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  • The Suslin hypothesis 
    Räty, Olli (2017)
    Tutkielmassa esitellään Suslinin hypoteesi ja todistetaan sen itsenäisyys ZFC-aksiomatisaatiosta. Myös muita hypoteesiin läheisesti liittyviä itsenäisyystuloksia käsitellään tarpeellisilta osin. Suslinin ongelman ja sen hypoteettisen ratkaisun historiallinen konteksti esitetään lyhyesti. Hypoteesiin liittyvät rakenteet Suslin-suora ja Suslin-puu esitellään, sekä todistetaan näiden välinen yhteys. Tutkielma sisältää johdatuksen joukko-opilliseen pakotukseen, keskeisimmät todistukset metodin teoreettiselle perustalle mukaan lukien. Pakotuksen keinoin osoitetaan hypoteesin ristiriidattomuus ZFC:n aksioomien kanssa. Kontinuumihypoteesiin ja Martinin aksioomaan tutustutaan näiden lauseiden itsenäisyyttä tarkemmin todistamatta. Tarkoituksenomaisesti keskitytään näiden sekä Suslinin hypoteesiin yhteyteen. Keskeisimpänä tuloksena todetaan Suslinin hypoteesin negaation seuraavan Martinin aksioomasta ja kontinuumihypoteesin negaatiosta. Iteroidun pakotuksen teoriaan tutustutaan äärelliskantajaisten iteraatioden osalta. Iteroidulla pakotuksella todistetaan Martinin aksiooman ja kontinuumihypoteesin negaation ristiriidattomuus ZFC:n kanssa, näin todeten myös Suslinin hypoteesin negaation ristiriidattomuus, ja täten itsenäisyys ZFC:stä.
  • The Territorial agenda of the EU : what, who, why and how? 
    Hemminki, Mervi (2021)
    Social and economic inequalities are growing in Europe in local, regional and national scales while they are decreasing between member states of the European union (EU). Inequalities are visible in geographical space, which can be one factor explaining these differences between places and people. Spatial disparities and growing inequalities are source of political and social tensions, which can be menace for European countries as well for the EU’s legitimacy. These issues are addressed by the EU’s territorial cohesion policy. Spatial awakening in policymaking and establishment of territorial cohesion as the third objective of the EU’s cohesion policy in 2009 by the Lisbon Treaty has increased awareness of territorial approach in the EU policymaking. The Territorial Agenda of the EU (TAEU) was published in 2007 as a guideline for achieving territorial cohesion. However, studies show that results of this non-binding and open-method-of-coordination based policy have been relatively modest despite its usefulness and ambitious policy objectives of reducing inequalities and increasing overall competitiveness of Europe. Moreover, many meanings of territorial cohesion and lack of a proper definition has been topic of political and academic debates. The key document of territorial cohesion, the Territorial Agenda of the EU was recently renewed by the European network of regional development policymakers and spatial planners. At this context of policy renewal, I am studying what kind of role the Territorial Agenda of the EU has in achieving territorial cohesion, which is the main objective of the agenda. Territorial cohesion is known as a slightly contradictory policy goal, due to its sometimes (but not always) conflicting spatial realities of the two policy objectives: reducing inequalities and increasing competitiveness. Moreover, elusiveness and many meanings of the concept have been seen as the central challenges of the agenda. Meanings of territorial cohesion and associated imaginaries to the EU territoriality are investigated in this thesis. Additional research questions are linked to a policy evaluation, where aspects of effectiveness, impacts and utility are studied. The study is based on an online survey, which targets the Network of the Territorial Cohesion Contact Points (NTCCP) members and other relevant stakeholders from different geographical scales and levels of governance. The survey is composed by quantitative and qualitative questions which are analysed by mixed methods. Theoretical background originates from social constructionism, Europeanisation and critical geopolitics. The results show that the Territorial Agenda of the EU has a strong role in achieving of territorial cohesion and stakeholders have high expectations of its impact, effectiveness and utility. Overall, the agenda is perceived as a useful guideline with lot of potential for achieving territorial cohesion in Europe. However, some of the stakeholders acknowledge well weaknesses of the agenda and are more realistic about its role, effectiveness, impacts and utility. Moreover, stakeholders share a relatively common understanding of the EU territoriality as networked and relational space. They associate similar meanings to territorial cohesion as a concept, even the concept remains still quite vague. The central finding is that the environmental and social dimensions of territorial cohesion are emphasized over the economic dimension and that strong impacts are expected in environmental related themes. The results illustrate how the EU’s soft power works and how even a non-binding low policy of the EU, which is operationalized voluntary by different level stakeholders, can be effective for creating the EU territoriality and achieving territorial cohesion. Processes of Europeanisation and soft practices such as sharing good practice, policy harmonisation, coordination and cooperation are main means to achieve territorial cohesion. Nevertheless, some stakeholders remain realistic and acknowledge the obstacles of non-binding policy implementation and prefer to wait if ‘what is ought to be done’ ‘is actually done’ during the next ten years. In addition, the study outlines some policy recommendations to improve the agenda and implementation. For example, stronger engagement of stakeholders, participation of citizens and the third sector and increase of willingness to work as the EU’s agency are suggestions to be enforced.
