This book approaches contemporary migration to Finland from the perspective of everyday security, presenting an alternative view to theories that examine the links between migration and security from the perspective of securitisation. By treating everyday security as a theoretical concept and as empirical lived reality, the book foregrounds migrants' experiences of (in)security, as well as the perceptions of individuals and groups whose lives are touched by migration. Empirical studies investigate the ways in which security is produced at various levels, transnationally, and in multiple locations where encounters between long-term residents and newcomers occur, highlighting the roles of the welfare state, civic society, and the media. The book explores how everyday security is constructed between interdependent actors on personal, community and societal levels, concluding that the production of everyday security is a mutually beneficial, yet at times painstaking, process for all participants.
e Finnish concept for Comprehensive Security (kokonaisturvallisuus) is based on the ideal of participation of all relevant stakeholders, with an aim to ensure preparedness for di erent threats at national level. In this article, we look at what such an approach entails and how the concept of co-creation could be used as a means to enhance its implementation with multiple actors, sectors and scales. Making use of the ideas from systems thinking and cultural-historical activity theory, our research builds on literature review as well as on the analysis of the scenario workshops' material from the on-going, Strategic Research Council funded Winland project (http://winlandtutkimus. ). We conclude that there are three elements that should be better addressed in the implementation of Comprehensive Security: the impact that global connectedness has for (national) security; the role of di erent actors and their di ering interests – and hence, politics; and the need to look at also actual security practices parallel with the strategy documents and their de nitions. e concept of co-creation – where actors engage in a continuous process to de ne and develop the implementation of Comprehensive Security – can support inclusion of all these elements into the multi-actor implementation of Comprehensive Security. ; Non peer reviewed
Hallinnon uudistaminen liian yksiäänistä ja kaavamaista Jenni Airaksisen väitöskirja Hankala hallintouudistus kohdistuu suomalaisen kunnallishallinnon uudistamiseen. Tutkimus osoittaa, että kaavamaisuuteen ja liialliseen konsensukseen perustuva uudistaminen voi pahimmillaan johtaa toiminnan taantumiseen tai jopa estää muutoksia. Poliittis-hallinnollisella eliitillä on pyrkimys ylläpitää sisäistä kiinteyttään ja tämä estää erilaisten näkökulmien esiintulon uudistamiskeskustelussa. Tämä puolestaan johtaa yksiääniseen uudistamiseen ja liialliseen konsensukseen. Tutkimuksen perusteella uudistuksissa mukana olevilla ihmisillä oli hyvin erilaisia käsityksiä uudistuksen tavoitteesta ja tehtävästä. Nämä käsitykset olivat keskenään osin voimakkaassakin ristiriidassa. Hallintouudistus tulkittiin kuntien haasteiden kannalta oikeanlaisena ja tarpeellisena toimintana, mutta samaan aikaan sen pelättiin johtavan kuntien päätösvallan ja itsenäisyyden menettämiseen. Ristiriitaiset käsitykset eivät kuitenkaan nousseet keskusteluun vaan uudistuksen läpikäyväksi teemaksi nousi konfliktien välttäminen ja konsensuksen tavoittelu, mikä käytännössä johti siihen, että uudistuksen tavoitteet jäivät saavuttamatta. Vaikeiden asioiden välttely johti siihen, että käytännön uudistaminen osoittautui liian hankalaksi. Yksiäänisyyteen pyrkivän ja kaavamaisen uudistamisen mahdollisuudet saada aikaan muutoksia ovat hyvin rajalliset. Rajallisuus korostuu entisestään, mikäli päätöksenteossa pyritään erilaisten mielipiteiden peittämiseen ja uudistusta eteenpäin vievien eliittiryhmien kiinteyden ylläpitämiseen. Hallinnon uudistamisessa tarvitaan uusia ja luovia tapoja ratkaista ongelmia. Uudet ratkaisut voivat kuitenkin syntyä vain, jos uudistamisessa kyetään luopumaan yhden yhteisen päämäärän ja sen tavoittelun ihanteesta ja hyväksytään uudistamiseen liittyvä moniäänisyys. Hallinnon uudistamista tulisi tutkimuksen mukaan tarkastella prosessina, jossa erilaisten tulkintojen ja preferenssien kamppailu on normaalia toimintaa. Tällainen lähestymistapa voidaan suomalaisessa kompromissi- ja konsensushakuisessa kulttuurissa kokea vaikeaksi, mutta mikäli hallinnon uudistamisessa toimivat ryhmät jättävät vaikeat asiat pois agendaltaan konsensustavoitteen nimissä, päädytään hallinnon uudistamisessa helposti hankalaan hallinnon uudistamiseen. HANKALA HALLINNON UUDISTAMINEN näkyy pienten askeleiden kautta tapahtuvina, kompromissiratkaisuista kehittyneinä, pirstaleisina hallinnon uudistamisen osahankkeina, joiden kautta voidaan muutosten toteuttamisen sijaan ylläpitää olemassaolevia rakenteita ja vältellä muutosta. ; Troublesome Nature of Administrative Reform The topic of my research is an administrative reform which is studied as a dynamic and contextualised phenomenon. The aim was to understand the nature and the essence of an administrative reform in the context of local government in Finland. The Regional Support Project (Seutukuntien tuki -hanke) was chosen as an empirical example of a reform in this study. The project was launched by the national government in 2000 as a response to the transition process of local governance of Finland. In this context the municipalities were trying to solve the contradiction of their diminishing resources and increasing demands by increasing voluntary cooperation in service provision and regional development. The aim of the project was to promote inter-municipal cooperation by means of state support and permissive legislation. The empirical data is qualitative and the method of analysis is based on grounded theory. The purpose of the method is to produce a practical theory derived from the experiences of those people who have lived through the administrative reform. The process of analysis was to define emerging concepts and make continuous comparisons to the empirical data and to other conceptual innovations. By linking the discovered concepts to each other, the patterns of social behavior and meaning