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(2018)Tutkimus käsittelee suomalaisten nuorten englannin käyttöä kouluajan ulkopuolella. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, miten lukioikäiset nuoret käyttävät englantia vapaa-ajallaan, mikä motivoi heitä näihin aktiviteetteihin, ja kokevatko he oppineensa englantia näiden aktiviteettien avulla. Tutkimuskysymyksiin sisältyi myös se, mitä mieltä opiskelijat olivat koulussa opitun englannin ja vapaa-ajalla käytettävän englannin välisestä suhteesta. Tutkimukseen osallistui kahdeksan oppilasta kaikilta vuosikursseilta yhdestä lukiosta Helsingissä. Kyseessä on kvalitatiivinen tutkimus, jonka aineistonkeruumenetelmänä käytettiin puolistrukturoituja teemahaastatteluja. Haastateltaville esitettiin ennalta laadittuja kysymyksiä sekä lisäkysymyksiä, jotka nousivat esiin haastattelutilanteessa. Haastattelut nauhoitettiin oppilaiden koululla. Jälkeenpäin ne litteroitiin ja käännettiin englanniksi tutkielmaa varten. Tulokset osoittavat, että suostuin englanninkielinen aktiviteetti on TV-sarjojen tai elokuvien katselu. Englantia myös puhutaan sukulaisten, ystävien, ja kumppanien kanssa, ja oppilaita motivoi heidän oma kiinnostuksensa näihin aktiviteetteihin. Koulussa opittu englanti arvioidaan yleisesti negatiivisesti, kun taas vapaa-ajalla käytetty englanti koetaan vapaaksi ja mukavaksi. Oppimisen koetaan olevan mahdollista molemmissa ympäristöissä, joskin kouluajan ulkopuolisesta oppimisesta pidetään enemmän. Englannin käytön koetaan olevan hyvin erilaista näissä ympäristoissä. Lukion opetussuunnitelmassa korostetaan englannin roolia kansainvälisen kommunikaation kielenä. Tutkimukseen osallistuneet opiskelijat eivät kuitenkaan koe saaneensa opetusta, jossa kommunikaatio olisi pääosassa, vaan painottavat koulussa käytetyn englannin olevan arvosanakeskeistä ja täydellisyyteen tähtäävää. Loppupäätelmänä voidaan sanoa, että lukiolaiset kokevat vapaa-ajalla opitun ja käytetyn englannin olevan mukavampaa, monipuolisempaa ja hyödyllisempää kuin koulussa opitun ja käytetyn englannin.
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(2020)The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a multilateral investment treaty with over 50 contracting parties that solely concerns the energy sector, which is of crucial importance in combatting climate change. Further, more investor claims have been brought forward under the ECT than under any other investment agreement, and some of the largest arbitral awards have been rendered under its auspices. These factors combined make the ECT a very significant instrument for the global climate as a whole. This paper is based on the premise that more and more countries would wish to cut back on their use of highly polluting fossil fuels to produce energy. However, it is often argued that the investment protection clauses, which are also included in the ECT, cause ‘regulatory chill’, meaning that states are wary of passing stricter regulations, as such measures might well result in investor-state dispute settlement proceedings. Therefore, it is plausible that the investment protection clauses of the ECT are in fact slowing down the transition from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy, and various NGOs in fact view the ECT solely as a tool of the fossil fuel industry used for this purpose. In this paper, I challenge such simplified take on the ECT and argue that states are in fact able to pass stricter regulations to protect the environment without breaching their ECT obligations towards foreign investors, and further, also should do so. This paper can most readily be described as a doctrinal research, as it concerns specific treaty provisions and all the claims made within it can be traced back to formal legal sources. In particular, I have relied on the texts of the ECT framework, and various judicial decisions. Therefore, large parts of this paper are comprised of treaty interpretation and analogic reasoning. The precise questions to which I have sought answers using these methods are: 1) What are the environmental aspects of the ECT; 2) Can the ECT, in its current form, be interpreted and applied in an environmentally sustainable way, and if so, how this could be done; 3) Why the ECT should be interpreted and applied in such way; and 4) Does the ECT require amendments to its current text? It is well known that the ECT framework contains a plethora of environmental provisions, however, due to their soft formulation, they are often overlooked as it would be difficult to find a state to be in breach of them. According to the findings of this paper this is, however, erroneous. Based on the sheer volume of environmental provisions, and the great significance placed upon them within the Preamble of the ECT and European Energy Charter, I have developed a novel, more balanced, take on the object and purpose of the ECT, which places significance on both the protection of investments and environment, unlike the tribunals applying the ECT have thus far done. Furthermore, I have found that despite the soft formulation of the environmental provisions, a state may still rely on them when responding to investor claims. However, the degree to which a state can do so depends greatly on the claims made – the text of the ECT places little to no significance to environmental matters in cases of alleged expropriation, whereas on alleged breaches of e.g. the FET standard environmental matters may be of great significance. Additionally, the text of the ECT allows for a state to argue that measures to protect the environment fall under the allowed exceptions of the ECT. Having identified the various environmental aspects of the ECT, and developed techniques for responding states to utilise them, I have also discussed why the presented findings should be applied, and whether it would be enough. It is evident that matters such as sustainable development and protection of the environment are gaining foothold within the law both on national and international level. As the ECT is not situated in a void, these global trends should be considered when applying it. As the findings of this paper would encourage states to pass legitimate measures for the protection of the environment, there are relatively clear policy reasons as to why the application of the findings would be desirable. Many of the findings made in this paper were reached through teleological interpretation of the ECT. While such interpretative approach is perfectly valid, it would nevertheless be beneficial for the text of the ECT to be amended to explicitly incorporate the interpretations made within this paper. Amending a multilateral treaty such as the ECT is, however, difficult. Therefore, the findings of this paper can be of great importance for states wishing to pass measures to protect the environment, as they offer greater certainty of the legality of their actions towards foreign investors.
