all sectors, culminating in a labor crisis. To overcome this crisis, the Japanese government led by the Liberal Democratic Party has begun to implement reforms bundled under the “Work Style Related Reform Laws”. In addition, businesses have introduced wage increases after 30 years of stagnation. Several extensive research has been conducted over the years on specific issues such as low unemployment rate or low birth rate. However, none have examined the overall labor issue in terms of crisis. Applying the institutionalist and comparative political economy approaches, this thesis aims to evaluate the potentiality of Japan in overcoming the labor crisis.Using previous research, government data and reports, the thesis examines various aspects related to working life and then compares Japan to Finland, another country where the trend is following a similar path to Japan, exploring the overall labor situation in both countries. Central objective of the thesis is to answer if it is possible for Japan to overcome the labor crisis and what needs to be done to achieve societal transformation. The labor crisis is at a critical point in Japan today, but the foundation for societal transformation exists as all stakeholders; the government, businesses, and the people are in agreement for the need for change. What is more, small actions are starting to be taken and once transformative reforms are enacted, Japan may be able to overcome the labor crisis.

This thesis aims to offer a critical analysis of the phenomenon of a global debt crisis and possible mechanisms that may cause them. It starts with a hypothesis that the concept of a global debt crisis is too vaguely defined and relies too much on the idea of excessive debt being the root cause of the crisis. Instead, the thesis will argue that a global debt crisis must have a systemic nature where the crisis threatens the existence of the entire global monetary system. For the purposes of the argument, the different interpretations of debt are examined, the relevant features of our global monetary system are determined, and a systemic crisis theory of Jürgen Habermas is utilized. The thesis has its theoretical background in Critical Realism, which will help distinguish social mechanisms with real causal powers that may contribute to forming a global debt crisis. The thesis uses abductive and retroductive reasoning to assess different mechanisms brought forward in the relevant literature of whether they are capable and necessary to cause a global debt crisis. Furthermore, the thesis will approach the debt from the perspective of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), which emphasizes the state’s role in managing money and debt relations. Specifically, the thesis will apply the frameworks of sectoral balances and monetary sovereignty to determine the differences of the global debt network in contrast to sovereign or private debt. Based on these frameworks, the argument is that the same mechanisms cannot cause a global debt crisis as a sovereign debt crisis. In the analysis part, the thesis focuses on two possible mechanisms that frequently appear in the academic literature as a cause for a global debt crisis: global imbalances and global debt deflation. The case for global imbalances relies on the fears of the U.S. dollar collapsing, which the frameworks of MMT indicate to be highly implausible due to the total U.S. monetary sovereignty. On the other hand, the case for global debt deflation rests on an increasing accumulation of private debt, which is shown to be more dangerous globally. However, despite its sound systemic causal mechanism, the assessment finds that global debt deflation is alone an insufficient cause to create a global debt crisis. In conclusion, the thesis emphasizes the role and significance of political decisions as a necessary cause behind most debt crises, especially a possible global one. The relevance of debt-controlling institutions are considered briefly, but the ultimate responsibility for preventing a global debt crisis is put into the hands of currency-issuing states. Political decisions will be shown to function as both a capable and necessary cause for a global crisis. Furthermore, the thesis also considers the limitations of using MMT to examine global debt relations and gives preliminary suggestions for further research.

After decades of low inflation in developed economies, inflation increased significantly beginning from 2021, as consequences of global pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and later a war in Europe led to upward price pressures on several parts of the economy. As inflation proved to be more persistent than initially expected, central banks were forced to act in order to protect price stability. This thesis is an explanatory study that conceptualizes inflation narrative dynamic from the perspective of central banks. I argue that inflation is not based on scarcity alone, but also a self-enforcing narrative, which can make inflation persistent even when underlying inflationary pressures are solved. Inflation expectations are manifestations of narratives that are replicated over time with limited information in recursive feedback loop rather than being rationally formed under full information as many economic theories assume. I present a framework to study the formation of inflation narratives and a brief history of inflation theories to put current theoretical understanding of inflation in its historical context. I study what dominant inflation narratives and underlying economic theories can be identified in central bank communications during 2021-2022 and how central banks have aimed to influence inflation expectations of the public. Major change in monetary policy communication during the research period was the shift from Forward Guidance communication policy to data-dependence. In Forward Guidance, central banks assume that they are able to steer and anchor inflation expectations of the public by committing themselves to future interest rate path in advance. As inflation continued to increase throughout the research period, central banks could no longer credibly anchor public inflation expectations through Forward Guidance and had to become more data-dependent. Instead of anchoring expectations, central banks now have to adapt their inflation narrative and steer inflation expectations as new data emerges in backward-looking manner. 