of action were generated. The empirical data of the study was collected during 2000 2005. The primary data consists of 154 interviews and approximately 60 pages of observation material. The data was collected in the national level steering group of the reform and in all of the eight districts (comprising 55 municipalities) taking part in the project. The secondary data includes official documents of the Regional Support Project produced by the central government, different districts and the municipalities. The grounded theory -procedure revealed four partly conflicting frames. The different frames are the rhetoric and the reality of governance practices, national government as the reformer of autonomous local government, the fear of hollowing out local government and the gap between the elite and the masses. The phenomenon of administrative reform is experienced and interpreted differently depending on the frame adopted. In a situation, where contradicting frames are visible, a conflict is possible and even probable. However, this was not the case in the administrative reform studied. Instead, the most evident patterns of behavior in the reform process were pronounced pursuit of consensus, compromise seeking and avoidance of conflict. My research shows that the core process of an administrative reform is maintaining the cohesion of the elite . With this concept it was possible to connect the discovered contradicting frames to each other. Through an analysis of the interplay between the different frames and the core process, the dynamics of the administrative reform are unfolded. Essential in understranding the dynamics of an administrative reform is the existence of the conflicting frames and coincident objective of maintaining the cohesion of the elite. This combination is likely to lead to a wobbly and slow process and shows the troublesome nature of an administrative reform. The theoretical model created in this research, shows the process of an administrative reform as an application of unisonous instrumental-rational patterns. The possibilities of the above-mentioned approach are highly limited in producing new ways of function. Such limitedness is even more problematic in a multi-actor, network-type situation, where different interpretations of situations are not confronted but concealed in the fear of conflicts. Instead, administrative reform practices could be seen as historically and culturally defined processes of production of meanings, where the struggle of different ideas and interpretations is considered normal. The acceptance of struggle as a part of administrative reform requires that the individuals of the decision-making elites are ready to function in groups, where anxiety is allowed to be present at times. The groups the decision-making elites in administrative reforms are trying to find new creative solutions to the problems they face. Creative solutions develop in situations where genuine negotiation between different meanings and interpretations is present. Negotiation is however not possible in a situation where the fundamental objective of an elite-group is to prevent the individuals of the group from exposing to anxiety. If this is accepted, it is likely to lead to small steps, bad compromises and fragmented application of reform practices. In the context of administrative reforms this is problematic for it can lead to the regression of action or actually supporting the practices already functioning. These insights indicate why the nature of administrative reform is troublesome.
"Health and healing have been central concerns throughout human history. Individuals and societies have devised multiple ways to health. Healing practices have often been linked to questions of knowledge, power, politics, and morals. The limits of acceptable healing have been contested by men and women, priests and doctors, elites and commoners, indigenous peoples and colonialists. Successful healers have sometimes been labeled as witches, quacks, or dangerous political agitators. The contributions in this volume concentrate on healing in global history with case studies about Finland, southern Asia and Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and North America. They discuss medical pluralism and consider the arguments for and against individual healers and different healing systems. The authors focus on the popularity of medical systems, the appropriation and adoption of healing practices in cross-cultural contexts, and the prohibition of certain forms of healing. "
The great change in European relations with Russia took place in 1478 when Muscovy replaced the trading Republic of Novgorod as a neighbor of Sweden, Livonia and Lithuania. Western Europe was since that year bordering to a bellicose great power with large resources causing dread. The feelings of dread caused by Russia with Czars like Ivan the Terrible became a standing theme in printed matter as well as politics and the image of Russia became very much similar to the image of Turkey, which threatened Europe from South-East. Various, usually rather negative, stereotype expressions characterized the vocabulary of the 16th century. The Peace of Stolbova in 1617 started a period of successive change. The era of Sweden as a Great Power led to growing knowledge about Russia in almost every respect, but it was still based on the already accepted stereotypes. They started, however, typically to seem more diluted and thin with time. The image of Russia as a threat was to a growing extent replaced by an image of a possibility. The perhaps most remarkable but rather unoriginal printed Swedish description of Russia of the era was Regni Muschovotici Sciographia, published by Petrus Petrejus. At the final stage of Sweden's era as a great power there was a substantial widening but also polarization of the information on Russia. The Russian reform process during Tsar Peter I also began to influence the minds after the turn of the century in 1700. One of the principal describers of this process was Lars Johan Malm (Ehrenmalm), whose large manuscript about the power of the Russian Empire of that time, Några Anmärkningar Angående det Ryska Rijkets Nuvarande Macht from 1714, never reached the printers due to intervention from censors.