  • “The thing they never mention is that poor girl was raped by an illegal alien”: Critical Discourse Analysis of Rape Myths in US News Media 
    Huikku, Eeti (2023)
    Rape is a highly personal, traumatic event that news media has power to portray either in a way that perpetuates myths and stereotypes, or in a way that respects the victim and does not characterize entire communities as perpetrators of sexual violence. This is why studying how media narrates sexual violence is extremely important and even necessary. This thesis is a critical discourse analysis of the use of rape myths in the US press. This thesis aims to answer two questions: do news providers use rape myths, and if so, are there differences to this between political leans. For the analysis, 24 American articles were selected, which were collected from three news publishers of different political leans. The study was conducted as a close reading by identifying instances of rape myths in the articles. The classifications of rape myths were based on the categories by Stephanie Bonnes (2011): Myths Pertaining to the Perpetrator, Myths Pertaining to the Victim, De-emphasis of the Perpetrator and “Atypical” Cases. The study shows that there were differences in rape myth perpetuation between publishers, especially in what myths were used the most often. The right-wing Fox News used myths pertaining to the perpetrator the most and strived to underline the otherness of the offender. The Associated Press and CNN used the “atypical” myth the most often and seemed to tell more sensationalizing stories of sexual violence. All of the media publishers perpetuated rape myths, and the biggest differentiating factors were found in how they did so rather than how often.
  • The Threat That Became a Reality : The Perception of the Threat of Terrorism in Finland Constructed by Helsingin Sanomat in 2001-2017 
    Heinonen, Krista (2018)
    The theatrical and dramatic nature of terrorism makes it a suitable topic for the media, which aims to attract as wide an audience as possible. The media remains a fundamental source of public information on terrorism and terrorist attacks, therefore playing a crucial role in the shaping of the public’s understanding of the phenomenon. The aim of this thesis is to examine how the perception of the threat of terrorism constructed by Helsingin Sanomat has changed in Finland during 2001-2017. The method of this research is qualitative content analysis. The primary source of the thesis is articles of Helsingin Sanomat newspaper that were published in 2001-2017. The material consists of 171 articles that include the keywords “Finland” and “terrorism”, and deal with the threat of terrorism in Finland. It should be noted that the database was searched with the whole keywords, excluding possibly hundreds of articles that include derivative forms of the mentioned keywords. This may be considered as one of the main limitations of this research. One of the key findings of this research is that Helsingin Sanomat has extensively used external experts when assessing the threat of terrorism in Finland. The percentage of the usage of experts, when directly assessing the threat of terrorism in Finland, was 81%. Furthermore, the assessment of the threat of terrorism has been largely outsourced to SUPO, by the public as well as by Helsingin Sanomat. The most dominant discoursed identified from the primary source articles were lone wolf terrorism, “lintukoto” thinking, intelligence legislation as well as immigration and Islam. Moreover, the turning points of the development of the threat of terrorism constructed by Helsingin Sanomat were largely in parallel with the terrorist threat assessments of SUPO. The identified turning points of the threat were 2006, 2011, 2015 and 2017. Furthermore, the far majority of the terrorism portrayed in the articles was jihadist terrorism. All in all, one of the central observations was that the perception of the threat of terrorism portrayed by Helsingin Sanomat has gained an increasing amount of news coverage towards the end of the examined time frame, and that the constructed threat may be considered as more pressing than the threat itself.
  • The Three Principles of Classical Liberalism (from John Locke to John Tomasi) : A Consequentialist Defence of the Limited Welfare State 
    Lehto, Otto (2015)
    I provide a defence of the classical liberal tradition (from Locke and Smith to Hayek and Tomasi) as a blueprint for a 'bleeding-heart libertarian' framework of society. Such a society defends three principles: 1) Freedom from private coercion (Private Property), 2) Freedom from public coercion (Limited Government); and 3) Within these limits, the provision of a limited range of public goods and public welfare (Limited Welfare State). I show that principles can be abstracted from a reading of the classical liberal tradition. Then, through an extensive analysis of Locke, I show the importance, and consequentialist justifications, of the Three Principles for any liberal welfare state. Through a critique of Nozick, I show the inadequacy of the hardcore libertarian interpretation. Then, I show that John Tomasi, Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek have all defended versions of limited welfare states. On this basis, I propose that the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is a good example, supported by Hayek, Buchanan and Friedman, of a welfare principle that is compatible with bleeding-heart libertarianism. I believe we can justify, on the basis of a consequentialist theory, that the limited welfare state, which combines welfare with liberty, and the free market with a social safety net, has highly beneficial effects on the society. It thus suggests itself as a viable competitor to rights-based libertarianism and social liberalism.