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(2015)The seas and oceans are the scene of multiple human actions, all of which cause pressures on the marine environment. Marine spatial planning (MSP) systematizes the evaluations of the spatial impacts of the human actions and take into consideration the cumulative impacts of the actions. A probabilistic model is constructed to estimate the impacts of oil shipping and offshore wind power on 16 species. The quantitative indicators of impacts are the loss of breeding success of 5 birds, the loss of the early development stages of 3 fish species and the change in the probability of presence/absence of 3 benthic species and 5 algae. The thesis model works as an independent application, but can be merged as such into an MSP tool that works with a geoinformatic system (GIS) interface. The impacts of offshore wind power and oil shipping, and especially the possible oil spill, have been studied at other marine areas, but there are only few studies about their impacts in the brackish water conditions of the Baltic Sea. The study area of this thesis is the eastern Gulf of Finland (EGOF). The model is constructed using Bayesian networks (BNs) which are graphical probabilistic models. The most important human pressures caused by the actions are identified based on literature and placed in the model accordingly. The pressures caused by operational offshore wind power are the disturbance to birds and underwater noise. The pressures caused by oil shipping are underwater noise and the oil exposure of species after a possible oil spill. The attenuation of the pressures as a function of increasing distance from the source of pressure is calculated mathematically, where possible. Expert elicitation is conducted to fill in the gaps in existing data over the subject. Altogether 6 experts were interviewed and another two were consulted informally. The different types of data are integrated in the BN, which allows quantified comparisons between different management options and alternative scenarios. The model predicts that both human actions have negative impacts on the marine environment of the EGOF. The impacts of an offshore wind mill will realize without uncertainty but they will be negligible. An oil spill, on the other hand, is unlikely to happen, but if it does, the losses will be extensive. The disturbance of the wind mill on birds extends to some hundreds of metres from the mill, depending on the bird species. The losses of the early development stages of fish caused by the underwater noise of a wind mill are nearly certainly below 20% at all distances from the mill for all studied species. With the most likely sound pressure levels of tankers, the losses to the early development stages of the fish also remain below 20% with a high level of certainty at all distances. At these tanker noise levels, the harmless noise class of <90 dB re 1µPa will be reached at some kilometres of the fairway, depending on the original noise level from a tanker. Three alternative oil shipping scenarios for 2020 were compared. The differences among the scenarios are negligible both when it comes to the impacts of underwater noise on fish and to the probability of a species to get exposed to oil. The model successfully describes the impacts of the human pressures that are known to take place, such as the impacts of offshore wind power, but requires a GIS environment and drift models to be able to predict the probabilities of an oil exposure. The applicability of the model can be increased by taking into consideration additional human actions and a wider selection of human pressures. The thesis model is a part of a MSP tool produced in TOPCONS (Transboundary tools for the spatial planning and conservation of the Gulf of Finland) project, which is a prototype of a tool that can be later applied at marine areas worldwide.
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(2013)Beginning from the 1990s the relationship between pollution and income (PIR) moved to the focus of research. Various studies have found that the PIR of several pollutants takes the shape of an inverted U. This coherence became known as the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). However, later studies expressed criticism on the existence of the EKC and blurred the picture. For example, more diversified evidence suggests that the EKC is valid only for short living, local pollutants, whereas long living global pollutants face a monotonically rising PIR. These facts should be considered in the theoretical research on the EKC. One can summarise the considered theoretical explanations in five groups: Behavioural changes and preferences, institutional changes, technological progress, structural change and reallocation of polluting industries. This thesis focuses on technology progress as explanation for the EKC. Particularly, I investigate how technological progress in abatement affects the EKC. To do so, I discuss two ways how the EKC arises from learning by doing in abatement. First following the work of Brock and Taylor (2003), I present how learning by doing causes constant returns to abatement on aggregate level. Furthermore, I assume that abatement is active only of the marginal disutility of pollution exceeds the marginal utility of consumption. As long as consumption is higher rated, capital is entirely spent on consumption, otherwise abatement is active such that pollution decreases while income still grows. This model results in the EKC. The second approach based on Egli and Steger (2007) is a generalisation of the first model. Learning by doing in abatement is modelled through increasing returns to scale in abatement. Here, the EKC arises without any further assumptions regarding abatement as in the first approach. Although the concept of learning by doing in abatement suggests that environmental policy does not influence the existence of the EKC, it is shown that regulation does affect its magnitude. Therefore, the EKC is no adequate symbol against environmental policy. Both models are analysed with respect to the turning point of the EKC finding that most determinants have the same impacts. Both models provide under small adjustments potential explanations for an N-shaped PIR, a frequently found variation of the EKC. It is shown that both models are compatible with most empirical regularities on economic growth and the environment other to the EKC. Finally, criticism on the IRS model regarding potential negative pollution can be rejected if the learning by doing is assumed to lead to fading IRS in abatement.