Valco (1976–1980) was a state-owned company that manufactured cathode ray tubes for the television industry. The company's scandalous failure has been widely identified as one of the largest investment errors in Finland's economic history. This book is the first in-depth study of the roots, events, and consequences of that project. This study analyses Valco from a microhistorical perspective, looking at the numerous factors that led to its failure, from the company's founding process to investigations after its demise. These events are linked to broader phenomena in economic and business history, such as the changing economic policy of the government and the emergence of global supply chains in the electronics industry. Valco is a significant single case with a concrete impact on Finland's economic history. First, it changed the general perception of state-owned companies and, because of this, also more general perceptions of the role of the state in the economy. As a result, the initiative to develop the electronics industry was transferred to private companies such as Nokia. Second, Valco's case revealed the problems of state ownership of companies in a very concrete way. Due to Valco's failure, the objectives of state ownership were clarified, and the corporate governance system was modernised. In this way, Valco is linked to the modernization of Finnish state capitalism from the 1970s onwards.
This master's thesis approaches the debate around biotechnology, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the notion of food sovereignty as they are addressed by an Indian, food sovereignty activist group called Navdanya. Basing on the material produced by Navdanya, I am determining, by the means of a theory guided content analysis, what kind of an alternative food sovereignty is. Furthermore, I am examining how food sovereignty can be considered as a means of resistance to the impacts of the GMOs in India. I am arguing that the introduction of the GMOs to India created an opportunity to govern populations and furthermore life and nature. I am examining this by utilising Michel Foucault's theory of biopolitics as a theoretical framework. In order to find out how governance and resistance are practiced, I utilise Foucault's notions of truth and power by illustrating how they can be utilised as a means to create governance and resistance. Therefore, I formulated a "truth regime of biotechnology" to represent the governance, operated by the actors supporting the utilisation of the GMOs, as well as to describe how the governance is created and justified under the regime. As a means of resistance, Navdanya produces alternative truths and puts into practice an alternative of food sovereignty – "the new politics of truth". Navdanya succeeds in its resistance by managing to create the alternative truth of food sovereignty, which does not utilise or reproduce the truths of the biotechnology regime. Navdanya does this by managing to detach the power of the biotechnology regime's truths from their economic and political roles they play in society. The traditional complexity with resistance, in relation to the State of India, is present, which can be however explained by utilising the new ways in approaching the notion of resistance in the context of the Global South.
Siirtymiä ja ajan merkkejä koulutuksessa: Opetussuunnitelmatutkimuksen näkökulmia -teos jatkaa opetussuunnitelmakeskustelua, joka käynnistyi vuonna 2017 julkaistussa ensimmäisessä suomenkielisessä opetussuunnitelmatutkimusta käsittelevässä teoksessa. Teoksen johdantoartikkelin jälkeiset 14 vertaisarvioitua artikkelia jakaantuvat neljään teemakokonaisuuteen, joiden merkittävin yhteinen nimittäjä on huoli saksalais-pohjoiseurooppalaisen Bildung/Didaktiikka -opetussuunnitelmatradition ajautumisesta entistä ahtaammalle oppimisteorioiden jäsentämän, taitoihin ja kompetensseihin rajoittuvan, näennäisesti epäpoliittisen angloamerikkalaisen curriculum-opetussuunnitelmatradition ja sen poliittisen aisaparin, uusliberalismin, puristuksessa. Ensimmäisessä teemassa "Tieto ja sivistys antiikista globaaliin" käsitellään sivistystä ja tietoa suomalaisessa opetussuunnitelmakeskustelussa. Teemassa jäljitetään niitä antiikkiin palautuvia, edelleen ajankohtaisia, historiallisia merkityskerroksia, joita sivistyksen käsitteeseen sisältyy. Lisäksi teemassa avataan spenceriläistä kasvatusajattelua ja sen vaikutusta suomalaiseen opetussuunnitelma-ajatteluun. Ajankohtaista opetussuunnitelmien tarkastelua edustaa pohdinta ekososiaaliseen sivistykseen ja oikeudenmukaisuuteen kasvattamisesta. Teeman päättää kriittinen länsimaisen, valkoista elitismiä ja rodullis-etnistä ylemmyyttä henkivän, sivistyskäsityksen tarkastelu. Toisessa teemassa "Opetussuunnitelmapolitiikan historiallisia ja ajankohtaisia painotuksia" tarkastellaan varhaiskasvatuksen rakenteiden muutosta tehden samalla näkyväksi niitä oletuksia, joita liitämme kasvatukseen ja sen tehtävään yhteiskunnassa. Niin ikään suomalaisen perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelmaprosessit, erityisesti