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Browsing by study line "Globaali kehitystutkimus"

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  • Autio, Maria (2022)
    This thesis examines the contemporary relations between the European Union and Africa in the context of the Post-Cotonou Agreement, which will guide the relations for the next 20 years. The current European Commission has expressed an aspiration to shift the relations towards representing an equal partnership. This thesis studies how the objective materializes in practice. It explores the changes introduced by the Post-Cotonou Agreement and examines how the agreement and its negotiations succeed in representing the relations as an equal partnership. The study focuses on the agreement’s aspects of development policy, examining how matters of political conditionality and ownership impact the relations. It also explores the motivations behind European Union-Africa development policy. To answer these questions, the study analyses the negotiated agreement text of the Post-Cotonou Agreement and its predecessor, the Cotonou Partnerships Agreement. In addition, it analyses published texts focusing on the agreement and its negotiations, mostly written by academics and officials who have followed the negotiation process closely. Both the agreements and the published texts are analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The analysis shows that the changes brought by the Post-Cotonou Agreement are mainly rhetorical. It puts increased emphasis on terms that underline the equalness of the partnership but pays even less attention to the ownership of African countries than its predecessor. The involvement of political conditionality raised debate in the negotiations, bringing forward how they undermine the partnerships agenda. Nevertheless, they have received even more recognition in the new agreement, as was desired by the European Union. The agreement also presents additional thematic contents that many African countries were against in the negotiations. The findings on the negotiation process highlight the existing power imbalances in the relations, as the European Union was able to use its leverage to negotiate better terms in matters it perceives important. However, the African side was stricter than before in holding on to its objectives in the negotiations, which shows its improved position in them. Yet, the analysis finds that Africa’s position was anticipated to be significantly better than it was, but certain intra-African disputes and hopes to maintain continuity of development funding were observed to deteriorate it. The study comes to the conclusion that despite the European Union’s rhetoric about equalizing the relations, contemporary European Union-Africa relations do not represent an equal partnership. The findings suggest that the European Union is more interested in promoting its global image and self-interests than it is in equalizing the relations with Africa, demonstrating how the Union’s attitudes towards Africa have remained largely similar as before. The Post-Cotonou Agreement and its negotiations provide a clear example of the structural dependence between Africa and the European Union that impairs possibilities for a profound change in the relations.
  • Rantakokko, Anni (2024)
    Following the wide attention towards the Finnish educational system after its high scores in the PISA assessments in the early 2000s, Finland has been particularly keen to strengthen its global role in the education sector. This has included strengthening education sector development cooperation, policy influencing and education export systematically. As one part of supporting education sector development cooperation, The Finnish Centre for Expertise in Education and Development (FinCEED) was established within the National Agency for Education in 2021. Among other modalities, FinCEED has organised expert deployments to ministries, multilateral organisations and other institutions. Through focusing on the case of FinCEED expert deployments, this thesis discusses what kind of expertise has been seen essential for international expert assignments in education sector development cooperation and what kinds of key factors have affected the assignments. Furthermore, acknowledging the variety of motivations and objectives behind development cooperation, this thesis also discusses how FinCEED expert deployments are situated within a complex web of power dynamics. This qualitative case study is based on social constructivism, as it focuses on how partners and experts deployed by FinCEED have experienced the expert deployments, including their outcomes and the nature of expertise required in them. The data consists of questionnaire responses by partners and reports written by experts during or after their FinCEED expert deployments. The data analysis was conducted through an inductive process where the data was coded and themes emerged from the data, connecting both the questionnaire responses and the reports. The results are discussed in the main categories of outcomes, the nature of expertise required, and the key factors that affected the FinCEED expert deployments. Both partners and experts deployed by FinCEED discussed context knowledge, local ownership, interest towards Finnish educational expertise, networks and communication, work culture, and cooperation with FinCEED in relation to the deployments. These key factors had connections to the overall success of the expert deployments and depending on the case, most of the key factors had the potential of becoming best practices or major challenges. For example, the importance of knowing the local context was highlighted in the data: if the context knowledge of the expert was seen sufficient, it was approached as a key strength, but if the expert had limited familiarity with the local context, it had significant effects on how the overall success of the deployment was perceived. Most partners were interested in similar expert deployments in the future, while they also identified challenges that need to be addressed.
  • Moilanen, Olli (2024)
    A global transition from fossil energy sources to renewables is urgently needed to reduce emissions and address climate change. However, few studies focus on the fairness of the energy transition globally. As the Global North’s finance of climate action in the Global South is part of the obligations of the UN climate agreements, this master’s thesis explores how Finland’s international energy transition finance policy considers transformational global justice. The main research question is concretised by asking how the policy construes the relationship between Finland and the Global South, and how the policy should be reformulated to advance transformational and just energy transition in the Global South. The study employs critical discourse analysis coupled with theories of transformational global justice in analysing Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government’s (2019–2023) climate finance policy. The case study on Finland offers insight into the wider Global North energy transition policy formulation. The thesis develops an analytical framework for assessing social justice in the Global North’s energy transition finance policies, based on three discourses found in the literature: 1) techno-managerial discourse which disregards social justice and relies on markets and private sector, 2) snapshot justice discourse which pays attention to social justice in the Global South but falls short of conceptualising historically created global inequality, and 3) transformational justice discourse which considers the historically constructed global structures and imbalances in capabilities, created by the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonialism. Mainly following Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò’s theorisation on global justice, the thesis argues that the transformational understanding of global justice is the normative yardstick for assessing the Global North’s climate finance policies that aim for a just energy transition. The study finds that the techno-managerial discourse guides Finland’s energy transition finance policy. The policy lacks attention to global justice in the ongoing energy transition. It leaves the transition to market forces and the private sector, and the main goal is greenhouse gas emission reductions, a global public good. The study also finds a dominating national interest discourse in Finland’s overall climate finance policy, which subordinates the oppositional snapshot justice discourse and its elements of global responsibility. While reducing global emissions is commendable, the lack of focus on local benefits and reparation of the historically created unequal global power balance and the distribution of advantages and disadvantages between the Global North and South is inadequate. Therefore, the policy reproduces the status quo. Three policy recommendations are presented for Finland’s climate finance policy: 1) to abandon national interest, 2) to focus on energy transition on a global scale, and 3) pay more attention to advancing global justice in international agreements and multilateral funds, as these contain the policy frame and practical implementation of much of energy transition finance policy.
