Browsing by master's degree program "Euroopan ja pohjoismaiden tutkimuksen maisteriohjelma (European and Nordic Studies)"

This master’s thesis aims to provide a broader and deeper knowledge within the areas of migration and integration. The study tasks are how the diaspora community is involved in the overall migration and integration process in a host state and what role social networks play in different phases of migration. There are four essential conceptual features of the migration phenomenon are identified in the study: migration, integration, diaspora community, and social networks. These concepts are analysed focusing on the factors of migration, integration process, how diaspora community and social networks work. The analysis is done using a comprehensive case study on the Bangladeshi diaspora community in Finland. The study material is collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 Bangladeshi student migrants living in Finland. As a potential migrant group as well as an underexamined study group, student migrants are chosen the study participants. A thematic analysis of the data is carried out to unveil the underlying meanings of how student migrants narrate their experiences as an immigrant. The themes identified are used to critically reflect on and explore the aspects and dynamics of the nexus between diasporas and social networks in migration and integration. This study outcomes identify education as the major pull factor for the student migrants considering Finnish high quality of research facilities, education environment, and the fee-free study system. It also marks that both personal and social networks have a strong role in migrant’s decision of choosing Finland as their destination. The role of technology becomes prominent in the current age in terms of gathering information, admission procedure, and visa processing. This is even more realised due to the absence of the Embassy operation and other official communication channels. The study finds the diaspora community’s role is increasingly becoming significant in the present context, they provide migrants with access to information, job conditions as well as settling them with finding accommodation, education places, emotional support, and comfort of belonging in a host country. Within this journey of a migrant, social media platform has appeared as a crucial part of social networks and diasporas in terms of communication. Facebook groups have become a major communication channel. Additionally, the Corona situation has made online engagement among people more visible. Nonetheless, this diaspora-social network-migration-integration nexus can play both a supportive as well as a critical role for migrants as the experience varies.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how people displaced by climate change can be accommodated within the European Union's existing migration governance system while taking into consideration the recent failures and injustices of this system during the so-called refugee crisis. The intention for framing the discussion about climate-induced migration in the context of the refugee crisis is not to compare or equate the two phenomena but to highlight the many injustices and protection gaps that exist under the current migration regimes, and to analyze how climate change will impact these regimes and the legal protections provided for migrants, asylum seekers, and displaced peoples. To begin this analysis, this thesis first looks at the relationship between climate change and migration, where it is determined that climate-induced migration is a complex and multi-causal phenomenon that can impact human mobility in multiple ways. People displaced by climate change face multiple protection gaps in both international and EU law, and there is currently no distinct instrument or coherent policy approach from the EU that is directly applicable to ‘climate migrants’ or climate-induced migration. The second part of this analysis looks at the fractured structure of EU migration governance and how the systems and mechanisms in place failed to adequately protect asylum seekers during the refugee crisis, with a focus on the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). This analysis showed that the EU failed to implement its supranational migration policies efficiently during the refugee crisis, which had a detrimental impact on securing and ensuring the legal protections of migrants and asylum seekers. Part of this failure was due to the lack of unity and trust between Member States, and also because the EU adopted an increasingly securitized approach to migration, abandoning its human rights obligations in order to create a false sense of security. The conclusion of this study found that the increasing securitization of both climate change and the EU’s migration and asylum policies will likely have negative consequences for people displaced by climate change and seeking protection in the EU. The continual and persistent portrayal of climate-induced migration as a potential security threat has hindered the development of any effective policies to address the issue, and the EU has shown little political will to radically rethink its current migration laws, mechanisms, or governance systems. The impacts of climate change will only further contribute to the protection gaps and marginalization that migrants and asylum seekers already face, and the way forward is to continue funding scientific research that captures the complex and multi-causal nature of climate-induced migration, which will help move migration and asylum policies beyond their current securitized outlook and provide evidence-based policies that will better protect those displaced by climate change.

Following research attempts to find out, first, what has been the effect of European political and economic integration, in terms of the emergence and expansion of EU, to the Finnish energy industry’s public affairs management and, second, what are the explaining political, economic and other factors behind the change. The focus of research is placed upon four different aspects of change: (1) changes in the importance and magnitude of lobbying, (2) change in the functioning of policy networks, (3) change in the role of NGOs and public discussion, and (4) changes in the special characteristics of energy sector from the point of view of lobbying. In terms of the time period, the focus of research is 2010-2020 because the findings then adequately build upon the previous literature on the subject. Twelve qualitative interviews with Finnish energy elite constituted the new empirical material of the research. The interview conversations were analysed by contrasting them to the analytical framework consisting of theoretical and empirical parts. The research is going to argue that the importance and magnitude of lobbying has grown in energy sector. Finnish energy industry’s PA-management has also become more EU-oriented, systematic and proactive. Although the trade associations form the backbone for Finnish energy lobbying, there is a trend of increasing importance of individual direct lobbying and lobbying via issue-based business coalitions. The policy networks are increasingly competitive, international and flexible. Communication agencies have become important supporting actors in Finnish energy industry’s PA-operations. Environmental NGOs have gained increasingly strong foothold in the EU policy process and wide public discussion regarding sustainable development complicates energy lobbying. Overall, the policy networks of Finnish energy industry reflect signs of increasing pluralism and openness. Whereas policy networks in Finland reflect corporatist tendencies, the EU interest representation system is more pluralist, although also elitist in its nature. Each system has their advantages and disadvantages regarding access to policy process and democratic legitimacy of lobbying.