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(2022)Pathogenic variants in BRCA-associated protein 1 (BAP1) cause BAP1 tumour predisposition syndrome (BAP1-TPDS) with increased risk of several cancers including uveal melanoma (UM). UM originates from the melanocytes of the choroid, iris or ciliary body in the eye. UM is a rare cancer with a high metastatic rate and is usually seen in Caucasian people. BAP1 is a deubiquitinating enzyme and to function as a tumour suppressor it needs to retain enzymatic activity. To retain its enzymatic activity, it needs a functioning UCH-domain and nuclear localisation signal. Loss of function variants in BAP1 are easily interpreted as pathogenic, however, many missense variants remain as unclear on their status of pathogenicity. We aimed to study the enzymatic activity of missense variants in the UCH domain of BAP1. We selected 22 missense variants near or in the BAP1 UCH domain (aa1-240). Nineteen were identified in patients with UM and three rare variants from gnomAD database detected in the general population. The variants were cloned to a bacterial expression vector and expressed as a GST-fusion protein. Then we assayed the purified proteins for their ability to cleave ubiquitin. Ten patient derived variants reduced the deubiquitinating activity of BAP1. Seven mutants with variants from patients with familial BAP1-TPDS, retained <20% of their activity. Three variants previously classified as Variant of unknown significance (VUS) and one pathogenic decreased the activity to half. The function of twelve variants was interpreted as normal (80-120%). Of these, two were previously interpreted as pathogenic. Functional studies are needed for accurate BAP1 missense variant classification. Although BAP1 variants are dominant, penetrance might be affected by variants effect on enzymatic activity and patients with pathogenic variants might not exhibit familial BAP1 -TPDS. If enzymatic activity is retained and patient exhibits familial BAP1-TPDS, further studies need to be conducted on effects on splicing and protein-protein interactions. However, if patient exhibits only familial UM and harbours a BAP1 VUS with normal activity, other genes predisposing to UM should be considered.
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(2018)Nykyisin tutkimusta etenkin monilla luonnontieteellisillä aloilla voidaan luonnehtia teknotieteelliseksi. Tällä viitataan dynamiikkaan, jossa erilaiset teknologiat ovat tärkeässä roolissa tutkimuksen mahdollistajina ja toisaalta näin saatu tutkimustieto ruokkii uusien teknologioiden kehitystä. Toinen, monesti teknotieteellisiin aloihin linkittyvä, nykytieteen jo pidempään jatkunut kehityssuunta on tutkimuksessa kerätyn datan merkityksen korostuminen. Laajoihin tietokantoihin kertyvää dataa yhdistellään, muokataan ja analysoidaan irrallaan siitä kontekstista, jossa se on alun perin kerätty. Tieteellisen tiedonmuodostuksen kollektiivinen luonne on datakeskeisessä teknotieteessä erityisen selvä asia. Tutkijoiden ja tutkimusryhmien välinen yhteistyö on edellytys sille, että laajoja tietokantoja voidaan muodostaa. Toisaalta tämän kollektiivisen yhteistyön koordinointi on sitä haastavampaa, mitä moninaisempia teknologisia ratkaisuja tutkimustyössä käytetään ja mitä erikoistuneempia tutkimusasetelmat ovat. Jotta tutkimustuloksia voidaan vertailla toisiinsa ja jotta niistä voidaan muodostaa laajempia kokonaisuuksia, niiden on oltava jollain tavalla vertailukelpoisia ja yhteen sovitettavissa. Tieteenfilosofisessa kirjallisuudessa tämän kaltaista yhdenmukaisuutta on kutsuttu yhteismitallisuudeksi. Yhteismitallisuutta tarvitaan niin tutkimuksen käsitteellisellä tasolla kuin sen materiaalisissa käytännöissäkin. Tietynasteinen yhteismitallisuus on edellytys sille, että tutkimusyhteisön jäsenet ylipäätään voivat kriittisesti arvioida toistensa tuloksia. Interaktiivisen objektiivisuuskäsityksen valossa tutkimusyhteisön kollektiivinen kritiikki on avainasemassa tieteellisen tiedon luotettavuuden saavuttamisessa. Tässä työssä esitetään, että standardeilla on keskeinen rooli yhteismitallisuuden tuottamisessa ja sitä kautta myös tutkimustulosten kriittisen tarkastelun mahdollistamisessa. Standardit ovat tyypillisesti teknisiä dokumentteja, joissa määritellään esimerkiksi tutkimuksessa käytettävien instrumenttien tai materiaalien ominaisuuksia sekä erilaisten kokeellisten työprosessien kulkua. Tärkeä seuraus standardien käyttöönotosta on se, että niiden myötä alkaa rakentua monenlaisia materiaalisia ja tiedollisia infrastruktuureita, kuten materiaalipankkeja ja tietokantoja. Tällaiset infrastruktuurit toimivat alustana tieteelliselle tiedonmuodostukselle: niiden puitteissa voidaan tutkia tietynlaisia kysymyksiä, mutta samalla toisenlaisia tutkimusteemoja rajautuu pois. Näin standardeilla on yhtäältä tutkimustyötä mahdollistava ja toisaalta sitä rajoittava vaikutus. Tässä työssä standardien roolia teknotieteellisessä tutkimuksessa on tutkittu konkreettisen esimerkin avulla. Tapaustutkimuksessa tarkastellaan synteettisen biologian alan merkittävintä kansainvälistä opiskelijakilpailua (iGem-kilpailu). Sen puitteissa on testattu tietynlaisia standardoinnin malleja ja kehitetty niitä edelleen. Kilpailu rakentuu niin sanotun osaperustaisen biologisen insinöörityön idealle, jossa etenkin elektroniikan alalta otettu malli standardoiduista komponenteista pyritään ottamaan käyttöön myös geeniteknologisessa tutkimuksessa. Koska synteettinen biologia, toisin kuin elektroniikka, operoi elollisen materiaalin puitteissa, ja vieläpä sellaisten ilmiöiden parissa, joita tunnetaan vielä melko huonosti, on geneettisten komponenttien standardointi osoittautunut kuitenkin varsin haastavaksi. Tapaustutkimuksen valossa näyttääkin siltä, että varsinkin aloilla, joiden tutkimus on melko varhaisessa vaiheessa, voi olla vaikeaa hahmottaa, millaisia asioita kannattaisi säädellä standardien avulla ja miten nämä standardit kannattaisi muotoilla. Edelleen, mikäli alan tutkimukseen liittyvä teknologinen kehitys on nopeaa, tulee standardien kehittämisestä haastavaa, sillä standardit eivät pysy relevantteina kovin kauaa. Standardeja kuitenkin tarvitaan, ja niiden kehittäminen ja niihin liittyvien infrastruktuurien ylläpitäminen on olennaisessa roolissa teknotieteellisen tutkimuksen mahdollistajana. Koska standardeilla ja standardoinnilla on merkittäviä tiedollisia seurauksia, ne ovat tärkeä ja mielenkiintoinen tutkimuskohde sosiaalisen epistemologian ja tieteenfilosofian näkökulmasta.
