Browsing by study line "U-landsforskning"

This thesis is a contribution to the budding discussion within social sciences about blockchain – an emerging technology that, for the last decade or so, has garnered a lot of attention especially with its cryptocurrency applications. More recently, blockchain has started to spread to fields outside of the financial sector as new imaginaries are being projected onto it in e.g. logistics, energy, entertainment, and the humanitarian sector. The study at hand focuses on blockchain in the realm of anti-money-laundering. Blockchain, when applied to cryptocurrencies, seems to propose challenges to the actors who try to prevent money-laundering, and institutional reactions trying to restrict or manage the use of certain blockchain applications have already started to emerge. However, these reactions have also affected the development of the technology itself. As blockchain is an emerging technology and phenomenon, the research conducted for this study is of the explorative kind. Reflecting on ethnographic observation and eight semi-structured interviews with e.g. cryptocurrency activists, NGOs and representatives from tax administration, central bank, foreign ministery, and financial supervision authority, the thesis examines the different imaginaries projected onto blockchain. By applying a combined framework of the global assemblages approach and the concept of practical activity, the thesis investigates the tactics, politics, morals and the subject of blockchain, and attempts to answer the following questions: How is blockchain being applied or resisted, in order to resolve the perceived problems in the field of anti-money-laundering? What is being tried to achieve by the use or resistance of blockchain in this field? Why is blockchain regarded to be of value or a risk? And fundamentally, if examined as a combined entity – who is blockchain? A myriad of interpretations emerge from the data. For many, blockchain holds promise of a better future where individuals have more power over their freedoms and assets. For others, blockchain is challenger that is controlled by no one and allows illicit activities to go unnoticed. For some, blockchain is a threat that should be restricted and governed. The main finding of the study is that blockchain allows many different agendas and imaginaries to be projected on to it. The “original” emancipatory values of blockchain that would allow its users independence, anonymity, immutability, and freedom from central governance seem to be extremely interchangeable with the values of governance and efficiency. The contradictory goals and morals enacted through blockchain have not been resolved. As the juridico-legal attempts to govern blockchain increase, certain blockchain-based actions could go deeper underground, making it more difficult for law-abiding actors to take part in blockchain-based activities. For the humanitarian sector, blockchain holds a lot of interesting potential. Blockchain could be used for e.g. improving access to energy, providing legal identities, and enabling cost-free remittances. The mutually constitutive nature of governance and technology should be taken into account as interpretations are made, so as to not prevent or hinder the development of applications with societally beneficial goals.

Chinese infrastructural investments in Africa have increased significantly. In mainstream development studies, such investments are strongly encouraged due to their potential to create economic growth and modernisation. Because of controversies around such projects, regarding their impacts on the economy and locals, they require continuing political-economic analysis. Using Lamu Port in Kenya as a case study, this thesis provides a critical analysis of the justification, planning, implementation and construction processes of the project are examined especially from the point of view of local artisanal fishermen. Framed around the theory of social costs developed by K.W.Kapp, as a critique of neoliberal modernisation, fieldwork was carried out in Lamu to systematically analyse both the official justification of the project and the perceptions of local fishers and other locals on the impacts of the port construction on their lives. Data collected from one-on-one interviews have been systematised using Attride-Stirling’s thematic networks analysis. Along with a textual analysis of original official documents by the Government of Kenya and the LAPSSET authority, the thesis avoids earlier problems of methodological nationalism and, instead, develops a holistic analysis of social costs. The results show that, while some local jobs have been created, they are temporary and marginal and are nowhere near significant enough to make up for the undermining of local livelihoods through the reduction of fish stocks. A wider question of food security and long-term job security needs to be raised. The local economy before the construction of the port was stagnant, but it was stable. New jobs related to port construction proved not to be available. Widespread discrimination against locals further complicates the social costs of public-private enterprise. These results show a lack of congruence between the statements by the Government of Kenya, the optimism by international development agencies, and modernisation theorists on the one hand and the lived realities of fishers on the other. The transnational corporations constructing the port in this case the China Communications Construction company have, in the meanwhile, continued to make more profit and increased the price of their share on the world market. This disconnect indicates one way in which development projects are socially constructed and justified, while the dominance of a profit-oriented capitalistic system shifts costs of production to third parties and the environment in order to continue to extract profit from the Global South. As these social costs are systemic, their remedy would require restructuring the institutional foundations of the local, national, and global political economy of development and change

