Browsing by Subject "Ukraine"
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(2019)This research explores the themes of identity, particularly Russophone identity in Kharkov, Ukraine. It explores the formation, salience, and gradation of this identity with regards to Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory. Furthermore this research explores the response and understanding of different events in Ukraine's recent history in relation to different identities. It also aims to explore potential futures of the Russophone identity in Kharkov, as well as aspects of Ukrainianisation. This research concludes that Social-Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory alone are not sufficient to explain the development and existence of Russophone identity in Kharkov. Finally, this research shows that there is a direct link between identity and understanding of the Ukraine Crisis, perceived threat, and future directions in Kharkov. This research further postulates that Russophone identity will increasingly be threatened within Ukraine, that could lead to further problems and division, and will likely lead to push-back.
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(2023)Migration, which can be characterized as a temporal or permanent movement of individuals or groups of people from one geographic location to another, is old as humanity itself. As a part of polyethnic states and as a polyethnic state itself, Ukrainians have had strong connections across the borders and migration has been an integral part of life and in present-day Europe, Ukrainians form one of the largest migrant groups around Europe. The main type of migration changed from economic migration to forced migration when the Russian Federation launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine on 24th of February 2022 which caused a massive influx of migrants to European countries. In this master’s thesis, I studied the effect of existing social networks on refugees’ destination choices, and the aim was to examine how the migration of Ukrainians to Europe after the outbreak of full-scale war is linked to the existing Ukrainian minority population in Europe and to the spatial distribution of Ukrainian social interactions with European countries. In addition to this, the aim was also to evaluate the use of novel big data sources, such as Twitter and Meta, and assess how they can provide new insights into studying migration. The first part of the analysis explored the strength of the relationship between existing Ukrainian minorities in EU countries and social connectedness. The second part of the analysis explored further the strength of the relationship over time between the number of refugees in the EU, social connectedness, and distance from Ukraine, and also the spatial distribution of Ukrainian refugees within the EU area. Third, the strength of the relationship was explored over time between social connectedness and the number of Ukrainian Twitter users in Europe. Last, Twitter data was analyzed to get insights into the Twitter use of Ukrainians and how the change in language use is connected to the refugee movement. Results show that high social connectedness values between Ukraine and other European countries are the result of an existing Ukrainian minority in countries. When analyzing the relationship between the refugee movement in 2022 and social connectedness, results suggest that the migration movement is connected to the existing social networks which can be demonstrated by the social connectedness index. The social connectedness index proves to predict quite accurately the mobility of Ukrainians. User information from Twitter data didn’t perform that well in analyses at least on the country level. However, on the regional level, the relationship between Twitter users and the social connectedness index yielded some better results with a moderate relationship in some months. Insights about overall Twitter usage also showed patterns of increased Twitter activity of Ukrainians in the EU and decreased Twitter activity in Ukraine after the invasion. However, in addition to the location of the users and overall activity, language use analyzed from Twitter data also provided insights about linguistic change from Russian to Ukrainian and the use of Ukrainian, Russian, and English in European countries. However, language use analysis didn’t provide significant support for assessing the dependencies between the number of refugees and language use. This thesis explored further the capabilities of the use of the social connectedness index in migration studies and also showed some of the weaknesses of social media-based big data in mobility-related studies.
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(2022)This thesis uses motivation theory to examine the primary extrinsic and intrinsic motivators influencing blind and visually impaired Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people as they make decisions in the midst of the Ukraine crisis. Blind and visually impaired Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people were interviewed face to face in Poland as well as through email and social media. Data was gathered detailing the types of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations that influenced their decisions to become refugees or remain internally displaced in Ukraine. Data was also gathered regarding their experiences as blind and visually impaired Ukrainians, their interactions with the systems, resources and processes in place designed to assist Ukrainians during this conflict, and their expectations for the future. This thesis found that factors such as trust and fear can cause extrinsic motivations to function as intrinsic ones, and can also cause intrinsic motivations to shift into extrinsic motivations. These motivations can function opposite in the lives of the blind and visually impaired as they do in the lives of sighted Ukrainians. This thesis also identified the primary extrinsic and intrinsic motivators that blind and visually impaired Ukrainians described which influenced their decision making.
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(2020)This Master's thesis examines the language manipulations used by Russian online media to create enemy images that are essential for justifying armed aggression. The study explores the issues emerging in the discourse on information warfare and mass-manipulation in the context of the conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. The purpose of this research is to explore how and why Russian state-funded media used the rhetorics to influence the audience's attitudes towards Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation, and to evaluate if such manipulation can be recognized as propaganda. This study addresses the gap in current knowledge on a rhetorical angle of enemy creation in Russian online media. This research is the first to apply the theoretical concepts of enemy images and propaganda devices to the process model of framing research developed by Dietram A. Scheufele. This theoretical approach allowed to address the framing of enemy images by state propaganda. The empirical data of this research consists of sixteen online publications from two state-funded media organizations in Russia: international network RT and the information agency Rossiya Segodnia, which includes subsidiaries RIA Novosti and Sputnik. Rhetorical frame analysis was applied in this research. The in-depth critical nature allowed to identify the key elements and techniques of enmity framing in the analyzed publications. The findings of this study confirm the hypothesis that the Russian state-funded online media indeed do work as a body of state propaganda. As earlier research suggests, they did play a crucial role in the info-warfare campaigns preceding and during Russian military operations in Crimea and Donbas by manipulating and distorting information to frame Kremlin's agenda, creating and reinforcing enemy images, spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories that resonated with the state's position. This research contributes to the pool of investigations that expose a strong Kremlin's commitment to information warfare on many fronts. It confirms that the creation of enemy images is vital for the justification of military aggression. Lastly, it proves that even though modern state propaganda is a highly sophisticated, data-driven powerhouse, on a rhetorical level, it still uses the same techniques as 100 years ago.
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(2023)The thesis examines the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in a conflict context in Ukraine. The theoretical standpoint is critical feminism. The aim has been to understand how the implementation of the resolution as part of international law works in the context of war, what kind of security needs have been voiced by Ukrainian women, and to what extend the national implementation of the 1325 agenda has been able to bring transformative, structural change to the lives of Ukrainian women in midst of war. The thesis finds that the two Ukrainian National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security (for years 2016–2020 and 2020–2025) has focused heavily on military security, despite the plans themselves covering the agenda comprehensively. Women’s meaningful participation to peacebuilding has been side-lined, efforts to ensure protection and human rights have brought only limited results, and development has been negative in the area of economic security. Greatest progress has been seen in military security, which has led to the militarisation of the agenda. Thanks to international support, Ukraine’s action plans are technically high-level, but their implementation on national, regional, as well as local levels has suffered from the lack of coordination, resources, and technical capacities. Political will is heavily linked to Ukraine’s Western integration. Nevertheless, Ukrainian women have considered the National Action Plans as important tools for advocacy. The possibility for transformative change cannot be overlooked from the outside, yet lasting change requires continuous work. Finland can utilise lessons learned in Ukraine in its support for the agenda’s implementation internationally.
Now showing items 1-5 of 5