vuoden 2014 opetussuunnitelman perusteiden uudistamisen prosessi sekä paikallistason opetussuunnitelmatyö, ovat käsiteltäviä sisältöjä teoksen toisessa teemassa. Teeman lopussa kyseenalaistetaan historiaan peilaten arkiymmärryksemme siitä, että opetusta on aina suunniteltava tavoitteet edellä. Kolmannessa teemassa "Tiedonaloja ajassa" pohditaan tiedonalalähtöisyyteen perustuvan oppiainejakoisen kokonaisopetuksen yleissivistäviä vaikutuksia, samoin taidekasvatuksen suhdetta kulttuuriin, mediaan ja subjektiin. Lisäksi havainto siitä, miten sekularistisissa kansalaisuustarkasteluissa kansalaisuuden katsomukselliseen perustaan liittyvät kysymykset pyritään sivuuttamaan tai sijoittamaan rajatusti yksilön privaatin elämän alueelle, herättää pohdintaa. Neljännessä teemassa "Korkeakoulupolitiikka muutoksessa" fokus on korkeakoulutusta ja erityisesti yliopistoja koskevassa uusliberalistisessa hallinnassa – siinä, miten kyseinen hallinta puhuttelee yliopistojen tutkija-opettajia tai miten osaamisperustaiset ja työelämäkompetensseja tuottavat opetussuunnitelmat ovat muuttaneet perustavanlaatuisesti käsitystä tiedon olemuksesta populistiseen ja epä-älylliseen suuntaan. Lisäksi neljännessä teemassa esitellään meta-analyysi korkeakoulujen opetussuunnitelmaa koskevien tutkimustekstien taustalla vaikuttavasta opetussuunnitelma-ajattelusta ja -käsityksistä. Teeman lopussa palataan yhden esimerkin välityksellä ammattikorkeakoulun osaamisperustaisen opetussuunnitelman kehittämisen prosessiin. ; This edited book continues the discussion on curriculum, which began in 2017 in the first book on Curriculum Studies in Finnish. The 14 peer-reviewed articles following the introductory article are divided into four thematic sets, the common denominator of which is the concern about the drifting of the comprehensive democratic German and Nordic Bildung / Didactic curriculum tradition into the narrower, competence and skills driven Anglo-American education and curriculum, shaped by the paradoxical alliance of assumedly apolitical instrumental learning theories and neoliberal policy measures. The first theme, "Knowledge and Education from Antiquity to Global", deals with the topics of civilization, education and knowledge in the Finnish curriculum debate. The first article traces back to the antique with the intertwinement of current and historical layers of meanings that are implicated in the modern concepts of civilization and education. In addition, the first theme will open up Spencer's educational thinking and its impact on Finnish curriculum thinking. The space is also given to currently emerging concerns of eco-social education and reactivated issues by global interconnectedness of social and economic justice as educational goals. The theme ends with a critical examination of the Western concept of civilization and modernity related to issues of white supremacy with affiliations of cultural and racial-ethnic superiority. The second theme looks at "The historical and current emphases of Finnish curriculum policy". The first article examines how the theme is reflected in the changing structures of early childhood education. This focus on early education will arguably make more explicit and visible the assumptions we attach to education and its role and goals in globalized society in general. The curriculum processes in Finnish basic education, especially the process of reforming the curriculum in 2014 and the local curriculum work, will also be addressed in the second theme of the book. The last article questions the assumption, often shared by mainstream academic and common sense alike, that curriculum design and teaching planning should always start with objectives. The third theme is "The current issue of disciplinarity in curriculum and teaching". In the first article attention is paid to horizontal integration of school subjects, and to general educational implications predicated on subject-based curriculum and teaching, more generally. The next article deals with conceptual interrelatedness between art education and culture, media, and subjectivity. In the third article, the secularist views on citizenship is scrutinized of the neglect of significant citizenship aspects related to broader worldviews by illusorily positioning them in the sphere of private life out of reach of public interest and debate. The fourth theme, "Higher Education Policy in Change", focuses on neoliberal governance in higher education and universities, first addressing the new ambivalent identities of academic teachers, and how competence, skills and workplace-based curricula have fundamentally altered the concept of knowledge toward an instance of populist de-intellectualization of higher education and neoliberal vocational school. In addition, the fourth theme presents a meta-analysis of the underlying curriculum thinking and conceptions behind research texts on university curricula. Exemplarily, the last article critically unpack the process of developing a skills and competence-based curriculum at the University of Applied Sciences.