Tutkimus keskittyy Suomen kestävän kehityksen politiikkajohdonmukaisuuteen ja sen ongelmiin. Tarkastelun kohteena on kestävän kehityksen johdonmukaisuus kokonaisuutena, joka huomioi ekologisesti kestävän kehityksen lisäksi myös sosiaalisen ja taloudellisen kehityksen. Näitä eri kehitystä kuvastavia käsitteitä käsitellään tutkimuksessa eri politiikkasektoreina, jotka ovat kestävän kehityksen lisäksi kauppa- ja kehityspolitiikka. Tutkimus pyrkii selvittämään johdonmukaisuuden haasteita sekä mitä erilaisia näkökulmia toimijoilla on kestävään kehitykseen ja miksi toiminnassa ollaan mukana. Tutkimuksessa pyritään myös selvittämään, kuinka johdonmukaisuus näkyy erityisesti kehityspolitiikassa ja miten informaatio, intressit ja johtajuus vaikuttavat johdonmukaisuuteen. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys rakentuu vahvasti johdonmukaisuuden ympärille, joka toimii työkaluna tutkimuksen edetessä. Keskeisiksi käsitteiksi teoreettisessa viitekehyksessä nousee johdonmukaisuuden lisäksi kestävä, sosiaalinen ja taloudellinen kehitys. Teoreettinen viitekehys ohjaa tutkimuksen analyysiä ja auttaa tutkimuskysymysksiin vastaamisessa. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty etnografiaa käyttäen ja sen analysointiin on hyödynnetty sisältöanalyysiä. Pääaineistona toimivat dokumentit, internetsivut ja tapahtumat, sekä täydentävänä aineistona teemahaastattelut, jotka ovat kerätty aiheelle oleellisilta toimijoilta. Analyysin myötä kestävän kehityksen johdonmukaisuudessa on mahdollista nähdä viitteitä ongelmista erityisesti informaation, intressien ja johtajuuden osalta. Kokonaisuudessaan eri sektorit perustelevat osallisuuttaan kestävään kehitykseen eri tavalla, joka luo pohjaa näille ongelmille ja ristiriitaisuuksille. Tutkimuksesta ilmenee poliittisten ja taloudellisten intressiristiriitojen aiheuttavan epäjohdonmukaisuuksia, joista ollaan osittain jopa tietoisia. Tiedostamattomia epäjohdonmukaisuuksia ilmenee puolestaan erityisesti laajan informaation takia, joka juontaa juurensa kestävän kehityksen laajaan kokonaisuuteen. Haasteita aiheuttaa tutkimuksen perusteella myös tapa, jolla tätä kestävän kehityksen laajaa kokonaisuutta johdetaan. Johdonmukaisuuden ongelmia kehityspolitiikan osalta aiheuttaa puolestaan sen muuttunut toimintaympäristö ja epäjohdonmukainen johtaminen. Kaikki tutkimuksessa ilmenevät seikat johdonmukaisuudesta vaikuttavat olevan kuitenkin myös vahvasti sidoksissa toisiinsa. Tutkimuksen vastaukset valottavat niitä motivaatioita ja perusteluita, joista lähtöisin Suomen kestävän kehityksen kenttä toimii. Näiden seikkojen ymmärtäminen ja niiden vaikutuksien sisäistäminen voi olla kokonaisuudessaan tärkeää kestävän kehityksen kannalta jokaisella eri tutkimuksen sektorilla. Tutkimustulosten ilmi tuomat haasteet hidastavat johdonmukaisuutta sekä aiheuttavat ristiriitoja ja epäkohtia toimijoiden työskentelyssä. Näiden haasteiden tunnistaminen voi olla ensisijaisen tärkeää kestävän kehityksen politiikkajohdonmukaisuuden luomisessa ja siten myös yhteiskunnallisesti merkittäviä.

This thesis studies the discourse of governmental actors in resource-rich countries that base much of their economic structures on the extraction of natural resources. The goal of the study is to explore the links between foreign capital and government-led resource extraction ventures and understand what kind of a discourse is built around natural resource ventures and how governments represent these ventures as a viable model for ‘development’. The focus of this study is the case of the new Orinoco Mining Arch – project in Venezuela, established in 2016, that represents a new extractivist turn in the traditionally oil-based economy of the country. In this thesis the link between foreign capital and resource extraction is understood as fundamentally interconnected through the theoretical framework that positions extractivism as part of a developmentalist and neoliberal ontology. The methodological approach of this thesis is that of Critical Discourse Analysis which is presented based on the poststructuralist views of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe on discourse. Furthermore, Fairclough’s approach to Critical Discourse Analysis is used as a way to study and analysis of the research material through textual analysis, discursive practice and social practice. The data consists of three types of material that the Venezuelan governmental actors have published regarding the mining activities of the Orinoco Mining Arch: the opening speech by president Nicolás Maduro at the event to officiate the AMO project, the communications and news articles related to this new project published by the country’s Ministry of Mining and country’s the National Development Plans’ sections that relate to mining. This study shows that attempts to legitimize governmental mining ventures are carried through by building a public image of an ecologically sustainable, dynamic and sovereign mining industry that is deeply linked to the Chavist-nationalist imaginary, and intertwined with more subtle elements, including foreign capital, in the discourse. The analysis of the data found that this resource nationalist discourse, its origin and its features are currently reproducing a developmentalist based neo-extractivist narrative which praises ’development’, considers resource extraction as necessary, and follows a neoliberal logic of accumulation of capital. Thus, despite of its apparent potential for conflict, foreign capital it is part of the developmentalist narrative that the governmental discourse creates. Its manifestation as neo-extractivism has an immense potential for destruction in the socio-ecological context.