  • Paz, Maria (2023)
    This thesis examines water grabbing for the avocado agribusiness in the Petorca River located in Central Chile. I argue that avocado agribusiness has turned into what I will call avocado extractivism. Avocado agribusiness functions within an extractive export-development model that perpetuates coloniality under the current economic and political world system. Avocado extractivism alters the bodies, minds, and eco-social spaces of humans and other-than-humans. Furthermore, avocado extractivism prolongs gender, race, and indigeneity inequalities ingrained in Chilean society since colonial times. The research questions that allowed me to unravel the eco-social vulnerabilities and barrenness created by avocado production are the following: • What has the avocado agribusiness done in Petorca? • Why has the expansion of avocado plantations been promoted as development? • How has avocado extractivism impacted communities in the Petorca Province? Through ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews, I carried out a thematic analysis that led to the following global themes: Mentality of inquilinaje; imaginary of development; accumulation by dispossession; encounters and contentions between water ontologies; barrenness; resistances; alternatives to avocado extractivism, and the political agency of water. These themes explain how avocado extractivism exists thanks to a water governance system that privatizes water and separates water and land rights stated in Pinochet’s 1980 constitution. Under this legal structure, avocado producers maneuver the current water code to accumulate water and land to grow avocado plantations. Unfortunately, this process has exacerbated vulnerabilities among humans and other- than-humans in the area. I conclude that avocado extractivism is, in essence, maldevelopment supported by the Chilean state and immersed in the global development apparatus that serves the global capitalist system. Avocado extractivism works within a neoliberal framework reinforced by the coloniality of power and unequal power relations between the Global South and the Global North. Furthermore, this thesis examined resistance and alternatives to avocado extractivism articulated by grassroots and eco-feminist movements. These alternatives contest the dominant ontology of water as a natural resource by proving that a more harmonious future is possible if a multiverse of onto- epistemic perspectives participates in the design of water governance. Ultimately, the resistances and alternatives to avocado extractivism aim at introducing relationality in the existences of humans and other-than-humans in Petorca.
  • Dapaah-Agyemang, Eugene (2023)
    The goal of this research was to investigate the varying impacts a social movement like the Black Lives Matter has on Finnish society and if these impacts manifest as social of developmental change and what role the media plays regarding the Black Lives Matter movement and how representation in the media can influence the movements success. The focus of my research was the BLM protest in Helsinki on June 2020. My research questions were, “How can social activist movements like Black Lives Matter affect development and societal change in Finland.” and “What role does the media have in the Black Lives Matter movement and does the media impact the movement’s ability to achieve its goals?” My research data consisted of Finnish media articles centered around the BLM protest in June 2020 and the aftermath of the event. The data consisted of articles 33 articles from 10 news agencies, which provided information from varying perspectives. Additionally, my data included a legal document mentioned in several articles from the Parliamentary Ombudsman. I conducted my analysis using content analysis. My theoretical framework of reference to help me conduct my research and support my analysis consisted of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and Social Constructionism. The data clearly showed that the movement had undeniable direct and indirect effects in the form of speech around racism and changing public perception by increasing awareness about social inequalities. There were clear indications of the transformative nature of the movement because of the shared experience black people faced all over the world, which allowed members of the Finnish society to discuss and shine a light on their experiences with racism. There are clear distinctions between the BLM movement in the United States and Finland, which manifested in the data as minimalizing racism in Finland. The media plays a major role in how the movement is represented and how the movements goals are achieved. There are clear indications to protest paradigms, which are how the media negatively represents social movements by focusing on violence, discrediting the message and other negative practices. In conclusion, social movements can act as agents of social change, increase awareness, and improve social conditions that racism creates, but developmental and political change require long term goals and clear objectives. Finland does not have the same systemic issues of racism as the United States, which led me to conclude that developmental goals were not feasible.
  • Kähkönen, Lauri (2023)
    Boko Haram – nousu ja uho -tutkielma selvittää Pohjois-Nigeriassa toimivan terroristijärjestö Boko Haramin rekrytointimenetelmiä, Nigerian pohjoisten osavaltioiden rakenteellisia ongelmia ja sitä miten näitä ongelmia on mahdollista korjata. Tutkielma pyrkii vastaamaan kysymykseen millaiset premissit ajavat ihmisiä liittymään Boko Haramiin. Tutkielman tutkimusmenetelmänä on käytetty laadullista sisällönanalyysia, jonka luoman viitekehyksen kautta tutkija on tulkinnut tutkimusaineistoa. Tutkimuksen aineistolähteet koostuvat Nigeriaa ja Boko Haramia käsittelevästä kirjallisuudesta, tieteellisistä artikkeleista sekä aikalaislähteistä. Tutkielman analyysiluvuissa yksilöiden premissejä on tulkittu tutkimusaineistoista nousevien teemojen mukaan, minkä jälkeen tutkijan on ollut mahdollista tehdä laajempi sisältöanalyysi eri premisseiden kerrannaisvaikutuksista osana Boko Haramiin liittymiselle. Tutkielman osoittaa, että Boko Haramiin liittymisen taustalla on harvoin yhtä selittävää tekijää, kuten esimerkiksi työttömyys. Liittyminen on lähes poikkeuksetta useiden eri premissien summa, jossa korostuvat tulevaisuuden heikot näkymät, osattomuus yhteiskunnassa, epäluottamus Nigerian keskushallintoon sekä oman kansan identiteettiin ja kulttuurin puolustamiseen liittyvät teemat. Boko Haramiin liittyvää konfliktia ei voida näin ollen ratkaista puhtaasti sotilaallista voimaa käyttämällä, vaan Nigerian olisi kyettävä vahvistamaan Pohjois-Nigerian osavaltioiden yhteiskunnallisia rakenteita sekä luomaan luottamussuhde kansalaisten ja valtionhallinnon välillä.