Sata kuntaa riittää , Puolet pois! ja Lopulta kuntia voi olla vain 30. Tutkimuksen aiheena on 1990-luvun alusta 2000-luvun puoliväliin käyty kuntarakennetta koskeva julkinen keskustelu. Keskustelua näkökohtineen, vaatimuksineen ja osapuolineen tarkastellaan totuuden politiikan kautta. Kiinnostuksen kohteena on se, miten tuotetaan ne totuudet, joilla perustellaan kuntarakenteeseen kohdistuvia vaatimuksia. Tutkimuksen aineisto muodostuu kuntaliitoksia käsittelevistä sanomalehtikirjoituksista. Tutkimuksen perusteella kuntarakennekeskustelun solmukohdassa käydään kamppailua tehtävien, voimavarojen ja kuntarakenteiden keskinäisestä suhteesta. Kunnille osoitettujen tehtävien ja voimavarojen merkitys on kansantaloudellisesti ja jakopoliittisesti keskeinen. Voimavaroissa tai tehtävissä tunnistettu muutos käynnistää tarpeen sopeuttaa kahta muuta elementtiä. Muutosvaatimukset ovat kytkeytyneet myös poliittisen vallanjaon jännitteisiin eli puolueiden valtapoliittisiin asemiin kuntakentässä. Kamppailu oikeista tulkinnoista, määritelmistä ja näkökulmista eli totuudesta ilmenee puhe- ja ajattelutavoissa eli diskursseissa. Kuntarakennekeskustelua hallitsee puhetapa, joka on nimetty valtadiskurssiksi. Sen keskeisenä päämääränä on kuntarakenteen uudistaminen suurempien kuntien muodostamiseksi. Kysymys on kuntien toimintaedellytysten ja voimavarojen vahvistamisesta. Keskeiseksi muodostuu kuntien toimintaympäristön muutos. Valtadiskurssissa kuntarakenteen uudistaminen asetetaan rahoituksen tai tehtävien uudelleenmäärittelyn edelle. Kun kuntien tehtävissä tai voimavaroissa tapahtuu muutoksia, rakenteiden tulee sopeutua näihin muutoksiin. Kuntarakenne näyttäytyy hallittavana , sen piirteitä voidaan mitata, arvioida ja muuttaa. Vastadiskurssiksi nimetty diskurssi syntyy reaktiona vaatimukselle kuntarakenteen muutoksesta. Vastadiskurssin lähtökohdista käsin pyrkimys kuntarakenteen muutokseen ei ole perusteltu. Kunnat nähdään historialtaan ja identiteetiltään ainutkertaisina itsehallinnollisina yhteisöinä, joilla on alueellinen itsemääräämisoikeus. Kunnan kehittämistä ja palveluja koskeva päätöksenteko halutaan säilyttää mahdollisimman lähellä kuntalaisia. Kuntaliitosten nähdään johtavan kehittämistoimenpiteiden ja palveluiden keskittymiseen eli hyvinvointivaltion paikalliseen alasajoon. Toimintaympäristön muutos edellyttää sopeutumista, mutta kuntaliitosten sijaan ratkaisuksi esitetään kuntien voimavarojen lisäämistä, tehtävien vähentämistä, kuntien yhteistyön lisäämistä ja muita palvelutuotannon tehostamiseen tähtääviä toimenpiteitä. Nykyiset kunnat ovat muodostuneet useiden vuosisatojen aikana monien vaiheiden kautta. Kuntia on yhdistetty ja niitä on jaettu. Muutoksia on perusteltu eri aikoina ajankohtaisilla kuntien tehtäviin ja taloudellisiin voimavaroihin kohdistuvilla haasteilla. 1990-luvun alussa kuntarakenteen muutostarve kytkettiin byrokratiaan ja lamaa seuranneeseen kunnallistalouden kriisiin. Vaatimus palvelujen tehokkuudesta ja byrokratisoituneen hallinnon virtaviivaistamisesta muodostui hyvin keskeiseksi. 1990-luvulta 2000-luvulle tultaessa alkoi korostua seutuistuminen, kuntien keskinäinen riippuvuus ja yhteistyö elinkeinojen kehittämisessä sekä palvelujen turvaamisessa. Samalla omaksuttiin kaksi erilaista sopeutumisstrategiaa eli pyrkimys edistää sekä kuntaliitoksia että seutuyhteistyötä. Kaksikärkinen strategia edusti kompromissia tilanteessa, jossa kunnat eivät olleet halukkaita liitoksiin. 2000-luvun puoliväliin tultaessa kuntarakennekeskustelussa tapahtui kuitenkin diskursiivinen muutos. Kuntarakenteen muutosta vaadittiin entistä voimakkaammin nimenomaan palvelujen turvaamiseksi. Kuntien taloudellisen aseman eriytyminen kiihtyi muuttoliikkeestä ja kuntien rahoitusperusteiden muutosten seurauksena. Uhkana olivat myös väestön ikääntymisestä ja palveluvaatimusten muutoksista johtuva palvelukustannusten kohoaminen. Kunnat näyttivät jakautuvan menestyviin ja menettäviin. Monien kuntien edellytykset palvelujen järjestämiseen olivat merkittävästi heikentyneet. Kuntien taloudellinen vastuullistaminen ja vaatimus elinvoimaisuudesta korostuivat. Julkisen talouden sopeuttamistarpeen ja kuntien palvelukustannusten kasvun myötä tehokkuuden rinnalle nousi vaatimus tuottavuuden kohottamisesta. Toimintaympäristön muutoksiin varautumisen katsottiin edellyttävän myös elinvoimaisuutta. Aiempina vuosikymmeninä valtion rahoitusta ohjattiin voimakkaasti infrastruktuurin ja palveluverkon ylläpitämiseen syrjäseudulla ja heikosti toimeentulevissa kunnissa. Tapahtuneessa muutoksessa on kysymys siitä, että yksi totuuden politiikka korvautuu toisella. Kuntien odotetaan kantavan vastuunsa elinkelpoisuudestaan ja yhdistyvän väestö- ja elinkeinopohjaltaan ja sitä kautta entistä vahvemmiksi kokonaisuuksiksi. 2000-luvun edetessä kuntaliitoshankkeita on käynnistynyt kiihtyvällä tahdilla ja yhä useammissa niistä kunnat yhdistyvät. Kuntayhteisön historia, identiteetti ja ainutkertaisuus väistävät, kun yhdistyminen muodostuu yhden tai useamman kunnan taloudellisen aseman tai toiminnallisten edellytysten kannalta välttämättömäksi. Keskusteltaessa kuntarakenteesta keskustellaan samalla kuntien itsehallinnosta. Voimakas vaatimus kuntien elinvoimaisuudesta ja elinkelpoisuudesta merkitseekin itsehallintokäsityksen muuttumista. ; The topic of this study is the public discussion on desired local authority size and the need for municipal mergers. The study is based on the French philosopher Michel Foucault´s discoursive view of knowledge and power and an analytics of governmentality, which has evolved from Foucault´s research. The discussion on local government structure concerns information on local authorities, power and competing governmental rationalities. Governmental rationalities refer to different ways of producing truths and giving causes for social and political aims. The study is based on the conception that governmental rationalities are bound up with a discoursive struggle. This struggle is integrated into public discussion. The material of the study consists of newspaper articles on local government structure and municipal mergers. The discussion on local government structure is examined in contexts from the early 1990s and early 2000s. With regard to these two periods I analyse the changing historical conditions under which the discourses unfold. During the time that passed between the two periods the local authorities faced a major change in economic fluctuations, migration, internationalisation, the European integration and the effects of extensive public administration reforms. The discussion on local government structure is analysed in relation to the recent development of the operating environment, the metamorphosis of the welfare society and the changeable role of local