Regional integration in Central Asia (CA) has seen very limited success, despite strong cultural and historical connections and shared grievances. I attempt to identify factors that promote or inhibit intensification of regional cooperation. I use a political economy approach to identify foundational factors, stakeholders and political phenomena that influence deepening regional cooperation. I analyse the formal institutional integration initiatives through realist and constructivist IR theories. I also bind the case study of Central Asia to a broader theoretical debate on the relationship between regionalism and multilateralism in 21st century. The relationship between intraregional dynamics (comprising the CA states) and interregional dynamics (comprising external sponsors or partners contributing to regionalism) is complex, and partially characterized by conflict of interests. CA states lack incentives to promote regional institutions and identities, but are willing to exploit regionalism opportunistically. I analyse CA policy principally through the framework of political elites, emphasizing nationalism and state sovereignty. Simultaneously, CA elites have used open regionalism to meet goals in globalist foreign policy and nationalistic domestic policy. On the other hand, external hegemons perceive strong incentives to promote regionalism under their own leadership. I analyse the external sponsors mostly through a neorealist framework of hegemonic influence. Despite these conflicts, there are some specific areas of shared interests, particularly fighting non- traditional security threats. Use of regional integration initiatives in CA can be perceived as not incompatible with greater multilateralism, even contributing to the integration of the region to a global system on its own terms. Based on this case study, I argue for a complex, non- categorical understanding of regionalism and multilateralism. I argue that new regionalism, and open regionalism in particular, have been used in CA for promoting specifically globalist policy agendas. This conclusion supports the premise that regionalism and multilateralism exist in a dynamic relationship, influencing each other in a mutually supportive manner. Rather than understanding regionalism as a “stumbling block” or temporary “building block”, it should be perceived as a permanent part of the contemporary global system.

Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract Human trafficking is a complex issue that has close connections to other large societal and global issues such as contemporary slavery, inequalities and migration. Trafficking can be seen as a part of a larger scale exploitation of labor and migrants. The risk of being re-trafficked after a trafficking experience is higher and well executed reintegration can reduce this risk. However, the research into the reintegration and rehabilitation of trafficked persons is underrepresented in the current academic literature. This thesis takes a closer look at the assisted return programs and reintegration and rehabilitation of trafficked persons in Indonesia to determine how well the programs respond to the needs of trafficked persons when they return home. The work provides insights into the experiences of integration and rehabilitation after trafficking and brings forth some of the experiences of trafficked persons. The causalities behind trafficking are explored through the concept of vulnerabilities to highlight how different systems produce vulnerabilities and increase the risks of being trafficked. These same vulnerabilities are faced upon return as well with additional vulnerabilities (f.e. health and psychological issues) imposed on trafficked persons by their experience. Vulnerabilities of a person are constructed in multiple dimensions. In this thesis the vulnerabilities are framed firstly through the concepts of labor migration, globalization and capitalism and secondly through concepts of oppression, exploitation and dehumanization to highlight the complexities surrounding vulnerabilities and consequently trafficking and reintegration. Through reviewing existing literature on reintegration of trafficked persons, an online interview with the employees of Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI) and a questionnaire to previously trafficked persons on their needs, a framework for desirable reintegration was established. The framework was then used to analyze IOM Indonesia’s Handbook on Service Mechanisms for Witnesses and/or Victims of Trafficking in Persons in Indonesia to establish how well the programs in Indonesia answer the needs of trafficked persons. The results of the thesis highlight that the needs of trafficked persons upon return are multiple. People need to be presented with an opportunity to become self-sufficient economically and socially and their health needs (both physical and psychological) need to be met. Most common issues faced by the informants of this thesis were economic and psychological in nature, but other difficulties were common as well. The analysis of IOM Indonesia’s handbook provided a positive view of the reintegration and rehabilitation in Indonesia. The Handbook was comprehensive and all-encompassing. Furthermore, it encouraged to take each individual’s needs into consideration and adjust the programs to fit each person. All dimensions of reintegration are taken into account. The results of the questionnaire however indicated that the state response in prosecuting the perpetrators is not sufficient and many informants were left without a proper restitution and with a feeling of injustice. The programs provide great tools to combat different difficulties faced by trafficked persons and help to mitigate the risks and reduce vulnerabilities. However, there are larger societal and developmental complexities behind trafficking and vulnerabilities people face. Issues of poverty, oppression and inequality cannot be improved by the rehabilitation and reintegration programs. This would require larger shift in policy and the way we organize and think about our global world.