  • Pousi, Matti August Oskari (2021)
    The ecological crisis is ravaging the planet. Governments and businesses have set carbon neutrality targets as part of a necessary green transformation. One promising negative emission technology is based on biochar, which has created excitement in the voluntary carbon markets. However, the voluntary carbon markets and carbon sequestration with biochar both stand at a crossroads. There is currently no regulation that would govern the markets. Only voluntary standardizations and the sellers and buyers’ conscience provide directions for the quality of offsets and real carbon cuts achieved. In addition, the production of high-quality biochar remains at a low level. This thesis contributes to the research on green transformations by examining critically the expectations and promises related to biochar and voluntary carbon markets. The focus of this study is on the framings and discourses related to the role of biochar and the voluntary carbon markets in low-carbon pathways. The main research question is: What are the different narratives and perspectives on the role of biochar and voluntary carbon markets in sustainable low-carbon pathways? To answer this, I have identified and interviewed the main actors and stakeholders in the supply chain of biochar-based offsets as well as analyzed key policy and research documents that take part in the biochar offset related discourses. The research approach draws from two theoretical frameworks: the sustainable pathways approach developed by Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones, and Andy Stirling and Maarten Hajer’s critical discourse analysis on environmental policy. These frameworks are used to analyze the informant interviews and policy and research documents. It is found out that there are five discursive patterns shaping the discourses related to biochar and the voluntary carbon markets: biochar as a magic bullet, market-led low-carbon pathway, techno-managerialism, traces of more transformative greening, and climate-centrism. Techno-managerialism is the most distinctive feature of the biochar and voluntary carbon market discourse. Together, the five patterns shape the way in which biochar and the voluntary carbon markets are perceived, how policy problems related to them are defined and framed, and finally, what type of policy solutions are formulated.
  • Jääskeläinen, Pipsa (2024)
    When the Syrian conflict escalated in 2011, millions of Syrians needed to leave the country. Türkiye invited Syrians to the country, and today Türkiye hosts the highest number of displaced people in the world, 3,8 million. Of them, 3,7 million are Syrians. Since non-European citizens cannot receive official refugee status in Türkiye, the country has given Syrians temporary protection status which includes certain rights including a right to education, work, and health care. When the refugee crisis hit Europe in 2015, the European Union started discussions with Türkiye about economic support for refugees if Türkiye tightened its border control. These discussions led to the EU-Türkiye deal in 2015, and in 2016 the European Union’s biggest humanitarian project the Emergency Social Safety Net started. It has aimed to answer to the basic needs of refugees in Türkiye with monthly cash assistance. The programme has supported almost 1,5 million refugees, including more than 1,3 million Syrians under temporary protection. From July 2023, the Emergency Social Safety Net programme was discontinued, but continued as the Social Safety Net programme. This master’s thesis is a qualitative study on how the Emergency Social Safety Net cash assistance programme has managed to support Syrians in Türkiye, especially during a crisis. The usage of cash assistance as a foreign aid has increased during the previous years, especially in refugee contexts, which is why this study is important and timely. The theoretical framework relies on the concept of the humanitarian-development nexus and foreign aid critique. Foreign aid has been criticized for its limited results, which is why there is discussion of an increased need to combine humanitarian and development aid better in the future. The data of the study consists of six semi-structured interviews with professionals working closely with the Syrians under temporary protection receiving cash assistance, conducted during the summer of 2022. In addition, nine Turkish Red Crescent qualitative and quantitative research reports from the COVID-19 pandemic time were analysed. The COVID-19 pandemic period from 2020 to 2022 was chosen as a case example of a crisis because it was raised in discussion in the interviews. The data was analysed with qualitative content analysis. Analysis shows, how informants disagreed on whether the Emergency Social Safety Net supports the integration of Syrians into Turkish society. Some saw the programme as an integration tool whereas some stated that the programme has nothing to do with integration. During the years Syrians have stayed in Türkiye, the migration question has become increasingly politized and questions about Syrians’ status have been in discussion. Syrians want to stay in Türkiye, but in Türkiye, the question is whether it would be possible to send them back to Syria. Even though the programme has managed to support Syrians with their basic needs, it has caused dependency where the recipients cannot sustain themselves without cash assistance. The COVID-19 pandemic made the situation even more challenging despite the additional top-ups provided. During the pandemic, unemployment increased dramatically, and there were severe challenges in attending online school lessons and accessing health care, Syrians needed to increase the usage of negative coping strategies including restricting food consumption, buying less expensive food, buying food on credit, borrowing money, reducing from education and health, and sending children to work. The debt rate increased significantly in households during the pandemic. Despite the challenges, there is an inevitable need to continue cash assistance until the recipients are integrated into society and have the means to fulfil their basic needs without the programme’s support.
