Category: Publication

Journal of International Organizations Studies Fall 2018 issue is now available online. Sanna Kopra wrote an article for the issue, titled “China and the UN Climate Regime: Climate Responsibility from an English School Perspective”.

This paper analyzes how states have negotiated, distributed, and contested responsibilities within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
It applies the English School (ES) theory and argues that climate responsibility constitutes
an emerging primary institution of international society. Due to its rising great power status, China plays an increasingly important role in social processes in which international
society defines and distributes states’ responsibilities, especially those of the great powers,
now and in the future. Therefore, this paper pays particular attention to China’s contribution
to the UNFCCC. Ultimately, the paper offers ES empirical observations about the relationship
between primary and secondary institutions as well as the role of agency in institutional change.

Read Kopra’s article online here.

Winland consortium published Policy Brief VIII, written by Sanna Syri, Jaakko Jääskeläinen, Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, and Sakari Höysniemi. In the brief titled “Turvallisuus on enemmän kuin huoltovarmuutta – Kohti kokonaisvaltaisempaa energiaturvallisuuden kehittämistä ja arviointia” (Security is more than security of supply – Towards more comprehensive development and evaluation of energy security).

Energian tuotantoa, hankintaa ja kulutusta ei voi kytkeä irti aajemmasta yhteiskuntapolitiikasta ja turvallisuuskäsityksestä. Energiaan liittyvät muutospaineet kytkeytyvät laajempiin yhteiskunnallisiin tulevaisuuskuviin: Mitkä kauppakumppanit
ovat luotettavia? Mikä on kohtuullinen hintataso? Millaisten energiamuotojen käyttöä pidetään hyväksyttävänä? Mikä on riittävä omavaraisuuden aste?

Full brief is available online.

A member of our research seminar group “Russian and Post-socialist environment and energy”, Matleena Moisio has completed her Master thesis “Eristyvä Yhdysvallat, ilmastojohtaja Kiina – sisällönanalyysi julkisuusdiplomatiasta RT:n ja Sputnik Internationalin ilmastonmuutosuutisoinnissa” (Isolated United States, Climate Leader China – Content Analysis of Public Diplomacy in RT’ and Sputnik International’ news coverage of climate change). Professor Tynkkynen was Moisio’s second supervisor.

Tässä pro gradu –tutkielmassa käsittelen Venäjän valtionjohtoisen englanninkielisen median ilmastonmuutosuutisointia. Analyysissä etsitään uutisista ilmastonmuutosuutisoinnin teemoja ja julkisuusdiplomatian piirteitä.

Tutkimusaineistona on RT:n ja Sputnik Internationalin ilmastonmuutoksesta kertovat uutiset ajalta 1.6.2017-31.12.2017. Teoreettisena viitekehyksenä käytetään julkisuusdiplomatian käsitettä, ja analyysia tuetaan ilmastonmuutosuutisoinnin ja Venäjän median aikaisemmalla tutkimuksella. Aineistoa analysoidaan teoriaohjaavan sisällönanalyysin avulla.

Tutkimuksen tuloksina voidaan todeta, että RT ja Sputnik uutisoivat ilmastonmuutoksesta ilmastonmuutoksen itsensä kontekstissa, sen vaikutusten kontekstissa ja kansainvälisen politiikan kontekstissa. Erityisesti Yhdysvaltain ja maan presidentin, Donald Trumpin, ilmastonmuutospolitiikka on keskeinen osa ilmastonmuutosuutisointia aineistossa.

Aineistosta tunnistin julkisuusdiplomatiaa käsitteen teoretisoinnin kautta. RT:n ja Sputnikin uutisointia voi julkaisujen luonteen perusteella pitää lähtökohtaisesti aina julkisuusdiplomatiana, joka pyrkii luomaan Venäjälle mieluista yleistä mielipidettä. Tulokset osoittavat, että venäläinen ilmastonmuutosta käsittelevä uutisointi harjoittaa julkisuusdiplomatiaa ennen kaikkea kampanjoimalla Yhdysvaltoja, etenkin Trumpia, vastaan. Sen sijaan Venäjän asemaa ilmastonmuutostyössä ei korosteta, vaan korostetaan Kiinan roolia ilmastotoimijana.

Tutkielma toimii keskustelunavauksena Venäjän englanninkielisen ilmastonmuutosuutisoinnin tutkimukselle.

The thesis is available for reading online.

 

A member of our research seminar group “Russian and Post-socialist environment and energy”, PhD candidate Nooa Nykänen published an article “Competing institutional logics in Soviet industrial location policy” in Eurasian Geography and Economics journal.

The Soviet legacy has been widely demonstrated to have had negative impacts on the regional and economic development of Russia. This article studies the mechanisms of competing institutional logics in Soviet industrial location policies as a source of this adverse heritage. The results indicate that prolonged competition between three institutional logics complicated the adoption and practice of consistent industrial location strategies and contributed to structural problems in economic geography. An analysis of Soviet institutional logics demonstrates parallel forms of competition and coexistence with findings from other institutional environments, paving the way for a broader theoretical analysis of Soviet organizations and institutions.