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(2015)It is widely discussed in numerous economic and financial literature that the equity risk premium is in close relation with other financial or economic issues. Classical articles mostly focus on developed markets as they start early ensuring long enough time series for doing research. Nowadays, financial markets in emerging countries play a more vital role in global market. I test the degree of integration and find that emerging markets are more and more integrated with global market. Nevertheless, in their early stage some emerging markets behave differently from developed markets. This article mainly focuses on the differences in equity risk premium between 6 emerging markets and 4 developed markets and the difference will be discussed in four parts. The first part is on the discussion about premium puzzle then I use the ERP dominated in both U.S. Dollar and local currencies to test the distribution attributes in both markets and it shows that emerging markets will compensate investors with more returns for more risks their equities contain than developed markets. From their distribution attribution I find the time varying nature of ERP in emerging markets. Then I use CAPM to compare the difference of time varying nature result from global business cycle between emerging and developed markets and figure out that global business cycle can explain the time varying nature of ERP in developed markets better than emerging markets. There is huge effect of local information on ERP in emerging markets so that I add liquidity based on the one-factor model to further my research. Moreover, I use VAR model to exhibit the casual relations between liquidity and ERP.
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(2021)Recent studies have associated ER stress with various types of hearing loss, such as drug- and noise-induced, age-related, and hereditary hearing loss. However, the research has mostly focused on auditory sensory cell (hair cell) death, and it is not well understood if other molecular mechanisms can drive ER stress-dependent hearing loss. We used Manfflox/flox;Pax2-Cre conditional knockout (cKO) mice under the C57BL/6J (B6) mouse strain to study the effects of genetically-induced chronic ER stress on hearing function. In these mice, the gene coding for mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (Manf) has been silenced specifically in the cochlea. Manf is thought to act as an ER homeostasis regulator, and it has shown cytoprotective properties in different disease models both in vitro and in vivo. However, Manf’s mode of action is still poorly understood and even less is known about its function in the inner ear. Previously, cKO mice were found to upregulate ER stress markers in the cochlear hair cells. These mice develop progressive high-frequency hearing loss characterized by high-frequency outer hair cell (OHC) death. However, they have elevated hearing thresholds already at postnatal day 22 (P22) before any OHC death takes place and have elevated hearing thresholds in hearing frequencies where OHCs are retained. Therefore, there has to be another pathological mechanism besides OHC death accounting for the elevations in their hearing thresholds. Hence, we wanted to study the effect of ER stress on the outer hair cell hair bundle structure. The hair bundle is located at the apical pole of the hair cells, and it consists of filamentous actin (F-actin)-filled stereocilia. In mechanotransduction (MET), sound stimuli-induced motions of cochlear fluids cause stereocilia to deflect towards the tallest stereocilia row, allowing for depolarization of hair cells and transformation of mechanical force into electrical signal. Therefore, hair bundle is an essential structure for the hearing function. We used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fluorescent microscopy to study OHC hair bundles of cKO mice. We saw disorganization of the bundle structure already at P22. It progressed with age and advanced to strong stereocilia fusion by P56. At this age, all of the high-frequency OHCs of cKO mice displayed stereocilia fusion. We used cochlear whole mounts and immunostainings to study the protein composition of OHC stereocilia of Manf-deficient mice. The base of the stereocilia, termed as the tapering region, contains proteins that link the plasma membrane of stereocilia to their F-actin core, ensuring the cohesion of individual stereocilia. Mutations in these proteins have been associated with stereocilia fusion and hair bundle disorganization. At P56, we saw that stereocilia tapering region proteins radixin (RDX) and myosin 6 (Myo6) were mislocalized from the tapering region towards the apical tips of stereocilia in the high-frequency OHCs of cKO mice. Additionally, we saw that PTPRQ – a tapering region protein that is under normal conditions expressed only in the IHCs of mature cochlea – was upregulated in OHCs of cKO mice, yielding an expression pattern similar to RDX and Myo6. In addition, we used the F-actin probe phalloidin to quantitatively compare F-actin