  • Hämäläinen, Mira (2024)
    This thesis explores the concept of resilience within the development complex. By using a case study, it seeks to understand firstly, how resilience is used and interpreted. Secondly, it seeks to understand what are seen as activities that strengthen the resilience of a community within this specific context and what kind of resilience it promotes. Lastly, it discusses the relationship between resilience and development as well as the utilization of resilience within the development complex. I have used the Community Resilience Programme by the Malawi Red Cross Society as a case study of using the concept of resilience in a development programme. As my primary data I have used programme documents and an interview with staff members working on the programme in Malawi. As my analytical method I have used content analysis. To understand what kind of resilience the programme promotes, I am drawing from earlier resilience research, such as the three conceptual dimensions of resilience suggested by Graveline & Germain (2022). This study finds that within this programme, resilience is used as a desirable goal and an aim that can be achieved through interventional action. It is used in a similar manner to how development has been historically used. It is unintentionally and intentionally vague, which gives it flexibility. Resilience is further seen as an ability tied to hazards that can be strengthened in various manners. What this resilience constitutes of is seen as being defined by the communities themselves, however limited by the logic of the development complex. Resilience in this programme is tied to the paradigm of vulnerability and capacity and thus, resilience is seen to be created through addressing vulnerabilities and strengthening capacities. However, understanding resilience as a more alternative mode of being and living that entails acts of autonomy, resistance, self-organisation, and resourcefulness, may be restricted by the development complex.
  • Urvas, Anniina Sofia (2023)
    The European Green Deal (EGD) is a response to multiple ecological problems caused by human activities, most notably climate change. Some of the main goals of the EGD is to reach net zero in emissions by 2050 and an economic growth decoupled from resource use. To do that, the EU is aiming to transform its energy system by moving away from fossil fuels to a renewable energy provision. Realising these goals would, however, translate into a drastic increase in raw material demand needed for renewable technologies. Extracting these materials is associated with severe socio-environmental effects. This thesis uses Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis combined with the theory of environmental justice to carry out an explanatory critique of the European Green Deal from a global environmental justice perspective. The material consists of the main communication from the European Commission on the European Green Deal paired with EU publications on critical raw materials and the Just Transition Mechanism. The thesis critically assesses the justice implications of the European Green Deal, which to a large extent relies on a dramatic increase in extractivism outside of the Union, reproducing unequal power relations between regions in forms of ecologically unequal exchange, ecological debt and green sacrifice zones. The analysis aims to study what elements of the EGD discourse contribute to this problem and make it discursively possible. The analysis finds out that the discursive understandings of ‘green’ economy, ‘clean’ energy, and a ‘just’ transition may conceal the sustained resource intensiveness of the economic system, the unequally distributed environmental justice issues related to the production of renewable technologies, and the lack of global perspective in the ‘justness’ of the transition to renewables. By pointing out how the European Green Deal discourse may reinforce the excessive increase in extractivism outside of the Union, the thesis underlines the role and responsibility of the EU in mining ventures outside of its borders and related negative consequences of the energy transition.
  • Kemppainen, Saara (2024)
    The master’s thesis examines questions of forest-based corporate social responsibility discourses from environmental justice and critical corporate social responsibility (CSR) theoretical framework. The research setting is a qualitative case study. The research aims to examine three Finnish forestry companies’ social responsibility discourses. Mainly, what is included and excluded in the forest-based CSR discourse and whose concerns are heard? The research data was collected from three Finnish forestry companies' annual sustainability reports using Fairclough's critical discourse analysis. The development of the corporate social responsibility agenda recreates powerful imaginaries of just transitioning to greener and carbon-neutral options. The key findings suggest there are six forest-related CSR discourses: biodiversity, forest management, transformative action, resource efficiency and circularity, local engagement, and compliance. Based on the key findings, three main arguments are presented. First, the CSR discourses are built from a corporate point of view, based on western tradition. Second, the CSR discourse on forest-based action should consider the local communities more comprehensively. Third, the Finnish forestry companies’ CSR could benefit from a radical environmental justice frame. Building on the found discourses and analysis, the main argument is that the CSR discourse based on the extractive neoliberal value system limits environmental justice implementation due to conflicting worldviews. The implication of these results suggests that to achieve environmental justice claims, the CSR discourse should, with positive curiosity, widen the operationalized worldview, especially when cooperating with local communities. This research contributes to the existing critical approach to forestry in global development, CSR, and the environmental justice movement.
  • Tarvainen, Liina (2022)
    Uganda’s recent oil discoveries have been described as one of the largest onshore findings in Africa within the past 20 years. It has been estimated that there are 6.5 billion barrels of oil in the Albertine Graben, of which about 1.4 are recoverable. Since the foreign and national stakeholders have launched their oil investment projects, concerns around human and environmental rights violations have been raised internally and internationally. Whereas much scientific work has been produced on oil in Africa, most of this can be placed under the concise umbrella of resource blessing and resource curse. The approach of ‘extractivism’ has come to challenge this simplistic dichotomy, but most of the work about extractivism focuses on Latin America. This thesis, thus, contributes to this growing body of literature. It does so by investigating the discourses that the Ugandan state and the transnational corporation TotalEnergies utilize to promote extractivism in Uganda. More specifically, this thesis aims to answer two questions, namely, what justification methods does the Ugandan state use to legitimate oil extractivism in the Lake Albertine region, and how does the oil corporation Total reproduce narratives of extractivist mindset in legitimizing its operations in the Albertine Graben? Data were collected from policy documents, newspaper articles, and website material. The methods of critical discourse analysis and content analysis and the approaches of extractivism and postcolonialism are applied. The findings show that the Ugandan state legitimates oil through five discourses, namely: economic arguments, employment and social arguments, no substantial ecological effects arguments; statements for energy poverty, energy security, and just transition; and stigmatizing critics arguments. Total uses three distinct discourses, namely, self-regulation and best practice, social and developmental arguments, and no substantial ecological effects arguments. These discourses, while reproducing the extractivist mindset, should be taken seriously as they have severe implications for the wider world.