Throughout history, conflict situations have affected people differently depending on the gender. The United Nations Security Council acknowledged the problem by adopting Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security to be implemented by all member states. The aim of this thesis is to examine the country image that Finland has created of its peace mediation policy from a gender perspective during 2015-2018. This research is a qualitative content analysis. As the Finnish model of peace consists of cooperation between the government and non-governmental actors, the research material was divided into two perspectives. The first primary source was Finland’s National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs during the years of 2012-2018. The second primary source was the Finnish member profiles of the Nordic Women Mediators Network. The research followed a thematic structure of the themes Nordicness, gender mainstreaming and sustainable peace. The study shows that Finland’s country image on gender-equal peace mediation emphasises the role of women in particular. One central finding from the thematic perspective is that the Action Plans have given more importance to sustainable peace after the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was launched by the United Nations. The profiles of the Nordic Women Mediators Network emphasise versatile cooperation between peace actors and through multidisciplinary backgrounds. In addition, the Nordic Women Mediators Network bring added value to the Nordic presence of the Action Plans. All in all, the Finnish Women, Peace and Security agenda has diversified in its themes the more Action Plans have been launched. The findings of this study reflect that creating a country image is a significant part of nation-branding. The visibility of values in different contexts also reflect how the country identifies itself. Cooperating with independent actors by sharing skills not only strengthens the foreign policy but the overall image of the Finnish way in peace-making.

This thesis examines the Europeanisation of public spheres. According to the deliberative democratic theory, political decisions need to be based on public consideration. Similarly to the decision-making processes in the nation states, in order for democracy to function also in the European Union, there is a need for a joint European public sphere where the peoples of Europe can discuss common issues of relevance and thereby contribute to the EU decision-making. Research conducted on the gradual Europeanisation of public spheres examines how politicisation of EU issues on the national levels contributes to cross-border communication, creation of joint communities of communication and a strengthening of collective European identity. Drawing on previous research in this field, this study highlights communication flows and discursive frames in the selected national media outlets and examines to what extent these discussions point to the emergence of a collective European identity strong enough to sustain mutualisation of debt and fiscal transfers, justifying ”solidarity among strangers” within the community. Through analysis of media coverage on the EU Recovery Fund – the political and politicised face of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic response on the EU level – this thesis examines to what extent the public spheres in Germany, France and Finland are Europeanised in these debates and whether it is possible to identify a joint community of communication pointing to a collective European identity. The theoretical framework of this study draws largely on Jürgen Habermas’s public sphere theory and its later developments (and criticisms) as well as on the growing body of literature on the gradual Europeanisation of national public spheres in the EU Member States. Contrary to the early studies on the European public sphere, later research points towards increasing politicisation of EU affairs in the national public spheres and the related strengthening of Europeanisation. No consensus, however, exists yet among researchers on whether these developments will lead to enhanced European identity and further integration or renationalisation and further rise of Euroscepticism. This thesis contributes to that discussion through a case study on the Europeanisation of national public spheres in relation to the discussion on the EU Recovery Fund in 2020.

The European Union’s (EU) approach towards the Arctic has been labeled incoherent and its actorness in regional governance has been deemed limited. The Arctic Ocean is governed in an institutional complex where global and regional processes intertwine. Institutional interplay that occurs between different levels and across sectors contributes to Arctic maritime governance. Influencing these interactions can provide an avenue to governance, even for an actor beyond the region. This research provides empirical evidence on EU’s aims and ambitions regarding the maritime Arctic, while contributing to the theoretical and methodological development of systematic investigations in complex, interactive governance. This study looks at the discourse and practices through which the EU builds its governing actorness. Using a mix of qualitative data from public documents and statements, interviews and observations, the study uses a multi-method, multiperspectival approach to explore the various dimensions relevant to EU’s actorness. Both discourse and content analytical techniques are used to examine the storylines, actors, policy contexts and strategic practices that enable to discuss actorness in terms of interactive governance. The study finds that the EU builds an image for the future of the Arctic marked by uncertainty and connectivity. Increased knowledge, on the one hand, and enhanced interactions between relevant entities, on the other, are considered crucial to approaching such a future. Necessary actions, however, largely depend on the skillful individuals nested within appropriate institutional contexts. EU’s actorness in Arctic maritime governance is characterized by network-building and entrepreneurial individuals. It remains unclear, however, whether network-actorness or policy entrepreneurs effectively influence the governance arrangement. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the EU and the Arctic Council perform similar governance tasks. Therefore, further mixed-method research focusing on the interplay between the EU and the Arctic Council is essential to understand governance developments in the European part of the Arctic Ocean. Examining causal linkages between entrepreneurial network-building and governance outcomes is also considered relevant for future research.