  • The Times ja keskitysleirien oikeutus : Argumentointi pääkirjoituksissa toisen buurisodan aikana Emily Hobhousen raportin julkaisusta sodan loppuun 
    Hakio, Antti (2022)
    Tutkielma tarkastelee Brittiläisen The Times sanomalehden linjaa kuuden kuukauden ajalta kesäkuun puolesta välistä 1901 helmikuun loppuun, Etelä-Afrikassa käytyyn Buurisotaan liittyen. The Times oli 1800-luvun lopussa Brittiläisen imperiumin vaikutusvaltaisin konservatiivihallituksen sotapolitiikkaa tukenut lehti. Työ tarkastelee pääkirjoituksien ja niihin lähetettyjen toimituksen valitsemien vastausten kautta sitä, miten lehti käsitteli sotatoimien vuoksi keskitysleirimäisiin oloihin internoituja buurisiviilejä ja mahdollisesti yritti erilaisilla argumenteilla oikeuttaa lukijoilleen näiden tuhansiin kuolonuhreihin johtaneen kohtelun. Tutkielma myös pohtii sanomalehtien pääkirjoitusten kautta välitettyä propagandan roolia ja tehoa yleisen mielipiteen muokkaamiseksi. Etelä-Afrikan sota käytiin vuosina 1899–1902. Se oli brutaalin ja katkeran konfliktin lisäksi eräänlainen merkkipaalu niin hyvässä kuin pahassa, ei pelkästään brittiläisen imperialismin ja kansakunnan, vaan myös modernin Etelä-Afrikan historiassa. Sodan osapuolina olivat buurien vapaavaltiot ja Brittien imperiumi. Brittien jo aiemmin hankkimien Kapmaan ja Natalin provinssien sijainti Atlantin ja Intian valtamerien leikkauspisteessä teki niistä merkittäviä kaupankäynnin ja merenkulun näkökulmasta. Tilanne alueella kärjistyi sotaan, kun hollantilaistaustaisten buurien mailta Oranjen vapaavaltiosta ja Transvaalista löytyi kultaa vuonna 1886. Buurien aluksi menestyksekkään sissisodan seuraksensa brittiarmeija pakkosiirsi vastatoimena maaseudun kotitiloilta buurisiviilit vartioituihin armeijan ylläpitämiin leireihin. Pula ruoasta ja polttoaineesta leireillä alkoi näkyä varsinkin lasten yleisen terveydentilan romahtamisena. Leireillä alkuvuodesta vieraillut englantilainen rauhanaktivisti ja filantrooppi Emily Hobhouse julkaisi Manchester Guardianissa massakuolemista kertoneen lukijoita raportin kesäkuussa 1901. Hobhousen kuvaukset syyttivät suoraan armeijan johtoa ja hallitusta julmasta lähes kansanmurhan mittasuhteet saavuttaneesta epäonnistumisesta, mikä johti asian nousemiseen kansainvälisiin otsikoihin kysymyksenä sodan oikeutuksesta. Keskitysleirien asian raportoinnillaan ja aktivismillaan julkisuuteen nostanut Emily Hobhouse sai niin ikään osakseen systemaattista väheksyntää, jossa tämän asiantuntemus sekä poliittiset tarkoitusperät kyseenalaistettiin aina maanpetturuudesta vihjailuun asti. Objektiivisuus oli The Timesin linjasta pääsääntöisesti kaukana. The Times halusi esittää britit hyväntahtoisina korkeampaa sivilisaatiota edustaneena kansakuntana, joka sodan molemminpuolisista kärsimyksistä huolimatta ajatteli kaikissa toimissaan myös tulevaa rauhaa - mikä oli aina sen ensisijainen tavoite. The Timesin tuki jonkin puolueen politiikkaa suuntaan oli selitettävissä sillä, että Times uskoi kyseisen puolueen parhaiten edistävän kansakunnan etuja. Voidaan perustellusti olettaa, että The Timesin luisuminen riippumattomuuttaan korostaneesta asemasta konservatiivipuolueen äänitorveksi aikakaudella, jolloin sanomalehdet taistelivat levikeistään, vaikutti väistämättä lehden uutisointiin. Leiripolitiikan puolustuksena pääkirjoitukset vetosivat nimenomaan Etelä-Afrikasta tulleiden raporttien ja mielipidekirjoitusten laatijoiden kokemattomuuteen, pyrkiessään kertomaan, miten asiat oikeasti olivat, ei pelkästään leireillä, vaan maailmassa yleensä.
  • The Topological Sphere Theorem 
    Sankari, Lauri (2012)
    Työssä esitellään todistuksineen klassinen pallolause, joka antaa leikkauskaarevuksien avulla riittävän ehdon kompaktin, yhdesti yhtenäisen Riemannin moniston homeomorfisuudelle euklidisen pallon kanssa. Todistus seuraa klassista Klingenbergin ja Bergerin todistusta, ja siinä merkittävä rooli on leikkauspisteillä - pisteillä, joiden jälkeen annetusta pisteestä lähtevät geodeesit eivät enää minimoi etäisyyksiä - ja moniston injektiivisyyssäteellä, joka on infimum moniston pisteiden ja niitä vastaavien leikkauspisteitten etäisyyksistä. Työssä esitellään tarvittavia Riemannin monistojen perusominaisuuksia, kuten metriikka, konnektiot ja kaarevuus, ja -tuloksia, esimerkiksi Rauchin vertailulause sekä Bonnet-Myersin lause. Pallolauseen ohella merkittäviä tuloksia työssä ovat Klingenbergin arvio moniston injektiivisyyssäteelle sekä Bergerin tulos minimoivien geodeesien jakautumisesta kompaktin moniston ääripisteiden välillä. Edellä mainitun tuloksen todistukseksi esitellään myös tarvittava määrä Morsen teoriaa, joka tutkii funktioiden kriittisten pisteiden vaikutusta määrittelyjoukkonsa topologiaan.