  • Pönni, Pauliina Sofia (2022)
    This thesis is a contribution to the discussion on globalising education. Empirically, it focuses on the context of Finland and particularly, on Finnish actors engaging in education projects in the Global South. Today, every child’s right to education is widely acknowledged, and the aim of all children receiving formal education is a global goal that rarely is contested. Between 2001 and 2011 access to education improved with 20%. However, the fast improvement of access has had its consequences, and today 60% of all children that go to school do not reach the required numeracy and literacy skills. This has come to be called ‘the learning crisis’ both in educational sciences and in the field of global development. This thesis highlights two pitfalls related to solving the learning crisis, namely that of Westernising the world and that of enhancing an unsustainable relationship with nature. The idea of a learning crisis presupposes that all children should learn universalised and standardised skills, and consequently this thesis asks whether this actually is the best outcome. Currently, the content of schooling remains distant to many children as it rarely is locally created, but rather globally or at best nationally. The same applies to language, as the medium of instruction often is a former colonial language rather than the learner’s mother tongue or heritage language. More specifically, this thesis examines how Finnish actors engage in global education projects, and the aim of this work is to obtain an overview of where Finnish education development actors stand in relation to solving the global learning crisis. The research questions centre around the participants’ inclusion of locals in their work, their knowledge about the local context, and their perception of their role. Semi-structured interviews with 15 education experts engaging in education development projects in the Global South were carried out in January 2021. The critical theoretical frameworks of post-development and decolonial theories guide the discourse analysis of the collected data. Together, the main findings in this research demonstrate how current ways of globalising education still relay almost without exception on Western epistemology while other epistemologies are neglected. The results suggest that the most common way to ameliorate the quality of schooling, is by arranging teacher trainings for local teachers, while neither the content of schooling nor the language of instruction is in focus. In order to contribute to solving the learning crisis, this study suggests that practitioners in the field of education development in the Global South should increasingly engage in projects in which the main focus is the learner’s mother tongue and the content of schooling, as well as engage more in lobbying on the state level in order to encourage inclusive education policy.
  • Laakso, Elias (2023)
    Tämä maisterin tutkielma analysoi Suomen historian suurinta nälänhätää. Kylmien keväiden, loppukesien yöpakkasten ja sateisten syksyjen vuoksi Suomi koki kaksi peräkkäistä katovuotta 1695 ja 1696. Sadot olivat huonoja myös muualla Ruotsin valtakunnassa, ja pääsy kansainvälisiin viljamarkkinoihin oli rajallinen, joten alueelle ei voitu kuljettaa riittävästi korvaavaa ruokaa. Puute oli ajanut monet ihmiset vaeltamaan kaupunkeja kohti kerjäten ruokaa. He toivat mukanaan tauteja, kuten punatautia, lavantautia ja pilkkukuumetta, jotka lisäsivät kriisin tappavuutta. Noin 130 000 ihmistä kuoli näinä vuosina, karkeasti neljäsosa väestöstä. Tämä tutkielma keskittyy tarkastelemaan sitä, kuinka nälänhätä vaikutti eri sosiaalisten ja ammatillisten ryhmien toimeentuloon ja selviytymiseen, jota ei ole aiemmin systemaattisesti tutkittu. Tutkielma käyttää analyysin teoreettisena viitekehyksenä Amartya Senin muotoilemaa oikeuksien lähestymistapaa. Tässä viitekehyksessä nälänhätiä ei tarkastella niinkään koko väestön tasolla, vaan niitä analysoidaan yksilöiden ja varsinkin sosiaalisten ja ammatillisten ryhmien näkökulmasta. Lähestymistapa kysyy, kenellä oli ja kenellä ei ollut mahdollisuutta saada ruokaa nälänhädän aikana ja miksi. Nälänhädissä ruokaa on kyllä saatavilla, mutta pääsy niukkaan ruokaan määräytyy yhteiskunnallisesti. Historiallisten nälänhätien teoreettinen ymmärrys voi antaa välineitä tulevaisuuden nälänhätien ennakoimiseen ja ehkäisemiseen ekologisten kriisien kanssa kamppailevassa maailmassa. Tutkielma argumentoi, että erityisesti maattomilla maaseudun asukkailla oli heikoimmat mahdollisuudet hankkia ruokaa nälänhädän aikana. Heillä ei ollut suoria oikeuksia ruokaan, koska vaikka he viljelivät maata, heillä ei ollut omistusoikeutta kasvattamiinsa satoihin. Lisäksi heillä oli heikko asema kaupassa köyhyyden ja nousevien elintarvikehintojen vuoksi. Yhtä lailla kruunulta tai muilta tahoilta maat vuokraavilla maanviljelijöillä ei ollut oikeutta kasvattamaansa ruokaan, minkä vuoksi heidän mahdollisuutensa saada riittävästi ruokaa olivat heikot. Niillä maanomistajilla, joilla ei ollut hedelmällisiä vaihtoehtoisia elinkeinoja, kuten kalastusta, tervanpolttamista tai kauppaa, oli vaikeuksia kerätä tarpeeksi ruokaa selviytyäkseen. Korkeammat säädyt kärsivät myös niukkuudesta, mutta eivät samassa määrin kuin yhteiskuntahierarkian alapäässä olevat ihmiset. Nälänhätä ei aiheuttanut samanlaista puutetta koko maassa, joten yksilön sosiaalisen aseman lisäksi hänen sijaintinsa määritti tärkeästi hänen pääsynsä ruokaan. Pohjoiset alueet kärsivät eniten sadonkorjuun epäonnistumisista, kun taas joillain eteläisillä ja rannikon alueilla jopa maattomilla ihmisillä saattoi olla mahdollisuudet hankkia riittävät määrät ruokaa. Ihmisten mahdollisuudet selviytyä niukkuudesta olivat kuitenkin myös yksilöllisiä 1690-luvun suomalaisen agraarisen yhteiskunnan monimutkaisen luonteen vuoksi, jossa oli runsaasti vaihtoehtoisia elinkeinoja ja epävirallisia solidaarisuusverkostoja. On kuitenkin tärkeää muistaa, että ruoan saatavuus ja sen puute eivät suoraan selitä nälänhädän kuolleisuutta, sillä kriisin loppupuolella ihmiset kuolivat lähinnä epidemioihin.