Due to the great need of improving sustainable urban transport and mobility in emerging cities in Latin America, development assistance in the form of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning is currently carried out by national European development agencies and partnerships. This type of assistance is commonly based on successful European experiences and approaches in the field, aiming to decrease both greenhouse gas emissions, poverty and inequality and in the same time to improve accessibility, quality of life and sustainability for the urban citizens. Whilst the model being successful for these purposes in Europe, the emerging nature and different mobility culture of cities in Latin America have experienced different outcomes of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning. The theoretical discussion of this thesis is based on a critical assessment of Modernisation theory and its manifestations in the urban transport sector. The theory would describe the European model of Sustainable Urban Mobility as the “modern”, whereas the mobility paradigm of emerging cities is “yet to be modernised”. This thesis argues that instead of applying the European mobility paradigm on emerging cities, the concept of Sustainable Urban Mobility and its planning models and guidelines need to be contextualised in order to reach the desired outcomes. Through qualitative content analysis of original data from interviews with grassroot level activists, representatives of civil society and non-governmental organisations in the cities of Bogotá and Lima, this thesis shows that the urban structures and mobility culture in the cities differ significantly from the ones in Europe, that lead to different outcomes when applying the European approaches of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning in the cities. The most critical finding is that due to different socioeconomic urban structures, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and increase of accessibility cannot be reached simultaneously in a short-term timeframe, as the poor people in the outskirts currently cannot afford other transport modes than non-motorised “sustainable” transport. Challenges such as urbanisation and corruption are often considered the main problems for the implementation of sustainable transport measures in emerging cities. This thesis shows that instead of solely focussing on these challenges, one should criticise the non-contextualised methods in use for encountering them and suggests a preventive approach for urban development. The conclusion follows: It is not only the guidance documents in use for development assistance in the field of Sustainable Urban Mobility that needs to be contextualised, but the whole concept.

Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people per year according to the World Health Organization – people living in the cities of low- and middle-income countries being the one’s most exposed to toxic air. As rapid urbanisation continues to dominate the demographic trends in the developing world into the fore-seeable future, so will the negative consequences of air pollution. This, coupled with the intense pressure for developing economies to prioritise rapid and unadulterated growth as a mean to raise the living standards of their citizens over the environmental consequences of that growth, will almost invariably make air pollution one of the leading causes of death in the world, if it is not already. This thesis analyses environmental policy around air pollution to not only under-stand the policies and their effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, but also their rationality regarding the wider economic activities in the background. The study examines (state´s) air pollution abatement efforts in Delhi and the National Capital Region concerning the four primary sources of particulate matter in Delhi´s air: vehicular emissions, industries, dust, and crop burning. The research approach is based on policy analysis while the theoretical framework leans on political ecology. More specifically, the theoretical starting point is in urban political ecology, and political ecology of the state as per Antonio Ioris (2014), the former being built upon Marxist historical materialism, while latter is found upon a Marxist analysis of the (capitalist) state. The research aims to answer two questions: Does the quality and nature of Delhi´s environmental action correspond with Antonio Ioris’ theory of the environmental (capitalist) state; and second, to what extent do state interventions fail to address, further, or even create environmental issues due to the contradictory positions they hold with respect to accumulation and environmental protection. The main findings of the study follow the claims of Antonio Ioris about environmental statehood: the nature of state interventions concerning air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region have largely been ineffective, temporary, provisional, and partial. Furthermore, the failure to address the issue effectively obligates the Delhi government to declare air pollution emergency every winter during the worst pollution months in late October and November, introducing increasingly ad hoc - and drastic - measures that cascade up in accordance with the toxicity levels. From increasing parking tickets prices and banning diesel generators, to closing schools, banning all heavy vehicles, and prohibiting construction. Not coincidentally, the main source of air pollution during this worst period of the year is crop burning, a practice that has its roots in state legislation curbing water use in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, as well as in state procurement policies that promote the unecological farming of rice in the northern plains of India. And so, the state has not only been ineffective in curbing air pollution in Delhi but has also played a part in bringing about the situation in the first place. The case of Delhi´s air pollution gives valuable insight into the contradiction the modern state finds itself when trying to balance between its two opposing responsibilities: the first as the one creating the best conditions for economic growth, and the other as the entity regulating and mitigating the environmental consequences of this growth. It is likewise yet another sobering instance of contemporary green action, where environmental action is rationalised though and out while maintaining irrationality in the assessment and conceptualisation of the issue the mitigation action is supposed to address in the first place, leading to environmental policy that is dislocated from the root cause of the issue. The inherent issues of state environmental policy highlight the need for more focus not only on the state policy itself, but on the rationality and commitment behind those policies. The Indian Democracy similarly offers a resolution by being able to exert pressure on state entities for more meaningful mitigation action. To make this happen, there needs to be an available and open real-time monitoring infor-mation on the pollution levels to empower the local residents and organisations to not only be able to point out the local pollutants in their areas and understand the health hazard these emissions are exposing them to, but also to be able to effectively direct action and demands towards the local, state, and federal rep-resentatives for meaningful environmental action to happen.