  • The Tragedy of Humanity : The Gospel of Judas as an Arch-ethical Tragedy 
    Salama, Virva (2018)
    French philosopher Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe claims, that the Platonian-Aristotelian ethical base of the West has rendered horrors of the 20th century possible. Western culture has created romantic myths and figures, which determine our identities and thinking. Consequently, our understanding of ethics is uniform, as it is structured to support the prevailing myths and figures. It is necessary to deconstruct them, if we wish to avoid radical evil in the future. Lacoue-Labarthe argues, that such deconstruction is possible only, if we acknowledge the mimetic ontology of a subject as well as of truth: mimesis is a condition for the possibility of perception as ideas can emerge only in representation. Since mimesis has no essence, no representation is ever exhaustive. This gives arts and literature an essential role in relation to philosophy, because the artist reverts the effects of mimesis into a work of art. Lacoue-Labarthe calls ethics that acknowledge importance of mimesis and aspires to deconstruct prevailing ethos as arch-ethics. In my reading of the Gospel of Judas which surfaced in 2006, I deconstruct the role of Judas Iscariot. While Judas is known as the quintessential traitor in the West, the Gospel offers an alternative perspective based on its Gnostic view of life. According to Lacoue-Labarthe, tragedy can be used as a matrix for thought to approach arch-ethics. In my study, I project the Aristotelian structure and understanding of tragedy onto the plot of the Gospel to facilitate ethical analysis on both plot and allegorical levels. I will then contemplate the arch-ethical implications of such levels. The deconstruction of the figure of the arch-traitor results in an interpretative narrative, which questions the prevailing understanding of concepts like knowledge, sacrifice and salvation. Even in our secularised time, such concepts affect the way we contemplate ethics, because the Bible remains pivotal when considering the foundation of western ethos. Based on my reading of the Gospel as a tragedy with arch-ethical implications, in the end of my study I briefly outline the ethical conclusions as to the goals I understand arch-ethics to have. Such conclusions combine the concepts of responsibility (Lévinas), recognition (Ricœur) and gift (Derrida) with deconstruction of current ethics of dichotomies, acknowledgement of the mimetic nature of human beings, and ethical thinking understood as a hermeneutic circle.
  • The Tragedy of the Tragedy : A Critical Realist Critique of Mearsheimer’s Offensive Realism 
    Hadi, Mohammed S. (2022)
    The U.S.-China relation is said to be the “most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.” Therefore, many theoretical frameworks have been developed and devoted to the framing, exploration, and prediction of the evolution of U.S.-Chinese relations. Among these, offensive realism remains as one of the most eminent theoretical frameworks that have attempted to offer some predictions regarding the future of the bilateral relation between the United States and China. Offensive realism, a broadly debated controversial theory of international relations that has recently gained even further controversy due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, argues for a tragic outcome of the interaction between these two great powers. These predictions, moreover, are built upon a certain implicit ontology that affects the way in which the world is conceived and interpreted. The purpose of this thesis, thus, is to explicate this ontology, arguing for its inadequacy and problematic implications. This thesis, in other words, seeks to demonstrate how implicit, uncritically adopted ontologies can affect: the way in which the world is comprehended, the purpose of our scientific explanations, and the impact of this on the potential sustainment of certain social structures, relations, and practices. In order to fulfill this purpose, critical realism is used to conduct the critical evaluation of the implicit ontology embedded within Mearsheimer’s offensive realism. Critical realism is a philosophy of science perspective that offers important insights into the nature of the social world. Thus, the main questions that guide this thesis (What kind of ontology does Mearsheimer implicitly use in his theory of offensive realism? What impacts does the ontological position that Mearsheimer adopts have on the manner in which the world is understood and the way in which it concretely evolves?) are answered with the help of a critical realist framework.
  • The Trans City : Spaces and Places for Trans People in the Finnish City 
    Priestley, Danielle (2016)
    This Master’s thesis explores the ways in which individuals interact with the world around them, and how this interaction intersects with the construction and performance of identity. It draws on gender theory, urban studies and intercultural studies to investigate the following research questions: Do trans and gender-variant people interact differently with urban spaces than cis people? Is there something special about the Finnish city? If so, what are the implications for those of us operating in, planning and managing those places? It is argued that, although safety and security are not a daily struggle facing trans people in the Finnish city, there are issues with physical, emotional, and structural safety that are unique to the trans experience, and that are unique to the Finnish city. Chapter 3 finds that the Finnish city provides spaces which are both a help and a hindrance to the achievement of self-actualisation for trans people. Finally, in Chapter 4, it is shown that there are stark differences in the experiences of trans people depending on their workplace, but that transitioning at school has hitherto been problematic. Also problematic is the medical realm in Finnish towns and cities.
