Browsing by Subject "political sociology"
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(2023)Elokapina (Extinction Rebellion Finland) has been active since late 2018 and has become one of the most prominent actors in the Finnish civil society. It represents the more radical wing of the environmental movement and has caused much societal discussion over its action tactics, most notably using civil disobedience. By late 2023, its demands to the Finnish government have not been attained, raising questions about the movement’s effectiveness in achieving the desired outcomes. This thesis looks at movement outcomes and movement-party interaction in the Finnish environmental movement through the case of Elokapina. This work is a holistic view of strategic interactionism, which analyses the movement’s interactions through a lens of movement consequences and the dilemma framework developed by James M. Jasper. To gain a holistic view of the perceived effectiveness of Elokapina’s approaches, the study includes the perspective of politicians in addition to the activists themselves. The research questions are: 1) How effective do activists and politicians perceive Elokapina to be in attaining its goals? 2) How do activists and politicians perceive Elokapina’s strategic choices? and 3) How do activists and politicians view the influence of movement-party relationships on Elokapina? The thesis is qualitative in nature, and the data consists of interview data. Semi-structured interviews with six activists from Elokapina and six Members of the Finnish Parliament were conducted at the beginning of 2023. Based on the analysis, Elokapina is considered more effective from the activist’s point of view. Still, politicians also recognised the movement’s significant role in keeping the climate and environmental crisis on the societal agenda and creating political pressure. Both activists and politicians brought out a multitude of movement outcomes that exemplified Elokapina’s effectiveness despite the official demands not being reached. Interviewees evaluated Elokapina’s strategic choices with a large variety of opinions, which were, at times, contradictory to each other. The most prominent dilemmas that the movement seems to face are about shifting goals, choosing targets, being “naughty” or “nice”, and dilemmas concerning the political arena. The findings show that Elokapina’s direct influence on the political parties is secondary, and the political pressure is created indirectly through the media and by strengthening the climate emergency discourse. The movement-party relationships are diverse, and other prominent players in the arena are the media and police. The analysis concludes that Elokapina is considered an effective actor in the environmental movement, and its consequences are diverse. The movement’s strategy is a constant process with no clear answers, and movement-party interaction is secondary in attaining Elokapina’s goals.
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The Future on Shaking Pillars : Civil Society and Green Economy in the United Nations Rio+20 Summit (2013)This master’s thesis study examines the participation of Finnish civil society actors in the preparations for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, commonly referred to as Rio+20. The summit was held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. The study is situated in the discussions about the limits and carrying capacity of the global environment and their relation to societal development and economic growth. These so-called 'pillars' of sustainable development (ecological, social and economic) have been a central focus of both non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as the United Nations from the 1970s onwards. Civil society has been posited as a crucial part of reaching sustainability. From these starting points, this study asks (1) who were the participants of the preparatory process, (2) what agendas did they promote and (3) how did it turn out in the context of the outcomes of the summit. Four different sets of data were used in this study. First, record and memos of the Environment and development group (Ympäristö ja kehitys työryhmä), which was a central working group for NGO cooperation, were used to analyze the structuring of the Finnish NGO group. The records span from 2011 to September 2012. Second, the Earth Negotiation Bulletins, a daily coverage of the negotiations, published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IIISD), were used to gain knowledge about the official inter-state negotiations. Third, five semi-structured interviews with key civil society actors representing Finnish NGOs were used. And last, notes and recording on six Rio+20 themed seminars were used to gain knowledge about the agendas of the NGOs as well as Finnish government officials, as well as the progression of the preparations. The theoretical framework is Laurent Thévenot´s sociology of engagements which focuses on disputes and the construction of commonality. The theory, combined with means of content analysis, is used to answer the above-mentioned research questions. The preparatory process mobilized a group of key actives from established Finnish associations, which were focused on developmental and environmental issues. The discussions on green economy and agendas the NGOs promoted continued from the division between the countries of the global north and the global south, and from the opposition of environmental limits and development. The NGOs constructed their agenda on the dual basis of both ecological limits and a human right-based approach to global inequality, which was then used to criticize economic growth. Analysis of the outcomes of the summit suggests a rejection of these claims. The results support a strong agenda geared towards poverty eradication, development and growth in the global south. The issue of green economy was tied to them. The findings of this study therefore present both continuations of old disputes as well as new developments. Debates in the summit preparations were locked in familiar settings, most clearly in the north-south divide, but the outcomes of the summit on the other hand suggest changes in the status of different actors situated in this division. The study concludes that for the actors engaged in sustainable development, and more specifically on global environmental problems, need to reconsider their agendas in accordance to this new constellation of actors, which emphasize the role of the developing countries.
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