The article can be found on Taylor&Francis Online.

 

Puheenaihe.fi asked our researcher Sakari Höysniemi, Emma Hakala from Finnish Institute of International affairs and Tero T. Toivanen from VTT if the means of combating climate change increase the instability of societies and cause conflicts. In the piece “Voiko ilmastonmuutoksen torjuminen olla turvallisuusuhka?” (Can combating climate change be a security threat?), Sakari Höysniemi addressed the energy side of the issue and was arguing, that energy security is more than energy supply.

Although Finland is partly an island in terms of security of supply, it could be a promoter of a more sustainable and safer society and take sustainable practices, ways of thinking and technologies elsewhere. If we were able to create a model where the foundation of our well-being and security is not in securing the supply of fossil energy, this model would surely be in demand outside our borders.

Read full version of Sakari Höysniemi’s and other researchers’ texts at puheenaihe.fi.

The latest issue of the Aleksanteri Insight is written by Dr. Dmitry Yagodin, who is also working as an editor of the issue series of expert opinions, published by the Aleksanteri Institute quarterly.  The publication is titled “The re­birth of news me­dia as a pub­lic in­sti­tu­tion in Rus­sia” and focuses on the role the news media play in Russia these days – whether it is “the institution of public accountability or a publicity tool”.

International conflicts trigger propaganda, but they also generate demand for change. Journalism history hints at the ways in which the rebirth of the Russian media may begin, writes Dmitry Yagodin.

Read the issue online on the Aleksanteri Institute’s website.

“The Geopolitics of Renewables in Kazakhstan and Russia” article written by Professor Natalie Koch and Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen has been published in “Geopolitics” journal in March.

This article examines recent renewable energy initiatives in two hydrocarbon rich states of Eurasia: Kazakhstan and Russia. The global nature of challenges surrounding energy and natural resource use demand that sustainability and “energy transition” policies be understood as geopolitical issues, which are increasingly (re)defining political relations among and within states. Existing research and media coverage of international energy politics in Eurasia is overwhelmingly dominated by a focus on oil and gas extraction, especially in Kazakhstan and Russia, due to their central place in traditional hydrocarbon fuels markets. As elsewhere in the world, however, political and economic leaders in both countries have started to adopt the language of promoting environmental sustainability, the “green economy,” and renewable energy infrastructures. Taking a critical geopolitics lens to recent developments, this article considers who is involved in advancing renewable energy in contexts that have traditionally been dependent on traditional energy sources, and what this may portend for the shifting energy landscape of Eurasia.

The article can be accessed at Taylor&Francis Online website.

Sohvi Kangasluoma wrote an article for The Ulkopolitist online magazine with a title “Onko Suomesta feministisen arktisen ulkopolitiikan jäänsärkijäksi?” (Can Finland work as an icebreaker for a feminist Arctic policy?)

Sohvi Kangasluoma is a doctoral researcher at the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki. In her doctoral dissertation she examines the Arctic oil and gas industry and its implications for human security through feminist theory. Her dissertation work is a part of AUCAM – “Opportunities for and challenges to urban development and social cohesion in Russia’s Arctic under climate change impacts” project.

In the article, Sohvi ponders whether Finland could pursue feminist Arctic policy, where  safeguarding the rights of minorities and respect  for environment are a precondition.The article can be read at The Ulkopolitist website.

A new report “China in the Arctic; and the Opportunities and Challenges for Chinese-Finnish Arctic Co-operation” by the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland has been published today. Our postdoctoral researcher Sanna Kopra has contributed to the study, which is a part of the publication series of the Government’s analysis, assessment and research.

The Arctic region is rapidly transforming from a peripheral region to a global theatre with an increasing number of non-Arctic stakeholders. One illustration of this transformation process is the growing presence of China in the Arctic. This report first discusses China’s changing role in global affairs (Chapter 1). This provides background for exploring China’s interests, role and presence in the Arctic. The study of China’s presence in the region is carried out through the lens of the Chinese government’s four priority areas towards the region as expressed in the country’s first official Arctic statement – the White Paper – from January 2018 (Chapter 2). Further, Chinese interests and actions in the Arctic are studied from the viewpoint of one particular Arctic State, Finland. The authors provide an overview of a broad spectrum of Chinese-Finnish interactions in different contexts, including investments in Northern Finland and co-operation within the areas of Finnish Arctic expertise and research. In addition, concerns and risks related to interaction with Chinese actors are discussed (Chapter 3). Over the past decade, China has undertaken an effort to demonstrate its growing knowledge of, and commitment to, the Arctic region. Some actors and experts are concerned about China’s aims and actions in the region, while others express hope for Chinese institutions, investors and companies to contribute to regional development and knowledge-building. The report presents a balanced and multifaceted, although necessarily not fully comprehensive, picture of China’s rise as an actor in the Arctic.

The report is available online.