Browsing by master's degree program "Master's Programme in European and Nordic Studies"

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.

In recent years, loneliness has been talked about in the media relatively often. There are multiple studies about harmfulness of loneliness for one's health and safety both nationally and internationally. The aim of this master's thesis is to find out how the loneliness discourse has changed in the Finnish parliamentary discussions and why. The main research questions are: How often has loneliness been brought up between the years 1980 and 2019 in the Finnish governmental documents and which actor groups and themes can be identified in the discussion. In addition, the thesis will look at by whom have the actor groups and themes been brought up. The data of this thesis are governmental documents: governmental proposals, expert opinions and debate initiatives. The used methods are both quantitative and qualitative. In the first part, the data is analyzed using quantitative content analysis, more specifically categorization. By processing the data this way, one gets an answer to the first two research questions: how often has loneliness been brought up and which actor groups and themes can be identified in the discussion. In the second part of the thesis, the findings are analyzed using narrative analysis as a qualitative method. This reveals what kind of narratives are linked to findings and in which context and by whom they have been brought up. In the third part of the thesis, there is a brief review on the wider Finnish (socio)political environment and how it might have affected the results. The most important findings in this thesis are that the loneliness discussion has increased and peaked only in the 2010s. The most often mentioned group is child loneliness. Loneliness as a subjective feeling is relatively new topic in the parliamentary discussions. It started to emerge only in the 2000s and peaked after 2015. In the 2000s, organizations used the prevention of loneliness as an argument to get funding or to justify the importance of their work. This proves that in the 2000s loneliness had become something that is considered harmful. Security is a new viewpoint in the loneliness discussion: in 2010s it has started to emerge in the media as a security problem, partly because of school shootings and radical lone operators. In the 2020, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) mentions that lone operators are among the biggest security threats in Finland. While the demands towards the state has increased, loneliness in the Parliament has always been talked about through something else, or as a "side effect" of another problem.

In 2017, the trend of declining birth rates arose as a problem in Finland in comparison to the 1868 Great Famine, as the recent number of live births was decreasing closer to that of the Famine. To correspond to that, family policy was paid attention to as a solution in the Finnish Parliament. The term, child-friendliness, was prevalently used to describe the goal of the family policy reform, which implies that the focus of justification for family policy would move from women-friendliness. It was an intriguing phenomenon to observe given the historical reputation of the Finnish family policy as a women-friendly policy. Motivated by the social phenomenon and following discussions on it, the thesis aims to study different discourses on birth rate and family policy in the Finnish Parliament in 2017 and 2018. The second objective of the thesis is to interpret explicit or implicit gendered implication of the discourses used to problematize birth rates and politicize family policy. To build a contextual foundation, the thesis explores the history of development of the Finnish family policy since the 1970s with reference to the concept of defamilization and refamilization. Also, it elaborates theories and concepts regarding family and family policy and familism in relation to gender. This thesis utilizes feminist critical discourse analysis with the three-dimensional framework of Norman Fairclough on data collected from the database of the Parliament. The data set includes 20 columns from 19 parliamentary minutes recorded in a form of text. The three-dimensional framework enables to examine discourses as text, discursive practice and social practice. The feminist critical discourse analysis helps to discover how gender relations are (re)produced, resisted and transformed in discourses from an overtly gender-sensitive perspective. Based on findings of the thesis, it appears that the justification of gender equality has not been replaced yet by the frame of child-friendliness. Nonetheless, the frame entails normative power to blind the women’s issues related to family policy. With the development of gender sensitivity, the gender issue has become more inclusive, but it is still limited to the hegemonic norms of heterosexuality. Also, the political goal of gender-equal parenthood confronts a threat of backlash that maintains the traditional gender norms in caring and resists gendering the issue of family policy.

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.