  • The Transfer Cases of the ICTR to the Republic of Rwanda : The challenges of implementing Rule 11 bis 
    Ng, Likim (2014)
    This thesis addresses the complex process of transferring cases from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to Rwanda. After a decade of prosecuting the leaders and organisers of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that killed an estimated 500,000 to 1 million ethnic Tutsis, the Security Council of the United Nations called for the closure of the Tribunal. In an effort to complete all trial activities, the Completion Strategy has involved transferring the indictments of low to mid-level accused to national jurisdictions for trial. With donor fatigue, frustration with the efficiency of the Ad-Hoc tribunals and the desire for states to manage their own issues, there is a shift in enforcement of international criminal law away from international tribunals. The outcome is that national courts will be increasingly responsible for the accountability of international crimes and the application of fair trial rights. As a result, the importance of cases being prosecuted domestically with the appropriate level of fair trial standards and the capacity of national systems will be increasingly important. To transfer a case to a national court, the ICTR has to be satisfied that the court by which the case is referred to has the jurisdiction to adjudicate the case. Moreover, it has to confirm that the standards of trial in respect to fairness are satisfactory. Once the case has been transferred, the ICTR can appoint a monitor to observe the proceedings in the national court. This thesis aims to determine whether the transfer cases to Rwanda were decided with the appropriate fair trial standards. To determine this, this thesis examines the decisions of the ICTR, relevant legislation, Reports of the Monitor as well as academic discussions. Further this thesis demonstrates the importance of capacity building efforts as well as legal reform to improve standards. Improvement of fair trial and penalty standards in Rwanda has involved the creation of new witness protection programs, the abolishment of the death penalty and reform of the Genocide Ideology law. However, this thesis has shown the most challenging part of capacity building by a foreign body is the sensitive and cautious way these issues need to be approached. This thesis concludes that, from the creation of new witness protection programs, video link technology, building of new prisons, judicial training and reforms in legislation, Rwanda has developed the capacity to hold a fair trial. Moreover, twenty years after the genocide, Rwanda has become a neutral territory to hold trials for the transferred cases. However, this author is concerned that these improvements will only affect the handful of cases, which will be transferred. Many Rwandans will not have access to the same safeguards, protection and facilities. Despite these possible inequalities, the correct decision to transfer the cases to Rwanda is a step forward towards ending impunity. It means that Rwanda is willing and able to prosecute their crimes. Following the ICTR’s approach towards strengthening fair trial and penalty standards in Rwanda will be a valuable lesson for the future of International Criminal Law, particularly in light of increased domestic prosecutions.
  • The transformation and (re)production of culture in an ethnic Romanian Community in Spain 
    Modovan, Daniela (2016)
    This Master’s thesis is an ethnographic study that focuses on Romanian transnational migrant families. It explores, from an anthropological perspective the transformations that have happened in the lives of the Romanian migrants in Spain, on how the context of migration influences people’s lives and on how the changes are perceived by the migrants. The fieldwork was conducted in 2014 in a Romanian Community situated in a small village near Roquetas del Mar, Almeria, in the Southern part of Spain. The collected material consists of 15 interviews, participant observation diary and a collection of photos and videos. The data was analyzed using micro-interpretive social constructionism. Through thematic analysis, three important changes were identified. The first theme concentrates on the changes that have happened in the perception of family and family life. Hence, the research examines how the concept of family has changed and how the family has been constructed in the migration context. The second theme explores the experiences of the migrants from a human security perspective. The manner in which migrants perceive their human security is reflected in their daily discourse and it has a significant influence on their behaviour. The third theme of this study focuses on the religious transformation. The aim of this section is to investigate how the everyday religion has been changing in the migration context and how people have been making sense of their religious experiences. This study is unable to encompass the entire complexity of the changes that have happened in the lives of the Romanian migrants. However, it sheds a new light on specific changes that are important for the migrants. Since this is a qualitative based research that draws on a limited number of participants, it is impossible to generalize the results. Nevertheless, this research provides new insights into subjects that previous studies have not dealt with in much detail.
  • "The truth about the EU" : An analysis of EUvsDisinfo as a response to Russian disinformation 
    Sairanen, Mira (2020)
    According to the EU, Russia uses disinformation campaigns to destabilize European societies and undermine democratic processes. At the same time, concerns have been raised about a shift towards a ‘post-truth’ politics, in which the importance of facts and rationality in public discussions is declining and political contests are increasingly won by appeals to emotions, rather than fact-based arguments. These developments are seen to be harmful for democracy, which depends on an informed public. In this context, the EUvsDisinfo project was set up by the European External Action Service and tasked with exposing and ‘debunking’ Russian disinformation. The research draws on the literature on theories of truth, the link between truth and democracy, and the post-truth era to critically analyze the work of EUvsDisinfo. The interest is on how the project portrays the EU through its practice of ‘debunking’ disinformation about it. Through a content analysis of the ‘disinformation cases’ published on the project’s website, this thesis examines which kinds of narratives about the EU are considered disinformation, and how they are corrected. The thesis finds that EUvsDisinfo flags many common criticisms of the EU as ‘pro-Kremlin’ disinformation. Highly contested and political issues related to matters such as EU democracy, EU integration and sovereignty of member states are presented as forming part of ‘pro-Kremlin narratives’ aiming to undermine the Union.