  • Wenman, Ellen (2024)
    The way the field of Global Development Studies treats the concept of development” is far from consistent. Furthermore, with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals the focus of Global Development Studies has become even more divided. There is particularly a gap in the literature when it comes to examining the current definition of development in Global Development Studies. This thesis tries to bridge this gap by exploring how development is defined in contemporary development studies journals and institutes. This thesis follows the notion that meaning imposed on concepts make a difference, thus, concepts cannot be employed freely without perpetuating some type of mental structures. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to review how contemporary scholars in Global Development Studies infer meaning on the concept of development through their academic articles. The study was conducted as an integrative literature review and thoroughly explored the implicit meanings given to development. The material used as data for the study were articles published by two institutes, the Global Development Studies research unit at the University of Helsinki and the International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and in three key journals, Development and Change, Globalizations, and World Development. The analysis was carried out in two stages, a primary deductive analysis on the abstracts of 259 articles, and a secondary inductive analysis on 19 representative articles read in their entirety. Using the theoretical framework of Nightingale (2019) on Narratives of Sustainable Development, eight narratives of development were formulated and utilised as a framework in the primary analysis. The results show that most scholars in Global Development Studies employ the concept of development freely, without explicit consideration given to its meanings. The narrative of development as Freedom is most frequently contributed to in the articles, and a focus on human capabilities is prevalent throughout most of the articles reviewed. Whereas alternatives to development is present as a recurring narrative, the classical approach to development, particularly as something done in favour of the Global South and with a focus on economic factors, is still more salient in the results. Additional studies on this topic with a larger scope and a more open search strategy would be welcomed. Future research should also be conducted on other areas of importance to development, such as the working papers produced by multilateral organisations, to further inform our understanding of how the meaning of development is constructed.
  • Huotari, Esa Ilmari (2022)
    Market relations are never natural, nor are they born without coercion, social tension and violence. This thesis contributes to the critical research on market creation and takes part in the discussion of how our written economic history is based on myths and outright lies. Looking beyond the conventional stories of money’s origins, myth of unilinear development and narratives of universal tendencies to exploit one’s surroundings, this thesis draws from heterodox monetary theory and strong anthropological evidence. It explores the inherently political nature of market creation or “forced markets” through a case study of monetizing colonial Nigeria’s markets. The focus is in asking “why?” rather than merely describing the process. This thesis examines on the other hand the variety of indigenous ways to arrange economies on local level and on the other hand the violent processes through which Western colonial powers sought to monetize these economies and indoctrinate the local populations. In other words, how to make “them” like “us”. In the heart of this thesis are the writings of the High Commissioner of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate (1900-1906) and Governor of unified colonies of Nigeria (1912-1914), Frederick Lugard. From his writings I extract the answer to my question of why these economies had to be monetized, whether it was done to make the colony fiscally profitable or to “civilize” the local population by imposing the Western model of control and habits of work on them. Since the material on hand is waiting to be interpreted through the context of heterodox theories of money and “forced markets”-approach, a hermeneutic positioning in the analysis is an obvious choice. It also complements my constructionist ontology and an interpretivist epistemology. This thesis highlights the role of European intellectual history as a driving force of racist discourses and thus as a justification for the atrocities carried out around the world in the name of progress and civilization. This “European superiority” and “native inferiority” is so deep-rooted in Western mindscape, that although much of this work concentrates mainly on historical matters, the legacy of this intellectual history and its byproducts must be addressed. Are we carrying the tradition of “white man’s burden” in the footsteps of Lugard and others’ like him?
  • Yrjönen, Saana (2023)
    Tämä maisterintutkielma pyrkii osoittamaan pakkoavioliittoihin liittyviä globaaleja keskinäisriippuvuuksia ja laajentamaan käsitystä ilmiöstä Suomessa. Erityisesti tutkielma pyrkii ymmärtämään, kuinka asiantuntijat konstruoivat pakkoavioliitosta poistumisen haasteita Suomessa ja miten nämä suhteutuvat intersektionaalisuuteen sekä teoriaan ja pakon ja suostumuksen jatkumosta pakkoavioliitossa. Pakkoavioliitot ovat nousseet ilmiönä yhä enemmän esille Suomessa, mutta tutkimus aiheesta on ollut vähäistä ja ilmiöön liittyy paljon vääristyneitä ja haitallisia uskomuksia pakkoavioliitoista tiettyjen globaalin etelän maiden, kulttuurien tai vähemmistöjen ongelmana. Näin ollen tutkielma on paitsi ajankohtainen, niin Suomessa kuin kansainvälisestikin, tarjoaa myös kaivatun näkökulman, sillä tutkimus pakkoavioliitoista poistumisesta on puutteellista, eikä teoriaa pakon ja suostumuksen jatkumosta ole aikaisemmin hyödynnetty yhtä systemaattisesti etenkään Suomessa. Tutkielman teoreettisena viitekehyksenä toimii teoria pakon ja suostumuksen välisestä jatkumosta pakkoavioliitossa sekä Crenshaw’n intersektionaalinen lähestymistapa. Jatkumoteoria painottaa, että pakon ja suostumuksen välinen raja ei ole useinkaan selvärajainen tai helposti määriteltävissä, sillä pakkoavioliitot ovat monikerroksinen