densities in the cuticular plates of cKO and WT mice. Cuticular plate is a structure responsible for attaching stereocilia to hair cell body. It consists of a dense F-actin network and prior studies have associated defects in the cuticular plate composition with hearing loss and stereocilia bundle abnormalities. We found a significant decrease in phalloidin staining intensity in the cuticular plates of high-frequency OHCs of cKO mice, indicating that their cuticular plate F-actin rigidity had been reduced. Together our data shows that Manf deficiency promotes diverse impairments in the OHC hair bundles, consequently inducing hearing loss. To conclude, our study presents novel insights into the complexity of ER stress-induced cochlear pathology. We show that ER stress impairs MET by inducing structural changes in the OHC hair bundle. It appears to be the major reason for hearing loss in the cKO mice, rather than hair cell death. In the future, the impact of Manf deficiency to the inner ear should be further studied. For example, younger and aged cKO mice could be studied to better characterize the progression of Manf deficiency-induced cochlear pathology and hearing loss. Similarly, Manf’s effect on hearing should be studied in other ER stress models to determine its role in the hearing function.
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(2014)This thesis analyzes international animal law, understood broadly as any international legal regulation pertaining to animals. The purpose of the thesis is to explain the moral implications of this branch of international law: how the law perceives the animal and how it believes animals ought to be treated. It attempts to do so by contrasting the law with moral philosophy pertaining to the status and treatment of animals as well as the core characteristics of the branch of animal law found in many contemporary societies. International animal law does not conform to any single set of rules or principles. Rather, it comprises a wide range of human behavior in relation to animals, ranging from the use and management of natural resources to the treatment of animals in animal agriculture. What follows is that international animal law can, in broad terms, be divided into three spheres of regulation. In the first sphere, animals are considered resources. The law here is about regulating the use and conservation of natural resources of the world, both terrestrial and marine. While some exceptions have been made in favor of certain animal species, this sphere of regulation is largely insensitive to any non-instrumental value animals could be seen as having. Moreover, the characterization of animals as resources leads to an absence of standards regulating how these resources should be treated as a practical matter. Under this sphere of international animal law, humans are justified in using animals as means to human ends, and that is the end of the matter: there is nothing that the law prescribes or proscribes in relation to the well-being of the used resources. In the second sphere, international animal law takes an interest in certain animals as members of a particular species. Here, the main purpose of the law is to conserve and protect endangered species from extinction. This is given effect in many ways, such as regulating trade in endangered species or protecting the habitats of wild animals. While prima facie more compassionate than the viewing of animals as resources, it is clear that this branch of conservation law excludes most animals from consideration: for the most part, only those animals having unfavorable conservation status or otherwise in need of protection from conduct detrimental to their survival are deemed worthy of protection. The law of this sphere is also ultimately peripheral to most ways in which humans and animals interact as an empirical matter. In focusing on specific problems associated with specific species of animals, the law does not amount to any general rules and principles guiding human behavior in regard to animals. Finally, the third sphere of international animal law conceives of animals as individuals. Largely associated with the concept of animal welfare, this sphere is interested in regulating how the well-being of individual animals should be taken into account in human practices. The law here is markedly sporadic, however. There are no legally binding global standards governing animal welfare. The most widespread and developed instruments in this regard are regional, and European states in particular have been active in ensuring the well-being of individual animals through international legal instruments. As this sphere of international animal law is mostly concerned about the welfare of animals in the context of their exploitation, it is largely in line with the philosophy of the theory of animal welfare, which animates most animal law in domestic jurisdictions. In practical terms, animals may be used instrumentally as long as they are treated ‘humanely’ and not subjected to ‘unnecessary suffering’. As it is clear that there is no single, unified body of international animal law, it is equally clear that there is no single set of moral principles behind its rules. The ethics of treating animals as resources are markedly different from the ethics of regulating animal welfare in animal agriculture. The common denominator of the three distinct spheres of the law, however, is that all of them ultimately promote the instrumental value of animals. As animals do not enjoy meaningful legal rights in any contemporary society, neither do they have legal rights under international law. International animal law, by and large, emphasizes animals’ instrumental value, firmly rejecting, however implicitly, any notion of inherent value or moral rights.