  • The Unable Individual : The Actantial Analyses of Three Chinese Films and Discussion on Their Representations of the Individual’s Position in Contemporary Chinese Society 
    Peisa, Jenni (2008)
    The thesis studies three contemporary Chinese films, Incense (Xianghuo 2003), Beijing Bicycle (Shiqi sui de danche, 2001), and South of the Clouds (Yun de nanfang, 2004). The aim of the thesis is to find out how these films represent the individual, his relationships with others, and his possibilities in society. The films all portray a male individual setting out to pursue a goal, facing one obstacle after the other in the process, and in the end failing to achieve his goal. The other characters in the films are also primarily either unable or unwilling to help the lead character. In the thesis these features of the films are analysed by applying A.J. Greimas’s structuralist semiotic theory about the actantial structure of discourses. The questions about the individual’s position are answered by defining which instances in the films actually represent the actantial positions of the sender, receiver, subject, object, helper and opponent. The results of the actantial analyses of the three films are further discussed in the light of theories regarding individualization. The focus is on the theories of Ulrich Beck, Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim and Zygmunt Bauman, who see a development towards individualization in societies following the disintegration of traditional social structures. For the most part, these theories do seem to be applicable to the films’ representations of the individual’s position, especially regarding the increased responsibility of the individual. For example, the position of the family is represented as either insignificant or negative in all of the films, which fits with the description of the individualized society, contradicting the idea of traditional Chinese society. On the other hand, the identities and goals of the characters in the films are not represented as fragmented in the way the theories would suggest.
  • The Uncertainty of the Right to Hot Pursuit in the Law of the Sea : Balancing Freedom of Navigation and Coastal State Jurisdiction 
    Savova, Vasilena (2015)
    The right to hot pursuit in the international law of the sea, as encompassed in Article 111 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), allows for a coastal state to extend its jurisdiction onto the high seas in order to arrest an escaping foreign vessel. That right is based on the breach by a foreign vessel of two duties. First, the duty to abide by the laws and regulations of the coastal state, within whose waters the vessel is sailing. Second, the duty to respect the signal to stop given by the authorities of the coastal state and not sail to the high seas. The right constitutes an exception to the right to freedom of navigation set out in Article 87(1) of UNCLOS and the exclusive flag-state jurisdiction under Article 94(1) of UNCLOS. Under Article 111, a right to hot pursuit arises provided that a foreign vessel has committed an offence within one of the jurisdictional zones of the coastal state. The latter can commence a pursuit only if it has a good reason to believe that such an offence has been committed and do so with a vessel or an aircraft clearly marked and identifiable as being on government service. The hot pursuit has to commence when the foreign vessel is within one of the coastal state’s jurisdictional zones and may only commence when the pursuing vessel gives an auditory or visual signal to stop. The hot pursuit has to start immediately and be carried out without any interruption. Use of force can be used to a certain extend should the foreign vessel refuse to stop. Nonetheless, these criteria or requirements turn out to be rather ambiguous in their practical application. It is, therefore, the purpose of this research to clarify these ambiguities in search of legal certainty. The purpose of this research on a more general level is to determine whether the ambiguities within Article 111 are necessary to allow for the adaptability of the right in different times or they are overstepping the boundaries of the right to hot pursuit and threatening the right to freedom of navigation. The main conclusions that are drawn are the following. First, the right to hot pursuit should, in any case, be interpreted as narrowly as possible and as necessary to preserve the balance between the exceptional right to hot pursuit and the freedom of navigation. Second, modern developments have allowed for states to interpret Article 111 in very broad ways, which has, in certain cases, resulted in a violation of the right to freedom of navigation.
  • The United Nations Security Council Referrals of Situations to the International Criminal Court : A Critical Assessment of the Referral Mechanism 
    Vartiainen, Verna (2013)
    Under article 13 (b) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the United Nations Security Council (SC) may refer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) a situation in which one or more crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction appear to have been committed. Since the entry into force of the Rome Statute, the SC has referred two situations to the Court: the situation in Darfur in 2005, and the situation in Libya in 2011. The SC referral mechanism allows the ICC to consider situations in non-party States, such as Sudan and Libya. Even though the adoption of the SC referrals was praised at first, the referral mechanism has proven problematic in many regards. Both SC Resolution 1593 (2005) on Darfur and SC Resolution 1970 (2011) on Libya have been subject to criticism because of their weaknesses. The greatest points of criticism relate to the financing of the Court’s activities and State cooperation. Following the referrals, the ICC initiated investigations on the situations in Darfur and Libya, and subsequently issued arrest warrants for persons considered to be responsible for the crimes committed. Despite the arrest warrants issued, none of the suspects have been arrested and surrendered to the ICC. The purpose of this study is to assess the SC referral mechanism in light of the two existing referrals and to identify and examine problems concerning said mechanism. In order to understand the problems related to the SC referral mechanism, the complex relationship between the ICC and the SC is examined in Chapter 2. The ICC is an independent institution established by a treaty between States. However, as the two organizations have overlapping mandates, coordination between the activities of the ICC and the SC is necessary. Therefore, the Rome Statute creates a link between the organizations by allowing the SC to trigger the juris- diction of the Court. In this context, the legal framework governing the relationship between the two institutions and the nature of SC referrals are examined. In addition, Chapter 2 assesses the funding of the Court’s activities following a SC referral. Chapter 3 considers the jurisdiction of the Court and the mechanisms available to initiate proceedings in the ICC. As the jurisdic- tion of the ICC with respect to a certain situation is not pre-determined, it can be triggered by State Parties, the SC or the Prosecu- tor. Emphasis is placed on the SC referral mechanism and its differences with the other trigger mechanisms. In addition, issues of admissibility are considered. Particular attention is paid to the principle of complementarity, because as the underlying principle of the Rome Statute, it affects the different stages of the ICC proceedings. In light of the existing referrals, Chapter 4 analyses State cooperation with the Court, and how it has proven one of the main prob- lems for the Court. The ICC does not have its own enforcement mechanisms, which is why it is dependent on the assistance of States in the arrest of suspects and the gathering of evidence. Yet, States have been reluctant to cooperate with the Court follow- ing the SC referrals. In order to explain the lack of cooperation, the study examines and compares the cooperation regimes pursu- ant to the Rome Statute and the relevant SC resolutions. In particular, it attempts to identify the content of the cooperation obliga- tions of Sudan and Libya, State Parties, and non-party States to the Rome Statute. As the ICC’s jurisdiction is complementary to national jurisdictions, the effect of the principle of complementarity on cooperation is also assessed. Under certain grounds, States may refuse or postpone their cooperation obligations with the Court. As examples of exemptions from the cooperation obligation, the effect of national proceedings and head of state immunity are considered. Chapter 4 concludes with an assessment of the enforcement mechanisms available in case the ICC makes a finding of non-compliance.