In the light of increasing socio-ecological crises, there has been a surge in the promotion of, and investments in, renewable energy in the Global South. Previous theories and research, largely framed around conservative and liberal paradigms, have hailed these developments as a breakthrough. Yet, just sustainability theorists have pointed to logically plausible problems in these alternatives, suggesting that they do not go far enough and could, indeed, worsen the present crises. From these critiques, the conservative and liberal advocacy of a shift towards a low-carbon society does not, and cannot, automatically guarantee just sustainabilities. Although controversial, neither conservative, liberal, nor just sustainability theorists have empirically ascertained these claims about the nature of sustainable development. Africa’s largest wind power plant, the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) project in Kenya, provides a useful case study for this purpose. In addressing this lacuna, this thesis attempts to answer two fundamental questions related to the project. First, which are the dominant discourses on the LTWP project in Kenya? and second, what are the prospects of these discourses to drive just sustainability in Kenya? To address these questions, a range of rich data was collected, consisting of eight semi-structured interviews with key informants in Kenya and Finland, written documents including 12 news and feature articles, two policy documents and one company impact assessment. The data was systematised using critical discourse analysis (CDA) set within a political-economic framework of just sustainabilities in which wind power is dialectically linked to the dominant fossil fuel system built on global inequalities. Based on this methodology, this thesis argues that not only is the LTWP project not regarded as an environmental sustainability initiative, it is mostly understood as satisfying economic needs. More fundamentally, as the LTWP is realised within the dominant capitalist frame, guided by a reliance on market forces, new technologies and a search for new frontiers of capital accumulation, processes that are erected on, and typically drive, local and global inequalities, it does not address wider concerns of inclusion, raised by representatives for local communities in Northern Kenyan in the semi-structured interviews. Analytically, this evidence shows that mainstream conservative and liberal theories of development and energy are insufficient for analysing the transition from fossil to alternative fuels, let alone provide a canvass for a total liberation of the Global South. Clearly, the political economy of LTWP also calls into question the objectives of donor nations involved in the project as financiers. This evidence provides further basis to put the case for understanding alternative energy projects, particularly the LTWP under study, within a much broader framework of alternative, radical theories of just sustainabilities centred on concepts such as just land.

This thesis studies women in peacebuilding and concentrates on questions: why women are excluded from peacebuilding, and in vice versa how women could be involved in peacebuilding processes. The case study within this research focuses on the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) and young women’s experiences and opinions about which factors either prevent or improve women’s participation in peace processes. In this master’s thesis, the data was collected by emailing the questionnaire surveys. Five young women from Rojava answered the questions, which were analyzed using conventional content analysis to find respondents’ opinions on barriers and enablers for women’s participation in peacebuilding. The findings of the study demonstrate that women from Rojava emphasized very similar enablers what the literature also underlines. These are an access to formal and informal education, allowing social norms, non-violent environment, political will and participation, and economical and other resources. In addition, a key finding of this research was, that in the case study women stressed their participation in the army and how this empowered them also for being part of peacebuilding. All these enablers are interlinked with each other and to have encouraging environment women to participate in peacebuilding, most of these factors should be in place. In addition, when these factors are lacking, they become barriers for women’s participation. The result of this thesis shows the main factors that are impacting women’s participation in peacebuilding. In addition, an increased understanding about women’s participation in army, and how it may empower women for peacebuilding is a finding worth of deeper study.