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(2010)This study examines Institutional Twinning in Morocco as a case of EU cooperation through the pragmatic, ethical and moral logics of reason in Jürgen Habermas’s discourse ethics. As a former accession tool, Twinning was introduced in 2004 for legal approximation in the context of the European Neighborhood Policy. Twinning is a unique instrument in development cooperation from a legal perspective. With its long historical and cultural ties to Europe, Morocco presents an interesting case study of this new form of cooperation. We will analyse motives behind the Twinning projects on illegal immigration, environment legislation and customs reform. As Twinning is a new policy instrument within the ENP context, there is relatively little preceding research, which, in itself, constitutes a reason to inquire into the subject. While introducing useful categories, the approaches discussing 'normative power Europe' do not offer methodological tools precise enough to analyse the motives of the Twinning cooperation from a broad ethical standpoint. Helene Sjursen as well as Esther Barbé and Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués have elaborated on Jürgen Habermas’ discourse ethics in determining the extent of altruism in the ENP in general. Situating the analysis in the process-oriented framework of Critical Theory, discourse ethics provides the methodological framework for our research. The case studies reveal that the context in which they operate affects the pragmatic, ethical and moral aspirations of the actors. The utilitarian notion of profit maximization is quite pronounced both in terms of the number of Twinning projects in the economic sphere and the pragmatic logics of reason instrumental to security and trade-related issues. The historical background as well internal processes, however, contribute to defining areas of mutual interest to the actors as well as the motives Morocco and the EU sometimes described as the external projection of internal values. Through its different aspects, Twinning cooperation portrays the functioning of the pragmatic, ethical and moral logics of reason in international relations.
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(2020)EU-China search for common understanding on what activities should be considered “green” and eligible for financing by green bonds started recently. Common understanding could, according to negotiation parties, facilitate greater cross-border flow of green finance. As China and EU together lead the global green bond market, a common understanding could even enhance much sought after harmonization of green bond rules at global level. This study examines how realistic and influential the search mission for common EU-China green bond language is, filling gap in research on green bonds in the EU-China context. Analysis is based on multimethod approach combining qualitative standard comparison, interviews and media analysis. The work is carried out applying a liberal two level game approach (Putnam, 1988), from the field of International Political Economy, which has proved useful when analysing domestic-international dynamics present in international negotiations on e.g. energy, climate and environmental policy. Based on the analysis, where China balances with fear of slowing economy, growing energy demand and urgency to fight pollution, the EU can already afford to focus on the climate change combat. This difference is reflected, based on the analysis, in the regulations the two regions have recently developed for green bonds. With preferences not aligning, it may prove difficult to find aligning views on the types of projects eligible for green bond financing. This means that the domestic win sets (Putnam, 1988) of the two regions don´t currently overlap implying that a common EU-China agreement on green bond rules may at the moment be impossible. However, even with a fully aligning views on green bond definitions and rules, the cross-border green finance between the EU and China would likely not increase significantly as there are other market barriers that hinder the flow at present. Nevertheless, having the EU-China dialogue was still viewed to enhance climate change cooperation and raise awareness.
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(2019)In cases Achbita and Bougnaoui (March 2017), the EU Court ruled for the first time on the limits of religious manifestation at work. In the cases, the Court had to take a stance on whether the prohibition of religious scarves in a private-sector enterprise constituted a breach of EU law. In principle, it answered in the negative. The thesis argues that the rulings constitute a rupture to the EU Court’s previous non-discrimination case law. Instead of acknowledging the importance of religious non-discrimination for the European project in general and inclusive labor market in particular, the decisions seem to downplay its significance in relation to other grounds for discrimination recognized by EU law. Second, and also contrary to its common habits, in its argumentation the EU Court drew heavily on the European Court of Human Rights’ case law. Both of these findings beg the question of why. The thesis argues that the EU Court’s line of reasoning in the two cases reflects its institutional positioning, as elaborated by Moorhead. In its adjudication, the EU Court aims at sustaining the supremacy of EU law, in a manner consistent with the Member States’ constitutional requirements, while also advancing the project of European integration. This requires careful balancing and results into a body of case law that is internally inconsistent and difficult to predict. In Achbita and Bougnaoui, the EU Court decided to prioritize stability over legal coherence. As a by-product, the thesis reveals some of the problems still attached to the European human rights regime. Both the raison d’être and the modus operandi of EU law and the ECHR are markedly different. The Lisbon Treaty has not eliminated the barriers between the two regimes, at least not in the field of non-discrimination, and comparative research continues to be necessary. The thesis concludes by arguing that in constructing the picture of the EU Court as a human rights adjudicator – a task that is more pertinent than ever – its institutional positioning has to be recognized as it has a direct bearing on its rulings.
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(2023)In response to the problem of global deforestation, on 31 May 2023, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on the making available on the Union market and the export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The EUDR covers certain products that contain, have been fed with or have been made using seven commodities – cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood – and imposes stringent requirements that the relevant products must meet to enter or exit the EU market. Namely, they must be deforestation-free, have been produced in accordance with laws applicable in the country of production and be covered by a due diligence statement. Employing jurisprudential regulatory research methodology, the study assesses how the EUDR aims to attain its primary public policy objective of curbing the Union's contribution to global deforestation and the extent to which the chosen regulatory mechanism facilitates the attainment of the Regulation's objectives. The EUDR's effectiveness, efficiency and coherence are considered. The study finds that while the chosen regulatory mechanism – a country benchmarking system and a list of contravening operators as a basis for a tiered improved mandatory due diligence system, relying on a deforestation-free definition – is largely fit for its purpose, it is vulnerable to several critical leakage problems that potentially compromise the attainment of the Regulation's ultimate goal of curbing global deforestation. It follows that the attainment of the Regulation's objectives calls not only for effective implementation and enforcement by the European Commission and the Member States but also for a rigorous review of the Regulation's product scope and ecosystem scope under the prescribed review mechanisms, as well as international cooperation beyond the Regulation's cooperation mechanisms.