  • The urban informal water sector : sustainable development or a temporary problem? 
    Evers, Niklas (2019)
    The thesis examines how the national water policies of Tanzania and Kenya address informality in the urban water sector by critically analysing the representations of “problems” in policies related to increasing urban water access. While access to safely managed water has increased rapidly on a global in the last decades, in most cities in the global south 30¬–60 per cent of the urban population relies on informal practices to meet its daily water needs. Especially the urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) struggle to increase access to safe water to citizens, resulting in a high reliance on informal practices, such as getting water from unprotected wells or buying water from street vendors. While these practices are generally associated with health risks and higher water prices, they serve as the main everyday water supply for millions of people. Since the state has failed to provide access to water for everyone, both under private and public management, informally managed water systems are, despite their problems, increasingly seen as a viable alternative to the standard solution of expanding the piped network to increase access. Many of the case studies on informality in SSA cited in this thesis argue that the state should accept and support the informal water sector as a pragmatic alternative for water supply in unserved urban areas. By analysing the national water policies of Tanzania and Kenya, this thesis sets out to answer the research questions of (1) how the problem of water supply is constructed in urban water policy in Tanzania and Kenya and (2) how Tanzanian and Kenyan water policies approach the informal water sector. The analysis applies Carol Bacchi’s (2009) poststructuralist approach to analysing policy, the ‘What’s The Problem Represented To Be?’ (WPR) approach. Four general representations of problems related to urban water access and informality were identified in the data: (1) The problem of lacking infrastructure, (2) the problem of identifying appropriate technologies, (3) the problem of stakeholder involvement and (4) the problem of informality in the water sector. The results show a high reliance on investment in large-scale infrastructure projects as the main policy for increasing access to water in urban areas in both Kenya and Tanzania, even though previous studies on informality and urban water provision suggests this tactic will fail in providing safe water for all. In addressing the informal water sector in urban areas, informality was represented as a problem that eventually will fade away as soon as the piped network reaches all. However, both countries appeared to take a completely different stance towards informality in rural areas. Whereas large-scale infrastructure projects still were the go-to solution for increasing access in urban areas, for rural areas the analysed documents proposed a massive support of community-based informal practices as the cornerstones of future rural water supply, covering tens of millions of people in the coming decade. If the attempt to solve lacking access to safe water in urban areas by expanding the piped network should fail, as previous research suggests it might, the community based policies for rural water supply may be scaled out to solve the urban water problem. This thesis shows that the informal water sector is still to a large extent seen as a temporary problem. However, both Kenyan and Tanzanian water policy has opened the door to supporting informal practices as sustainable solutions as a way to achieve the ambitious goal of safe water for all.
  • The Use of Art 114 TFEU for Security Measures : The Case of the CER Directive 
    Jaakkola, Kristella (2023)
    The EU integration has been spreading into the area of security. One of the most recent actions by the EU in this area is Directive (EU) 2022/2557 on the resilience of critical entities (the CER Directive). However, the EU’s competence to act in this area has been called into question as the Treaties do not provide an express competence. Similarly to several other security measures, the CER Directive was adopted using Art 114 TFEU as its legal basis. This thesis focuses on the topic of using Art 114 TFEU as a legal basis for security measures. It will be argued that although framed as a market measure, the background, context, and content of the CER Directive point towards a security aim. However, it seems that problems related to other potential legal bases, such as Art 196 TFEU on civil protection, left Art 114 TFEU effectively being the only available option for a measure such as the CER Directive. It is noted that the case law on Art 114 TFEU indicates that there are very few limits to its use, and therefore, it seems that it provides a valid legal basis also for the CER Directive. This thesis argues that while Art 114 TFEU may provide a lucrative shortcut to avoid competence and legal basis problems, its use for security measures is another example of the phenomenon called competence creep and may lead to some negative implications regarding. It will also be argued that the EU’s actions limit Member States' sovereignty, while also noticing that there are signs that the Member States have silently approved this development. In the end, it will be argued that masking security measures as market measures may negatively affect the effectiveness of protection and may send an unfortunate message that markets are regarded as a priority over the well-being of people.