ilmiö, jossa pakko tapahtuu usein prosessinomaisesti. Tutkielma tunnustaakin merkityksen ymmärtää myös solmimisen hetken ulkopuolella tapahtuva pakko ja nähdä suostumuksen konsepti läpi avioliiton kestävänä osana pakkoavioliiton ja järjestetyn avioliiton välistä erottelua. Merkittävää on, onko henkilöllä aito mahdollisuus kieltäytyä avioliitosta sitä ennen ja sen aikana. Intersektionaalinen lähestymistapa puolestaan ottaa huomioon pakkoavioliittojen uhriksi joutuneiden henkilöiden ja tekijäosapuolten moninaiset taustatekijät ja tukee näkemystä ilmiön moninaisuudesta. Näin ollen tutkielma kontribuoi paitsi feministisen ja sukupuolittuneita kehityskysymyksiä käsittelevän kehitystutkimuksen, myös oikeudellisen pluralismin saralla. Globaali kehitystutkimus antaa myös kaivatun, globaalia kietoutuneisuutta osoittavan näkökulman pakkoavioliittoihin. Tutkielman aineisto koostuu pakkoavioliiton uhriksi joutuneiden henkilöiden parissa työskentelevien asiantuntijoiden kanssa kesän ja syksyn 2022 aikana tehdyistä teemahaastatteluista sekä heidän lausunnoistaan liittyen hallituksen esitykseen pakkoavioliittojen erilliskriminalisoinnista, mutta haastateltujen anonymiteetin säilyttämiseksi suoria lainauksia esitetään vain haastatteluaineistosta. Tutkimusaineiston analysointiin käytetään teoriaohjaavaa sisällönanalyysiä, jonka mukaisesti aineiston analysoinnissa hyödynnetään sekä tutkimuksen teoriaa, että aineistosta nousevia havaintoja. Tutkimustulokset esitetään sisällönanalyysin avulla löytyneiden teoreettisten käsitteiden avulla. Sisällönanalyysin perusteella voidaan havaita, että pakkoavioliiton uhriksi joutumiseen vaikuttavat monet erilaiset intersektionaaliset tekijät, sekä, että pakon konsepti on pakkoavioliitoissa binäärin sijaan liukuva osoittaen ilmiön moninaisuutta. Tämä näkyy myös tarkasteltaessa asiantuntijoiden näkemyksiä pakkoavioliitosta poistumisen haasteista. Yleisiä haasteita ovat tunnistamisen vaikeus, pakon ja suostumuksen moniulotteiselle jatkumolle sijoittuvat erilaiset, vaikeastikin tunnistettavat pakottamisen keinot, uhrilähtöisyyden puute lainsäädännössä ja rikosprosesseissa sekä haasteiden pitkäkestoisuus ja kokonaisvaltaisuus. Asiantuntijoiden mukaan ratkaisuina näihin haasteisiin ovat erityisesti tiedon lisääminen, uhriksi joutuneeseen henkilöön ja tekijäosapuoleen kohdistuvat ratkaisut sekä lainsäädännölliset ratkaisut, kaikkein tärkeimpänä yksilöllisyyden huomioiminen. Ilmiön moninaisuuden ja siihen vaikuttavien erilaisten taustatekijöiden ymmärtäminen ovat avainasemassa etsittäessä ratkaisuja, sillä muuten riskinä on, että Suomessa luodaan tasa-arvopolitiikkaa, joka ei ole tosiasiassa tasa-arvoista tiettyjä vähemmistöjä kohtaan. Tutkielma osoittaa, että pakkoavioliittoja on hedelmätöntä tarkastella vain yhdestä näkökulmasta tai nähdä tiettyihin konteksteihin rajattuna ilmiönä, sillä ilmiöön liittyy vahva globaalin etelän ja pohjoisen yhteen kietoutuminen, joissa yhdistävänä tekijänä ovat patriarkaaliset rakenteet. Lisäksi tutkielma ilmentää kehitystutkimuksellisen klassikon, riippuvuusteorian merkityksen yhä tänä päivänä myös pakkoavioliittojen kaltaisia ilmiöitä tarkasteltaessa osoittaen tieteenalan relevanssia pakkoavioliittojen tutkimukseen sekä tarvetta lisätä ja laajentaa ilmiöön kohdistuvaa tutkimusta.
  • Ilmonen, Emilia (2024)
    This master’s thesis examines the discourse of severe labour exploitation, currently conceptualized as modern slavery by the United Nations and other international organizations. The thesis seeks to contribute to the critical understanding of, and socially and ecologically coherent approaches for studying severe labour exploitation; it also seeks to take part in the conversation formulating alternative imaginations for dealing with our contemporary crises. One of the main arguments of the thesis include the notion that severe labour exploitation exists and constitutes a pressing problem. The existence of and a surge in the exploitative labour practices is herein understood as an instance of the manifold and interrelated social and ecological crises unravelling today. The deepening of these crises has increased the relevance of critical perspectives questioning the dominant model of development and ideas associated with modernity itself, namely, the belief in the individual, in the real, in science and in the economy, and the ontological dualism (culture/nature, modern/non-modern, subject/object, and the like). The starting point of this thesis is the research question asking whether and how is the modern slavery discourse constructed in relation to the development discourse and the underlying ideas of modernity? In addition, the thesis seeks to examine what kind of discursive power effects are manifested in the construct of modern slavery? To examine these questions, the thesis analyses the modern slavery discourse through the theoretical framework of post-development theory, accompanied by ecofeminist perspectives. By utilizing the methodological approach of Foucauldian critical discourse analysis, the thesis analyses three modern slavery reports published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Walk Free. The analysis shows that modern slavery is located to the domain of the non-modern, understood as a development deficiency; the problem is presented as incompatible with modernity and disconnected from our dominant structures, practices, and processes. The main context of modern slavery, the global economy, is naturalized and legitimated, and the root causes of the problem are depoliticized. The problem is presented as an external threat facing humanity as a collective subject, but the discourse does not situate it as interrelated with the other social and ecological crises. Instead, modern slavery is presented as an independent problem, solvable through technocratic management practices, validated by expert knowledge. The thesis concludes that the conceptualization of modern slavery is mediated by the constructs of development and modernity and argues that this mediation leads to a distorted understanding of the problem and inadequate responses to it, contributing to the reproduction of the existing power structures. Finally, the thesis suggests a shift to a more transformative and non-dualist frameworks for addressing the problem of labour exploitation: radical democracy, autonomy, self-sufficiency, and socially and ecologically embedded and relational models of life.
