Browsing by Subject "Afrikka"
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(2020)The goal of this thesis is to examine whether the EU’s climate policy towards Africa is normative after signing the Paris Agreement. This is done by analysing the goals and means of EU climate policy in this context. The aim is also to find out what elements besides normativity form the EU’s climate policy in this case. The research material consists of public documents from various EU institutions, the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and its Action Plans, and joint statements by EU and African actors. Qualitative abductive content analysis was used as the research method. In the context of international climate policy, the EU is described as a normative actor motivated by the promotion of universal norms instead of its own interests. Criteria, based on the Normative Power Europe theory, guide the assessment of the normativity of the EU’s climate policy towards Africa. According to the applied criteria, both the objectives and the means of climate policy should be normative in order for the policy to be considered normative. In its relations with Africa, EU climate policy is not purely normative but a combination of norm diffusion and pursuit of self-interest. EU seeks to secure its energy supplies and European security and increase the opportunities of European industry in Africa. In terms of means, the asymmetric balance of power is a problem for normativity. It makes the EU’s persuasion towards Africa and using the development aid as means of norm diffusion seem like coercion. Thus, the EU climate policy is not always normative. Depending on the context, it is either normative, imperialist or status quo policy.
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(2021)This Master’s thesis is two-part. The first part is the Methodological Introduction, which introduces the background of this research, the research process, methods and ethical considerations. The second part is a manuscript of a scientific article, sent for review in the scientific journal Sage Open, with the title Wicked problems in Africa – A systematic literature review. The article is a systematic literature review of the usage of Horst W. J. Rittel and Melvin M. Webber’s wicked problems concept in peer-reviewed scientific literature focusing on Africa. The reviewed 45 scientific articles were chosen using a systematic methdolology, basing on a set of inclusion criteria. Based on the reviewed literature, three research questions were answered by utilizing the tabulation of key information from the articles, and with content analysis. The research questions are: 1) What are the main themes and concrete manifestations of issues descri-bed as wicked in the African context? 2) What are the geographic foci of articles that use the concept of wicked problems in the African context? 3) Is the concept of wicked problems utilized and therefore seen as applicable by authors affiliated with African cultures? Based on the reviewed articles, a typology is formed. According to this typology, wicked problems in the African context can be interlinked, exacerbated, or contextual. Especially important is the contextuality, which the concept of dual wickedness reminds us of. In addition, the research states that the lack of usage of the wicked problems concept in scientific literature on Africa may be because of the English-language or Western background of the concept. Based on the results, we suggest, that future characterizations of the wicked problems concept should include context-sensitivity.
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