  • The Use of Blogs as a Persuasive Instrument : Examining the Case of Online Discussions of Social Injustice in the Russian Federation 
    Skoromnova, Maria (2013)
    The growth of public debates in the Russian Federation and an increase of state control over the media channels force people to seek for an alternative platform where they can create a visible counter voice against the state. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Russian networked social movements have adopted blogosphere for this purpose. Eventually, they have turned it into a center of public debates about the issues of social injustice in the society. The current research aims to discover how Russian users of LiveJournal constructed persuasive argumentation and what strategies they use to persuade an audience into changing their opinion and attitudes in reference to case of social injustice. The research is valuable because it reveals relevant information about the values and the motives of the online citizens in the country. The study is based on an analysis of blog entries published on a social networking platform LiveJournal. The blog entries are related to a certain single case study. The case study tells about a car accident which happened on 25 February, 2010, in Moscow. This study belongs to qualitative research. The flexibility of the method allows using different techniques and methods for the analysis. I applied the method of pentad criticism by Kenneth Burke (1945). The data materials consist of 121 blog entries which were published on livejournal.com from 25 February, 2010, till 30 April, 2010. I collected data with the help of searching machines integrated into their interface of website. The results of the study conclude that the selection of one persuasive strategy of narration over the other replicates the logic of people’s behaviour. Possessing both private and public characteristics, communication in the blogosphere may create tension when users talk about crucial topics as social injustice in the society. As a result, an application of different persuasive strategies helps to counterbalance bloggers’ tension between desires to express their personality and reach their persuasive goals.
  • The Use of Conceptual Metaphors in Political Speeches by the Representatives of the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 
    Koskinen, Kanerva (2022)
    This thesis discusses the use of English conceptual metaphors in political speeches, specifically focusing on the domains that are used in the policy-related speeches of the Council of the European Union (EU) during the Finnish Presidency term in 2019. Furthermore, the current study takes a cognitive linguistic approach, where political discourse is considered as a product of individual and collective mental processes. The cognitive account explains that metaphor is a part of the human conceptualisation system and not just a stylistic expression of oratory and literature. Moreover, it is thought that metaphor works as a mapping from well-understood source domains of experience to more abstract target domains of cultural knowledge. The four priorities of the Finnish presidency term (the rule of law, sustainable development, climate action, and security) serve as the topics of the analysis. Moreover, the data of this thesis consists of nine speech articles collected and preprocessed from the online publications of the Prime Minister’s Office using programming tools in Python. After pre-processing, the data was organised with a spreadsheet tool, for manual qualitative analysis. First, the metaphorical expressions were identified using the Metaphor Identification Procedure (Pragglejaz Group, 2007) followed by categorisation according to the two-domain mapping model, which is a key element of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson 1980a). In other words, as the study aimed to describe how the use of metaphorical expressions contributes to the framing of statements made by Finnish government officials, metaphorical expressions were first identified at the individual level of the analysis. Then, following the bottom-up approach, the metaphorical expressions were categorised into the two-domain metaphor types on the supraindividual level. Lastly, the metaphors were further grouped together in relation to emotional and experiential aspects at the subindividual level to provide the most characteristic and easily comprehensible examples to discuss the research questions as well as reduce the possibility of confirmation bias. In summary, the nine speech articles analysed for this thesis included 222 cases identified as metaphors and 102 instances marked under a mixed category. The four most used metaphor types in the nine articles were PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITY IS TRAVELLING ALONG A PATH TOWARDS A DESTINATION (n=26), UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING (n=23), CHANGE IS MOTION (n=21), and ATTENTION IS PROXIMITY (n=15). Furthermore, the most used metaphors do support the consensus-building nature of the speeches as they are used to display shared beliefs and motivate the audience to act together to achieve the desired future goals. The qualitative analysis revealed some more distinct uses of conceptual metaphors regarding specific topics. In the rule of law discourse, CONTAINER metaphors were used to discuss the measures and extent to which EU legislation extends, whereas the talk around the second priority, sustainable development, was characterised by the use of BUILDING as well as SEEING metaphors as speakers emphasised the importance of shared efforts to build a more sustainable future. For climate action, the discussion was most clearly dominated by the MOTION AND JOURNEY metaphors, which was expected since climate change is an ongoing process that the world has dealt with over many years and governmental periods. Lastly, the fourth priority, security, was mostly addressed in terms of the MOTION AND JOURNEY metaphors, but also PERSON metaphors. Previous research on conceptual metaphors suggests that metaphors influence our ideological flexibility by helping people to understand abstract issues by grounding them in something more familiar, but the conceptualisation may also infuse attitudes with subjective confidence that makes them highly resistant to change, I argue it is important to study the ways metaphors are used to generate new perspectives on persistent problems in addition to those that reinforce and defend conclusions and ideologies. As a result, this thesis sheds light on the way the representative ministers of the Finnish presidency talked about abstract contexts and what kind of conceptualisations are used in their international political discussion regarding the matters of the Council of the EU.

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