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(2021)The European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was launched in 2005 to meet the actions needed to tackle climate change addressed in the Kyoto Protocol. As an energy and raw material intensive industry, the European pulp and paper industry (PPI) is the 4th largest industrial energy user in the EU. This thesis studies the causal effect of the latest changes in the EU ETS on European PPI’s greenhouse gas emissions and tries to answer whether the EU ETS has been an efficient instrument in decreasing PPI’s emissions. The PPI is determined as a high risk industry for carbon leakage, meaning that there lays a risk if the EU ETS is too expensive, the industry might move its emitting production outside of the EU to countries where environmental regulation is weaker. To prevent this the PPI has gained all of its used emissions allowance units for free. Price of the carbon is still indirectly affecting the industry through energy and electricity prices and decreases to freely allocated emission allowance units has been made since 2013. The method used int his study is difference-in-difference which has been a popular statistical method to investigate the EU ETS’s impact on countries’ manufacturing industries. The core of the method is to determine a control group and a treatment group. The US states’ pulp and paper industry represents the control group and the EU countries represent the treatment group. The control group represents the development of the variable under study without the treatment effect which is then compared to the development of the treatment group’s variable which has been affected by the treatment. This study includes two types of treatments; the EU ETS’s price of carbon in 2010-2019 and cutting the amount of freely allocated emission allowances in 2013. For conducting the study, in addition to industry emissions also productions volumes, price of the energy without carbon price, price of the production and price of the carbon are included as control variables. The results of the study are similar to previous researches’ findings. Total emissions are affected by the production volumes and energy’s price, where production volumes’ effect is the most significant to total emissions. However, the study could not find significant effect of carbon price or cutting the amount of free emission allowances to total emissions which are in line with previous studies’ results. Based on the results it can be argued that the EU ETS has not been an effective instrument to decrease pulp and paper industry’s emissions and further discussions on finding more efficient tools are needed.
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(2017)This master’s thesis examines the European Union’s (EU) relatively new tool for citizen participation, namely the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). The ECI was introduced in 2012 and has now been used for just over five years. The ECI’s purpose is to enable European citizens to make an initiative proposal for the European Commission. This thesis examines what kind of participation the ECI has produced in practise. The ECI has been examined through the analytical framework of Graham Smith, which he has developed for analysing the democratic innovations. The analytical framework emphasizes six democratic goods, from which four, namely inclusiveness, popular control, efficiency and transparency, have been assessed in this thesis. This study uses quantitative data on all 66 ECI initiatives that have been launched during past five years. A classification of the data has been produced, including categorization of stakeholders that have launched initiatives and the policy areas that the initiatives have touched upon. The study concludes, firstly that majority of the initiatives have been launched by already established groups such as European or national organizations, but also considerable number of informal groups and new or-ganizations have been active in launching initiatives. The ECI has not been greatly used by political parties or anti-EU movements. Secondly, the citizens have launched initiatives in variety of policy areas, e.g. consti-tutional, justice, and environmental issues. However, most of the launched initiatives have addressed policy areas that the EU does not have strong legal regulation on, and has limited policy involvement in these policy areas. Hence, there seems to be a mismatch between the issues that the citizens regard as salient and the policies that are the core of the EU. Thirdly, this study confirms the notion of previous studies that the ECI places notable cost for citizens to impact the decision-making of the EU through the ECI as only three initiatives have been successful to gather the needed 1 million statements of support. This study also confirms the findings of previous studies that in moments of crises the citizens launch more initiatives, thus, the ECI might contribute in creating at least a temporary EU-wide public sphere. As the analyses of the ECI in this thesis has been able to consider the most recent crises of the EU, namely Brexit, the results of the study suggest that the ECI might enable citizens to participate when they feel that the matter is salient enough. Thus, the benefit of implementing the ECI is higher than for not implementing this democratic innovation as, at least in moments of crises, the citizens have a tool through which they can make their concerns heard. This thesis concludes that it cannot be said that the ECI has had a significant role in improving the legitima-cy of the EU or function as a cure democratic deficit, but, it suggests that at least the ECI has not worsened the situation of the EU in terms of these two dimensions.
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(2013)The process of the European integration is ongoing on different levels and in various areas of EU policy. One of such areas is the EU Company law. The significance of the harmonization in the field of EU Company law for the economic integration was established through adoption of the European Community Company Law Harmonization Programme. One of the most significant results of this program is introduction of the European Company as a unified form of public companies throughout the EU. Its main goals are to ensure the freedom of establishment for companies in the EU, provide equal protection for shareholders and workers, as well as foster efficiency and competitiveness of business. It gives enterprises that carry out their activities in more than one Member State of the European Economic Area (EEA) the possibility of establishing public limited liability company as one entity under Community law. It applies throughout the EEA, i.e. the 27 Member States of the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. This study analyses the positive and negative sites of the European Company, its current state, popularity and future perspectives.