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

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, alternative online news media were predominately thought to spread false information on the coronavirus and heavily engage in conspiracy theories. The populist and far-right news outlets especially were said to strategically exploit people’s fears to further their own hate campaigns against migrants, political elites and the established media. This research aims to give a more detailed account of how five German populist far-right digital news outlets framed the ongoing crisis from January to May 2020 and managed to integrate the topic into their established narratives. For this qualitative content analysis, articles from the digital news sites of Compact, Junge Freiheit, Eigentümlich Frei, Deutsche Stimme and Zuerst were analysed regarding the topics, claims, actors and rhetoric devices that they used. The result of the study was that, rather than being swayed by strategic whims to exploit the crisis at all costs, the outlets relied on their established framing habits and were able to incorporate the crisis into all of their usual reporting. They were able to integrate the topic into overarching narratives, which not only confirmed worldviews held by their established reader base, but may also hold significant sway over new readers seeking reassurance in uncertain times. Finally, the thesis directed attention to the importance that language and presentation played in accomplishing this balancing act, establishing the need for further research on the language of the populist far right online.

As an early adopter and promoter of the EU’s human rights policies, the UK can be regarded as a relative bastion of LGBTQIA+ rights. Its further progression to legislate in favour of same-sex marriage confirmed that. But the exit of the UK from the EU has caused a shift in tensions and revealed potential risks for the rights and safety of the UK’s LGBTQIA+ community. Therefore, this thesis investigates in what ways Brexit has impacted the UK’s LGBTQIA+ community. It identifies those impacts by engaging with LGBTQIA+ - focused points of articulation both surrounding the referendum and subsequently, identified via fractures in not only LGBTQIA+ rights but also lived experiences. With a particular focus on the exclusion of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights from Brexit discussions, it then uncovers a lack of media discourse on the potential effects of Brexit on the LGBTQIA+ community, before identifying possible causes for the increase in LGBTQIA+ - related reported hate crimes in the aftermath of the EU referendum. This study progresses those three topics—the Charter, media discourse, and an increase in reported hate crimes—by employing a triangulate approach to both its data and its theory. This thesis combines qualitative and quantitative research, the latter via a constructed dataset of UK media articles to highlight the lack of focus on LGBTQIA+ rights during the EU referendum campaign. It develops a poststructuralist queer discursive perspective to theorise the linkage between the three impacts. It discerns that LGBTQIA+ rights—and, consequently, human rights—in the UK remain vulnerable and at the behest of political motivations. The implications of Brexit for the LGBTQIA+ community already exist, and pose negative outcomes if they are further realised. Any argument that they are not likely to be realised is not enough of a protection for a minority group. This leads to the LGBTQIA+ community being in an abyss regarding any certainty as to the freestanding right to non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and gender identity.

In my thesis, I examine Aristotle’s theory of stasis and Hannah Arendt’s notion of revolutions. I argue that while Arendt distinguishes her theory from stasis, it is inherently interconnected to it in five ways. First, both philosophers see the unequal distribution of power as foremost reason for civil strife. Second, I argue that they held that the distribution of wealth, while a problematic, should be dealt with within the society pre-politically, otherwise it becomes an issue of politics. Third, a certain feeling of unity through political friendship and homonoia is eminent for the society to stay stable. Fourth, the pivotality of laws safeguards the regime from tyrannical democracy driven through demagoguery. Last, my overarching argument in the thesis is that Aristotle and Arendt solve the issue of revolutions through a mixed regime, following the classical republican tradition. The interconnectedness of the two theories reveals not only the connection of political disorder and constitutional change, but also the importance of correct constitution to counter factionalism and demagoguery. The concluding remarks made in my thesis advance the discussion on the profound question of contemporary societies’ factionalism and populism. While often viewed problematic, the discussion provided by the theoretical framework of Aristotle and Hannah Arendt comes to show that the mixed governmental system of contemporary democracy, is built to counter specifically questions regarding factionalism, demagoguery, and the discontent towards distribution of justice.