authorities. An important issue in my study is what kind of discourses form the framework for public discussion on local government structure? And how do they regulate the governmental rationalities concerning the relations between the duties, resources and structures of local governments? According to my study, the debate on local government structure is in fact a defining struggle over the local authorities´ mission, resources and structure and how these are related to one another. A change detected in resources or duties triggers a need to adjust either one of the two other elements in question. The interpretations of adjustment in each case result in specific governmental rationalities of reform. There is also the question of how political power is distributed and the tensions arising from it, i.e. a struggle for political power in connection to the political parties´ differentiated position in local governments. A change in local government structure signifies new strategic positions and political strongholds. The positions of the traditional ruling parties, i.e. the Centre Party and the Social Democratic Party, produce opposite dispositions of how and on whose conditions the governmental models are outlined. The study shows that the discussion on local government structure is dominated by a power discourse that strongly emphasises a demand for restructuring in order to form larger municipalities. The power discourse strengthens a rationality that gives priority to restructuring local governments instead of financing or redefining duties. Within the power discourse the conception of local government structure turns into an instrument of governmentality and a perspective which sets aside other possible ways of representing local authorities. Local authorities are perceived as a part of the total structure of administrative units, the characteristics of which may be measured, assessed and changed. A counterdiscourse arises as a reaction to the power discourse and its demand for adjustment to the change of operational environment through a change of local government structure. This counterdiscourse questions the notion of local authorities as a structure that can be steered and governed. Local authorities are seen as unique, autonomous regional institutions where decisions on their development and services must be made as close to the local residents as possible. Thus the counterdiscourse emphasises the local authorities´ territorial autonomy, which secures preserve the unique history and identity of the present municipalities. In the 1990 s the interpretation that the operating environment developed towards regionalisation was characteristic for the change management. The aim to promote regionalisation and conditions influencing regionalisation was strengthened. Regional cooperation represented a compromise between reluctance to merge and securing of industrial development needs and services. The discussion concerning local authority structures was founded upon a two-peaked strategy of adjusting, i.e. the aim was to actively further the promotion of both municipal mergers and regional cooperation. Securing services is the topic in the core of the discussions on local government structures. And this topic is enwrapped in the discourse on equality. However, equality appears to be the ambivalent precondition for the reform. In the power discourse the equal status of citizens is threatened by the differentiation of the financial situation of local authorities. A change of the local government structure arises as the solution. The counterdiscourse emphasises one aspect above all others, i.e. to secure services as close to the local residents as possible. The pursuit of scale benefits, concentration of resources and development measures and cutting down on services are considered risks in the change of local government structures. The fear for the effects of concentrated powers and for the dismantlement of the welfare society at local level will be actualised in the counterdiscourse. From the beginning of the 1990 s to the mid-2000 s there is a discoursive change in the discussion on local government structures. The discussion starts increasingly to circle around the change of operating environments of local authorities. The prerequisites of local governments to secure the services are getting questioned due to migration, changes in the population s age structure and regional differentiation. There seems to be a division into winning and losing local authorities. The financial and operating prerequisites of small and remote local authorities are considered to have weakened. Making provisions for changes in the operating environment emphasises vitality and viability. A condition is that local authorities embrace their financial responsibilities. The responsibilisation in the discoursive change is similar to the responsibilisation frequently applied in connection with the management of welfare drawing on different neoliberal practices. The mentality of liberalisation and responsibilisation can be more widely acknowledged in the development of the relations between local authorities and the state. In political rationalisation the promotion of productivity has become the counterpart of the securing of services. The rhetoric of financial necessities is more strongly than before starting to regulate the discussion. In the 1990 s the emphasis was on effectivity and claims for the streamlining of the bureaucratised governance. In the 2000 s the talk focused on productivity and the demand that more should be achieved despite decreasing resources. The concept of productivity welling from the background assumptions of economic science is problematic for the public sector. It does not measure welfare and wellbeing. Consequently the dispute is not about measures but about goals. What kind of local authorities will be given the responsibility for the services to residents and the development of their close environment? The answer to this question also implies how resources and duties are allocated to local authorities. The discoursive change is all about a reorganisation of the mutual relations between knowledge and power. One politics of truth is replaced with another politics of truth with more explanatory power and penetrating effects than the former one. The responsibilisation of local authorities and the assessment based on financial processes come in the centre of the discussion on local government structures. The definitions of local authority duties, resources and structures also contribute to the revision of local self-government. The strong claim for vital and viable local authorities actually means the articulation of a new kind of basis for the self-government.