Africa is one of the main themes in France's foreign policy. Having strong connections to its former colonies in francophone Africa bolsters France’s global standing. However, the 2020s have marked a historic turning point in Franco-Africa relations, as the growing anti-French sentiment in Africa has resulted in the involuntary military withdrawal of French forces from Mali (2022), Burkina Faso (2023) and most recently from Niger in late 2023, having forced the French to rethink their Africa-strategy. The European Union (EU), on the other hand, has been increasingly interested in Africa, as it has remarkable strategic and geopolitical value for Europe. The relationship between the EU and Africa remains asymmetrical and is largely influenced by the legacy of European imperialism. Old colonial powers have always influenced the Union’s foreign policy, and within the Africa-context France has been one of the keenest players. Brexit has provided France with opportunities to take on a greater leadership role within the EU, and President Macron has advocated the need to focus on Africa in terms of the Union’s external relations. My research contributes to the academic discussions about France’s objectives in Africa, and its influence on the EU’s Africa-policy. The research was carried out within the framework of liberal intergovernmentalism and decolonial theory, and it deploys framing analysis to uncover the primary goals of French Africa-policy . The main data consists of speeches made by President Macron 2017 and 2023, as well as the agenda of the French Presidency of the Council of EU in 2022. The analysis revealed four dominant frames that emerged from Emmanuel Macron’s discourse on Africa: new generation, new era; less military engagement; aid reform; and global challenges. All discovered frames are related to the policy domains through which France has traditionally influenced the European Union’s Africa policy. The thesis shows that even though the French Africa-policy in the post-Brexit era is framed around a new focus on partnership and increased cooperation with African countries in sectors, such as education, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development, France maintains a certain continuity with the previous French administrations’ security-oriented posture and continues to use multilateralism selectively to promote its own interests.

Climate change is an important field of policymaking which comprehends almost all policy sectors in Finland. Despite Finland has introduced a wide range of climate-related policies in response to climate change, and partially fulfilled its part in international climate action, emission reductions goals in Finland have not reached the level as demanded by the overwhelming majority of scientists. Finland is not the only country in this aspect, and the international community is in the path of increasing global temperature beyond 2 Celsius degrees The study will examine climate change-related debates in the plenary debates of the Parliament of Finland. Plenary sessions are useful in research for they exhibit diverging views on societal issues in a multi-party platform, which not only reflects societal debate, but also the policy measures which are addressed for combating climate change. Further, Finland is an interesting case study as a developed country which has resources to mitigate climate change, and there is a high rate of trust towards scientific research and science-based policymaking. The concept of politicisation of science and the various use of scientific information guides the research process and analysis of research data. It will be utilised for assessing the various ways how scientific research has been used by the speakers. Further, a background chapter on climate change politics supplement information on the range of measures on mitigating climate change. The results suggest show there has been a broad consensus on climate action and support for emission reduction targets. Discussion concentrated on Finland’s climate change strategy and the role of the energy sector in Finnish climate policy. International reduction targets set in climate change conferences and as defined by research institutes, seem to direct the Finnish position for increasing its policy measures. The moral responsibility to act on climate change was present, yet not frequent. Benefits in climate action were emphasised for instance by facilitating a better market access for Finnish companies, as early adaptors, and by increasing efficiency. Support for evidence-based policymaking was strong. Speakers saw the benefits in scientific evidence and its role in policy preparation. The IPCC and other research institutes were frequently cited. MPs commonly referred to the scientific method in guiding research but also to point out flaws in other speakers’ arguments. Measures, which surfaced in the literature, such as intentional techniques to question the state of climate science, were modest in and few in numbers. The limitations to Finland’s climate actions were not directly discussed by the MPs. Other studies, and literature on the use of scientific information in other political systems, would however suggest that there might have been dishonest measures to promote the use of peat in Finnish energy mix. It is likely that through lobbying, this position was increased in the Parliament.

Both immigration and gender equality are crucial topics in contemporary Swedish socio-political discourse and reflect the nation's commitment to progressive values. However, as this thesis argues, the intersection of these two domains and their impact on marginalized communities, particularly women of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, requires deeper investigation. This thesis examines the landscape of Swedish gender equality strategies with a focus on addressing racial/ethnic disparities within the realm of gender equality. It uses Carol Bacchi's six-question approach and draws theoretical framework from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Norman Fairclough's and post-structuralist discourse theories. The study analyses documents such as the “Handbook: Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy” and the “Implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Sweden: Statistical Review 2019, 2020, 2021” documents. Through a systematic exploration of language use, problem representations and discursive strategies, the research uncovers both commendable efforts and inherent limitations within Swedish gender equality policies. The analysis reveals that although Swedish gender equality strategies demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity, they often fail to fully incorporate the diverse experiences of women from various ethnic and racial backgrounds. While recognizing intersecting discriminations, the Swedish feminist foreign policy tends to adopt a Western-centric perspective and overlook crucial cultural nuances. Similarly, the statistical reviews highlight challenges faced by immigrant women but perpetuate overly simplistic narratives that attribute these problems to immigrant communities alone, thereby ignoring foreign women's agency and resilience in their cultural identities. The research also identifies a "we-for-them" narrative that is embedded within Swedish societal dynamics and is subtly reinforced through language and representations used within policy discourse. This narrative frames the Swedish institutions and values as inherently superior and, as a result, reinforces existing power dynamics and undermines genuine efforts toward inclusivity and equality. The thesis discovers that while Swedish gender equality strategies hold promise, their effectiveness depends on a nuanced understanding of the context and a commitment to inclusivity. The portrayal of vulnerability attributed solely to cultural norms oversimplifies complex realities and risks the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes. Moving beyond simplistic narratives and embracing more comprehensive and inclusive approaches seem to be essential for realizing genuine empowerment and social change for all women in Sweden.