  • Patanen, Anita (2023)
    On 26th of March in 2020 South Africa headed into lockdown in the start of Covid-19 pandemic impacting more severely the wellbeing of the most disadvantaged groups in the society. The structural characteristics of the social protection system that people had to rely on created many challenges putting the beneficiaries even more at risk contracting the virus. Existing research has examined the potential of cash transfers programs in reducing global inequalities having a positive consensus of the broad beneficial impact of the programs to health, consumption and families well-being. However, the perspective of the beneficiaries and the violent structures of the social protection system has had less attention. This thesis aims to address this gap by examining the access barriers to cash grants during Covid-19 pandemic using structural and neoliberal violence as a conceptual tool showcasing that the programs will have limited possibilities to decrease poverty in the long run and meet the aims of the programs if the root causes of inequality are not addressed at the same time. 14 newspaper articles containing a keyword “social grant” from the year 2020 were chosen for ethnographic document analysis from the online media GroundUp. GroundUp’s background in community work, focus on the lived experiences of the people in their stories and the ability to cover stories of marginalized people were the main reasons to select the media. The articles chosen explored people’s experiences with the social grant system revealing the structural violence through the hardships people faced while trying to cope with the loss of income due the pandemic. In the ethnographic document analysis a mix of inductive and deductive strategies were used to develop a coding frame based on the theory of neoliberal and structural violence. The experiences of people show how the socio-economic background and poverty made grant beneficiaries more vulnerable to Covid-19 making it impossible to follow safety measures while trying to access the social grants. Having to travel for a long time on public transportation, staying in crowded places for long periods of time and sleeping outside with other people increases the possibility of getting infected and acted as examples of how structural violence manifests itself during the process of grant collection. Beneficiaries also faced unnecessary physical and mental distress while waiting as well as facing uncertainty and anxiety about the survival of the household. Overall, the results show how the lack of money and the inability to meet basic needs of the household were the main concerns of the people while Covid-19 and getting ill remained as secondary. The thesis reveals the ways grant admission process brought a new dimension of suffering for those in vulnerable situations, reproducing and amplifying the intensity of pre-existing structural violence in the system. It highlights the fact that the exposure to the virus is tightly related to the socio-economic background and the structures of the society that determine the everyday patterns and range of choices people can make. For these programs to have real transformative power to fight poverty and inequality, more focus needs to be put on the ideologies and policies that shape the structures of neoliberal societies.
  • Miettinen, Johanna (2021)
    Tässä maisterintutkielmassa tarkastellaan kuinka skeittaaminen voi toimia väkivallattoman vastarinnan muotona Palestiinassa. Skeittaaminen on oma alakulttuurinsa, jolla on jo lajin alkuajoista saakka ollut tietynlainen yhteiskunnan etenkin kapitalistisia valtarakenteita vastustava asema. Skeittaaminen voidaan nähdä jopa anarkistisena toimintana, sillä se haastaa normatiivista tapaa liikkua julkisessa tilassa sekä ottaa tilaa haltuun omaehtoisesti, näin vastustaen tilaan ylhäältä liitettyjä merkityksiä. Tutkimuksen pääaineisto koostuu videoista ja ei-akateemisista artikkeleista, joita analysoidaan Foucault ’laisen diskurssianalyysin sekä feministisen visuaalisen analyysin kautta. Tutkimuksessa tunnistetaan seitsemän päädiskurssia, jotka edustavat eri väkivallattoman vastarinnan muotoja. Näistä ’skeittiparkki vastarinnan tilana’, ’resilienssi vastarintana’ sekä ’tilallinen vastarinta kehollisuuden ja liikkeen kautta’ toimivat suorana vastarintana Israelin miehitykselle, kun taas ’yhteenkuuluvuus globaalin skeittiyhteisön kanssa’ ja ’vastarinta representaatioiden kautta’ vastustavat miehitystä epäsuorasti. Diskurssit ’konservatiivisten normien vastustaminen’, sekä ’länsimaisen skeittikulttuurin vastustaminen’ sen sijaan haastavat kulttuurisia ja yhteiskunnallisia normeja ja asenteita. Tutkielman teoreettisena viitekehyksenä toimii Frantz Fanonin postkoloniaalinen teoria, josta etenkin ylempi- ja alempiarvoisen (superior & inferior) teoretisointi nousee keskeiseen asemaan. Fanonin teoriaan liittyy ajatus dekolonisaation väkivaltaisesta luonteesta, joka luo jännitteen tutkielman väkivallattomuuden näkökulmalle. Tätä jännitettä puretaan tarkastelemalla Gandhin väkivallattomuuden teoriaa sekä pohtimalla missä oikeastaan kulkee raja väkivallattoman ja väkivaltaisen vastarinnan välillä. Tutkielman johtopäätöksenä on, että vaikka skeittaaminen ei itsessään vapauta Palestiinaa Israelin miehityksestä, sillä voi olla erityisen vapauttava vaikutus skeittaajiin itseensä, joka nähdään sekä mentaalisena että kehollisena dekolonisaationa. Lisäksi palestiinalaisen skeittikulttuurin nähdään haastavan länsimaista skeittikulttuuria, jossa maskuliinisuus on ollut perinteisesti keskiössä.