The edited volume Archives and the Cultural Heritage focuses on archives as institutions and to their tense relationship with archives as material. These dynamics are discussed in respect of the past, the present, and the future. The focus lies in the mechanisms the Finnish archive institutions have utilised when taking part in forming the cultural heritage and in debating the importance of the private archives in society. Within social sciences and history from the early 1990s onwards, the effects of globalisation have been seen as a new focal point for research. Momentarily, the archives saw the same paradigm shift as the focus of the archival studies proceeded from state to society. This brought forth the notion that the values of society are reflected in the acquisition of archival material. This archival turn draws attention to the archives as entities formed by cultural practices. The volume discusses cultural heritage within Finnish archives with diverse perspectives and from various time periods. The key concepts are cultural heritage and archives – both as institution and as material. Articles review the formation of archival collections spanning from the 19th to the 21st century and highlight that the archives have never been neutral or objective actors; rather, they have always been an active process of remembering and forgetting, a matter of inclusion and exclusion. The focus is on private archives and on the choices that guided the creation of the archives and the cultural perceptions and power structures associated with them. Although private archives have considerable social and research value, and although their material complements the picture of society provided by documentary data produced by public administrations, they have only risen to the theoretical discussions in the 21st century. The authors consider what has happened before the material ends up in the archive, what happens in the archive and what can be deduced from this. It shows how archival solutions manifest themselves, how they have influenced research and how they still affect it. One of the key questions is whose past has been preserved and whose is deemed worthy of preservation. Under what conditions have the permanently preserved documents been selected and how can they be accessed? In addition, the volume pays attention to whose documents have been ignored or forgotten, as well as to the networks and power of the individuals within the archival institution and to the politics of memory. The Archives and the Cultural Heritage is an opening to a discussion on the mechanisms, practices and goals of Finnish archival activities. It challenges archival organisations to reflect on their own operating models and to make visible their own conscious or unconscious choices. It raises awareness of the formation of the Finnish documentary cultural heritage, produces new information about private archives and participates in the scientific debate on the changing significance of archives in society. The volume is related to the Academy of Finland research project "Making and Interpreting National Pasts – Role of Finnish Archives as Networks of Power and Sites of Memory" (no 25257, 2011–2014/2019), University of Turku. Project partners Finnish Literature Society (SKS) and Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (SLS).
Marxismin mukaan kapitalistisen yhteiskunnan jäsenet jakaantuvat kolmeen luokkaan: porvaristoon, keskiluokkaan ja työväenluokkaan. Jotkut marxismin tukijat jakavat keskiluokan talonpojistoon ja muuhun keskiluokkaan. Talonpojisto on vähenevä luokka. Koska marxismin luokkateorian mukaan poliittiset puolueet vaalivat yhteiskuntaluokien intressejä, tutkin pitääkö tämä väite paikkansa. Ensin selvitin marxilaisen teorian luokista ja niiden intresseistä eli eduista, joiden puolustamiseski luokat järjestäytyvät poliittisiksi puolueiksi. Ne laativat itselleen yhteiskuntapoliittiset ohjelmansa, joita ne pyrkivät politiikansa avulla toteuttamaan. Tutkimusaineistona käytän Suomen eduskunnassa tutkimusvuosina edustettina olelleiden puolueiden tavoite- ja yleisohjelmia, joista selvitän sisällön analyysiä käyttäen niiden sisällön ja julkilausutut tavoitteet. Erityisesti pyrin selvittämään orientoituvatko puolueet ohjelmissaan tiettyjen luokkien etujen puolustajiksi vai missä määrin ne esiintyvät yhteiskunnan yleisten etujen vaalijoina. Tutkimus tapahtuu toisaalta puolueiden eduskuntoimintaa selvittämällä. Tällöin pyrin saamaan selville sen toimivatko puolueet periaate- ja tavoiteohjelmiensa mukaisesti laatiessaan lakialoitteita eduskunnassa. Kolmantena tutkimuskohteena on hallituksen esitysten sisällön eritteleminen intressiorientaation pojalta. Kysymys kuuluu palvelevatko hallituksen esitykset yleistä vai luokkien erityisetuja. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että puolueet niin ohjelmalausumissaan kuin eduskuntatoiminnassaan vaalivat sekä yleistä etu, josta käytän nimitystä luokkien yhteisetu, että luokkien erityisetuja. Eniten puolueet vaalivat yhteisetua. Erityiseduista puolueet vaalivat kukin tiettyä luokkaetua enemmän kuin toista. Tämän perusteella puolueet jakaantuvat ensijaisesti porvariston, keskiluokan ja työväenluokanetuja vaaliviksi. Hallituksen esityksissä luokkaorientaatio on heikompaa kuin kansanedustajien lakialoitteissa. Tutkimustuloksistani selviää myös se, että vaikka puolueet ovat viime vuosikymmeninä ottaneet vaaliakseen aikaisempaa enemmän kaikkien luokkien intressejä ja niiden yleispuolueominaisuudet ovat lisääntyneet, tietty luokkaorientaatio on säilynyt. ; Classes continually alter and influence party strategies and also the behaviour of voters. The members of classes form economic, professional and political organisations. Every class aims to exert the greatest influence upon the state with the help of its political party. This study researches the class basis of political competition, the effect of class interests