Social media was initially viewed as a democratising force that allowed anyone to participate in political discourse, however in recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of state-sponsored cyber troops using these technologies to spread disinformation and computational propaganda with the intent to influence the behaviour and opinions of individuals, sow chaos and confusion and undermine social cohesion. In recent years, Russia has emerged as the global leader in developing and deploying these tactics against foreign nations, conducting operations on an industrial scale through what are colloquially termed ‘troll factories,’ the most famous of which is the Internet Research Agency (IRA). This study examines images produced by Twitter accounts attributed to the IRA and the corresponding account-level metadata, in order to understand how cyber troops are using Twitter to propagate memetic content and in what ways tactics differ based upon Russian strategic culture. This study also looks at how a nation’s perceived geopolitical position can be interpreted through analysing the output of state-sponsored digital actors. Key to the success of these tactics is the dissemination of weaponised information that spreads ‘virally’ from person to person. For this reason, memetics is employed as a theoretical framework. Strategic culture is also used as an analytical tool to interpret the objectives behind Russian cyber troop activity. The research design of this study comprises three phases. First, images that occur in the dataset 5 or more times are computationally clustered, producing 1,346 clusters of visually similar images, representing 11,742 images in total. Qualitative Content Analysis is then used to create a coding framework which categorises the content of each cluster, capturing three primary dimensions: mode of delivery, type of message and country of focus. Finally, account-level metadata is analysed to determine key account characteristics, providing insight into five factors: location, account lifespan (age), language, activity and originality. Each of these factors is then cross tabulated with five regions: Russia, Post-Soviet, Europe, USA and Rest of World. The findings of this study indicate that IRA actors have pursued a multidirectional strategy based upon Russian strategic culture, in which highly political information is distributed to target audiences primarily in Russia, USA, Europe and Ukraine. The type of information spread is predominantly photographic in nature. Images of public figures and other types of political imagery frequently occur in the dataset, as do images that reinforce an insider/outsider dichotomy. Neutral images are also strategically utilised to construct Twitter accounts that appear authentic, thereby maximising the propagation rate of targeted information. When looking at references made to countries, Russia and the USA emerge as the primary centres of focus. However, when geo-visually plotted on a map, the data indicates that, as the space between these two powers, the European region is commensurate in strategic significance. Ukraine is also prioritised as a fulcrum between the Russian and Western spheres of influence, highlighting divergence in interpretations of how to define Europe and its boundaries. These findings suggest that as Russia vies for digital sociopolitical influence in the West, Europe emerges as a key strategic space between the evolving perception of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

Since the rise of the Law and Justice (PiS) party to power in 2015 the PiS government's reforms have led to a deterioration of the rule of law, which has caused growing tensions in Polish-EU relations. Poland has come under scrutiny for its policies undermining the rule of law principle and is perceived to threaten European integration by challenging the EU’s values. PiS’ time in office coincides with the trend of the success of right-wing populist parties in the CEE which has generated increased academic interest in the region. Despite growing interest towards Poland and the topic of shared values in the EU, studies on the perception of the EU in Polish internal debates have received less attention. A recent escalation in the rule of law crisis was seen in the Autumn of 2021, when the Polish Constitutional Tribunal ruled against the primacy of European Union law vis-à-vis the Polish Constitution. The Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling caused public uproar, sparking protests in Poland’s largest cities, and public debate ensued about the potential of Polexit. In analysing the Polexit debate by means of discourse analysis, the thesis examines what meanings the EU and Europe receive in opposition and government rhetoric. The thesis further explores how different meanings surrounding the EU and Europe are used in the construction of political identification of government and opposition sides. The theoretical frame of the thesis is based on social constructivism, post-foundationalism and Laclau’s theory of populism. By focusing on the Polexit debate, the thesis analyses the construction of meanings against an individual event which nevertheless caused debate that directly concerns the relations of Poland and Europe. In the analysis, the thesis finds that the opposition and government sides relate to the notions of Europe and the EU in contrasting ways, which enable them to build identification based on different conceptions of Polishness. Main findings of the analysis point to contrasting logics in government and opposition rhetoric which reflect the sides’ contrasting perceptions of nationhood; whereas the EU is constructed as a threat and an “other” in government rhetoric, the opposition aims to link Poland to the EU and Europe in constructing the opposition’s “us”.