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(2014)The thesis calls for a Protocol on data protection to strengthen the European Convention on Human Rights. It claims that reliance on Article 8 and its limb of right of respect for private life, as interpreted by the Court, fails to sufficiently protect the data subject and his core rights. Lack of explicit law has led to a situation of fundamental underlying inconsistency where judgments at times guarantee data protection, yet at other times fail to do so. The examination of the need for the Protocol is approached from two angles: one external, the other internal. Chapter 2 discusses how the environment has undergone an information revolution. In consequence, in the digital society personal data has acquired an entirely new value, especially political and economic, rendering every person vulnerable in an unprecedented manner. The second cause is found within the Convention itself, the right of respect for private life of Article 8, and the way that the Court has interpreted the provision in cases on information privacy. Chapter 3 analyzes how dynamic/evolutive interpretation can undermine legal clarity, certainty, equality and foreseeability for the data subject. Chapter 4 examines case studies where core rights of the data subject: access to own data; right to rectification; right to erasure and consent have failed to have been guaranteed or even acknowledged by the Court. The impact of the margin of appreciation is deemed significant in the denial of data protection. The final chapter discusses why a Protocol is the best means to strengthen the Convention. Moreover, due to the ratification process, early rather than late establishment is recommended.
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(2023)The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) guarantees everyone’s right to freedom of expression under article 10. Freedom of expression can be restricted if the restriction is prescribed by law, pursues a legitimate aim, and is necessary in a democratic society. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) handles cases concerning article 10 frequently and some of these cases concern hate speech and genocide denial. This thesis seeks to discover how the ECtHR has handled cases relating to the holocaust denial and the denial of the Armenian genocide. This thesis will thus describe and analyse the relevant case law. This thesis will also attempt to uncover if the ECtHR approaches the two genocides in a similar manner, or whether the examination of the relevant cases indicates that a hierarchy of genocides exists in the ECtHR case law. The ECtHR has handled several cases relating to holocaust denial, whereas case law relating to the Armenian genocide is few. In a majority of holocaust denial cases the ECtHR has found no violation of article 10 and many forms of denialistic speech are not protected by the ECHR. In denial cases concerning the Armenian genocide, the ECtHR has found a violation of the applicant’s freedom of expression. Therefore, denialistic speech relating to the Armenian genocide is permitted. An examination of the case law indicates that the holocaust is in an elevated position. The ECtHR recognises the holocaust as a clearly established historical fact, however the Armenian genocide is not recognised as such. Furthermore, article 17 is often applied either directly or as an interpretive tool in the examination of the holocaust case law. The ECtHR has stated in a majority of holocaust denial cases that the application has been manifestly ill-founded or incompatible ratione materiae with the provisions of the ECHR in light of article 17 of the ECHR. Article 17 is not applied customarily in the Armenian genocide denial related case law. Incitement to hatred is presumed in cases of holocaust denial, but the same assumption does not apply in relation to the Armenian genocide. Victims of the holocaust and their right to their dignity are also customarily referenced in the judgments. The ECtHR case law has made it more difficult to apply the same protections to the victims of the Armenian genocide. It therefore seems that there exists a hierarchy of genocides in the ECtHR case law.
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(2020)This thesis addresses the question of disintegrative tendencies that the European integration project has faced after the Euro Crisis of 2008-09, with reference to EU youth policy. It analyses the effectiveness of EU youth policy in relation to how well aspirations for high employment rates and better social conditions were met in the context of the Euro Crisis. It engages with theoretical approaches on the origins of the integration project, and argues for the benefits of a critical political economy approach for better understanding how young people have been affected by its developments after the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty. It argues that disintegrative tendencies increased because of rigid, austerity emphasising policies adapted during the crisis in the southern eurozone, and that these policies derived from how the integration project had been configured to fit an epoch of capitalism conditioned by neoliberal ideology. The thesis shows how youth policies in the EU became part and parcel of the Lisbon Agenda that had as its supreme objective to structurally reform the economies of member states to become more competitive through flexible labour markets and leaner welfare states, which weakened social citizenship norms. In the context of the Euro Crisis, a significant restructuring of the political economy of the crisis countries took place, and this had serious effects on young people’s lives. The reforms that were conditional to the bailouts of Southern eurozone crisis countries aimed at calming markets and guaranteeing price stability, as well as to further entrench marketisation in accordance with the objectives of the integration project as spelled out in the Maastricht Treaty and the Lisbon Strategy. A discrepancy between targets set and objectives of EU youth policy is revealed, as unemployment rose. The thesis also analyses how these policies were debated in the European Parliament 2009-2012, showing that young people rarely figure in the debates in 2009-10, after which the topic gains prominence in the debate. However, policy makers across the board continue to argue for a policy of structural reforms and a more flexible labour market
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(2022)Leveraging new satellite communication technology, the European Commission published in February 2022 a proposal for a regulation which would facilitate the creation of a European space-based secure communication system serving EU institutions and agencies, Member States as well as EU citizens. In terms of Member States intra-governmental use, several public and private entities in the EU have expressed interest in supplementing national public authority networks with the technology that the proposed system uses. However, public authority networks are strictly regulated due their critical function in terms of safety and national security. An issue of regulatory and policy compatibility thus arises. After demonstrating why Finland is a relevant object to study, this thesis proceeds to analyse and compare relevant national legislation and policy with the proposed regulation and related documents, in order to assess whether, and to what extent, the proposed system is compatible, particularly in the context of control, security and ownership. While the research identified several issues relating to transparency, procurement, financing, ownership, access and control, the thesis ultimately finds that these concerns do not merit a conclusion of incompatibility.
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