on the policies of nine Finnish parties in their political programmes and initiative work in the Parliament. The investigation is based on historical materialism and its class structure theory developed by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and other Marxists. The aim of study is to estimate how appropriate the class schema of historical materialism is for analysing the political partisanships and ideological conflicts in advanced industrial society. The statements and aims of political party programmes are put into practice in Parliament. This research analyses how parties represent their aims in their political programmes and what their parliamentarians do in Parliament. Is a party the representative of one class or does it equally promote the interests of many classes? Is it a class party or a generally oriented party? As in historical materialism, the programmes and legislative initiatives have been classified into five groups. The first group contains general class interest, oriented towards the common good. The next four groups comprise bills with a specific class interest orientation: bourgeoisie, the middle class, farmers and workers. The parties investigated are The National Coalition Party /The Conservative Party, The Swedish People`s Party, The Finnish Centre Party, The Finnish Social Democratic Party, The Left Alliance, The Liberals, The True Finns, The Christian Democratic Party and The Greens. The changes in politics and in party relationships over thirty years are investigated by comparing the parliamentary actions of parties from the 1960´s to the 1990´s. The study concerns the legislative initiatives of the years 1965, 1972, 1988 and 1999. The data on the programmes were collected from the two political programmes of nine parties from the years 1950 2003. The programmes of political parties are the public flag of the party as Engels expressed it, although their programmes have lost some of their class orientation. In the programmes of all nine political parties the contents aiming at the common good are the first, most important aim, the percentages being 76 98 %. Differences in the programmes of the political parties can still be found. The political parties emphasise their interests and aims in their own ways. The Conservative Party, The Swedish People´s Party and The Liberals have the next important interest in the bourgeoisie. The Swedish People´s Party, The Finnish Centre Party and The True Finns emphasise the middle class and the farmers. The Finnish Social Democratic Party, The Left Alliance and The Greens take care of working class. The main task of Parliament is to enact legislation. Bills can be submitted to Parliament by the Government or as private members bills. In this process the class interests notably emerge in private members bills of plenary sessions. The main Finnish political parties took into consideration the interests of all classes. All nine parties have made in the largest extent common good legislative initiatives. For all nine parties, the most prevalent type of legislative initiatives was those for the common good (84 -67 %). At the same time they tended to favour special class interests. The least specific class parties were The Christian Democratic Party, The Green Party and The Swedish People´s Party. Among special class interests all the parties oriented more to middle class interests in Parliament than in their declared objectives (18.8 7.0 %). The Liberals, The Conservative Party, The Social Democratic Party, The Left Alliance and The True Finns had the strongest middle class orientation. The Conservative Party were the most bourgeois party (10.2%). The strongest working class interest was found in The Left Alliance, The Social Democratic Party and The Green Party (18.8 13.1 %). The Finnish Centre Party and The Social Democratic party, The Left Alliance and The True Finns were closest to working class interests. Are there class oriented differences in the contents of the legislative initiatives and political programmes of the nine political parties? The contents were classified into eleven groups: administration, civil rights, nature conservation, economics, occupation structure, social policy, public health, education, culture, labour market and international affairs. All nine parties have the same three most important contents of legislative initiatives. These were finance/economics, social policy and administration systems. And all nine parties were more interested in financial and economic aims than their political manifestos suggest. The fourth important content for The Conservative Party, The Swedish People`s Party, The Liberals and The Christian Democratic Party was education. Employment was the fourth aim of The Finnish Centre Party and The True Finns. The Labour Market was also important to The Finnish Social Democratic Party, The Left Alliance and The Greens. Nature conservation was important to The Greens, too. The contents of government bills are more oriented towards the common good than are the private members bills. The conclusion is that the main Finnish political parties took the interests of all classes into consideration. At the same time they reveal preferences for special class interests. This emerges in political manifestos and legislative initiatives and government proposals. The Finnish political parties are not purely general parties devoid of class background. Finance and economics was the basis upon which the people arranged their lives and formed political opinions. The class structure of historical materialism is suitable to demonstrate political partisanship in Finland during the second half of the twentieth century. Social changes affect both the class structures and the political aims of parties and give rise to social and ideological conflicts in advanced industrial societies. The consensus policy is one appearance of civilized class struggle.