Journalistic objectivity sits at the heart of public service broadcasters’ - such as the BBC's - mission to keep the public informed, educated and entertained. Just as the Hippocratic Oath inspires the public’s trust towards doctors, journalistic objectivity is how journalists, and public service broadcasters in particular, can earn the public’s trust and consent to fulfil their remit. Drawing from theorisation of the media as the fourth estate, as well as Gramsci and Laclau and Mouffe’s theories of power, this thesis explores the relationship between objectivity and power, namely this relationship’s manifestation in the practices of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). This thesis holds that, as a powerful institution, the BBC can maintain a dominant discourse through processes of ideologization and hegemonisation. Analysis on some of the BBC’s most recent guidelines focusing on impartiality and interviews with five experts, all former BBC journalists, suggests that the BBC systematically constructs a discourse in which the ethical ideal of journalistic objectivity is maintained and reinforced through the imperfect strategy of ‘due impartiality.’ The way this strategy is employed by BBC journalists can vary. On one hand it encourages multisidedness and fairness in reporting, on the other it discourages journalists from being open about their opinions and biases. This thesis’ findings suggest that while journalistic objectivity can help journalists maintain independence, it also can act as a containing strategy, by silencing their voices and capacity to operate as individuals outside of their work lives. The BBC’s condemnation of opinionated declarations made by its employees on social media and apparent reservedness towards their participation in activist marches operates to an extent as an anti-transparency discourse, which could also suggest a desire to keep the audience in a passive role. This thesis culminates with the recommendation that the BBC ought to address its inconsistent application of due impartiality and lack of transparency over how decisions relating to impartiality are made, which were made apparent in the findings of this research.

This thesis sets out to investigate how the ideas of what it means to be a woman and femininity are constructed and propagated through the film Raya and the Last Dragon, the latest Disney Princess film, in the form of stereotypes. Previous studies show that Disney Princess films, from The Walt Disney Company, produce effects on the behaviour and thoughts of children when it comes to gender roles. As propaganda became associated with totalitarian regimes, studies about media effects rarely coin said effects as caused by propaganda. Therefore, propaganda as a field of analysis lacks a body of literature and a consensual set of analysis rules. This thesis contributes to the establishment of propaganda as a field of analysis, by defining it under Jacques Ellul’s categorisation. The study relies on a qualitative analysis based on the propaganda analysis model proposed by Garth Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell. The empirical material consists of the film Raya and the Last Dragon, and it is available on Disney+, the streaming service of The Walt Disney Company. The findings of this thesis illuminate how the ideas of a woman and of femininity are constructed in Raya and the Last Dragon and allow to understand, against the literature review, if these constructions have changed and evolved when compared to previous Disney Princess films. The results indicate that the film presents a world where women and men are seen as equal, leading it to break previous stereotypes associated with women and femininity. By presenting a female-centric story, with independent characters who have diverse personalities and clothing, who fight and have no romantic interests, the film subverts the trope of a passive woman in a dress waiting to be rescued by a man from a powerful evil woman. Additionally, the film rotates around the relationship between Raya and Namaari, using the patriarchal trope of plotting a woman against a woman to focus on female friendship. Yet, as the filmmakers are conditioned by their positionality, some stereotypes are still oriented by patriarchal logic and a western perspective, namely the omnipresence of a patriarchal figure that guides the protagonist. In the end, besides its contributions to the field of propaganda analysis, the thesis updates the tradition of studies done on the gendered stereotypes present in the Disney Princess films.

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a political process where individual citizens are given the opportunity to express their preferences and interests in public forums, along with the right to vote on specific policies, thereby affecting how the budget is allocated. Participatory budgeting is often seen as a potential solution to the challenges faced by representative democracies. It provides an opportunity for new voices to enter the political arena and promotes social justice by enabling citizens to express their preferences and interests. It also enhances bureaucracies by opening new channels of communication between city experts and citizens and by creating new tools and processes for enacting policies. Since its first appearance in Brazil in 1989, participatory budgeting processes have proliferated, with approximately 8,000 rounds conducted worldwide. In this thesis, I analyzed Helsinki's OmaStadi participatory budgeting process, which took place from 2018 to 2020. It was the first of its scale in Finland, with EUR 4.4 million allocated to various projects proposed by Helsinki residents. Over 1,200 proposals were submitted, and nearly 50,000 people voted for 44 projects to be realized. In the thesis, I first examine the background and theory of participatory budgeting and then discuss the methodological tools used in my analysis. I then move on to the analysis itself, where I compare material coded from the final evaluation and examine it through the lens of the four principles for enacting social change in participatory budgeting programs introduced by Brian Wampler: voice, vote, social justice, and oversight. My goal was to determine to what extent the pilot project succeeded in enacting social and political renewal through this framework. I approached this task by conducting a case study and using content analysis as my tool for analyzing the final evaluation of OmaStadi conducted by BIBU, the research project funded by the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland. In my analysis, I also offer various suggestions and pointers for the development of the next rounds of OmaStadi. My findings suggest that, in addition to its many successes, as a pilot project, there is still a lot of potential for further developing OmaStadi to better achieve the ideals set by the four principles for successful PB programs.