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This pro gradu-thesis studies the conflict between human rights and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The thesis focuses on the events that took place in Toronto between February and June 2003. The theoretical focus is placed within postmodern tradition and the main contributors for the theoretical approach in this work are Michel Foucault and Georgio Agamben. Especially the concept of biopolitics and politics of the state of exception are closely analysed. The key aspect of this thesis is in the temporality of human rights and the events that lead to revoking those rights. A great emphasis is placed on describing the interdependence between human rights and citizenship. In addition to human rights debate the aim is to explore the relationship between disease and war and to study how this relationship changed during SARS epidemic. I argue that SARS epidemic marked a new era in global governance; for the first time universal threat challenged the traditional alert and response mechanisms. The question that remains is did SARS, the invisible enemy, create a constant state of exception that invalidates human rights whenever there is a biological threat.

Tammikuun 21. päivänä vuonna 2020 Italian hallitus julisti koronavirukseen liittyvän hätätilan ja kielsi kaikki lennot Italiasta Kiinaan ja Kiinasta Italiaan. Covid-19-viruksen levitessä muut Euroopan unionin (EU) jäsenmaat seurasivat Italian esimerkkiä, julistivat nopeasti hätätiloja ja ottivat käyttöön rajoitus- ja eristystoimia. Suomessa valtioneuvosto julisti poikkeusolot 16. maaliskuuta, jonka jälkeen alkoi reilun 2 kuukauden mittainen sulkutila. Valtioiden lisäksi EU vastasi koronakriisiin monialaisesti. EU-maat sopivat yhteisvelasta ja elvyttämisestä. Komissio jätti budjettisäännöt huomioimatta. Euroopan keskuspankki (EKP) laajensi rahapoliittisia tukitoimiaan huomattavasti. Käyn puheenvuorossani läpi Euroopan vastaukset koronakriisiin sekä pohdin laajemmin, miten koronakriisi vaikuttaa unionin talouspolitiikkaan kriisin jälkeen. Euroopan unioni valitsi hyvin toisenlaisen tien kuin 2010-luvun eurokriisissä, mikä voi viestiä unionin laajemmasta talouspoliittisesta suunnanmuutoksesta.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposes uncertainty, instability and glaring inequality that requires urgent global policy decisions. Historically, bureaucrats regard uncertainty as the enemy and look for tested solutions (Stevens, 2011). In contrast, Fielding & Moss (2010) acknowledge an uncertain future and encourage shifting policy making towards the search for possibilities instead of replicating singular solutions. Escobar (2020) advocates for pluriversal politics, with many possibilities created through collective decision-making by autonomous interlinked networks. In this paper, I combine autoethnography with policy analysis drawing on my own experience in South African early childhood policy making. I argue for a fresh decolonial debate about early childhood policy to replace dominant imported evidence-based narratives. I pay attention to power relations and examine, not only the content of evidence, but who has authority to speak (Mignolo, 2007). I introduce the bottom-up appreciative participatory dialogical policy making in the Gauteng Impilo project (1996 - 2000), as one attempt to resist the dominant policy trajectory. Local networks, that can inform policy making and resource allocation though conversation and action, emerged from this experience. This article invites urgent inclusive policy debate that expands choices and can produce cumulative worthwhile change and new learnings to birth a better society. ; peerReviewed

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated governmental restrictions suddenly changed everyday life and potentially affected exercise behavior. The aim of this study was to explore whether individuals changed their preference for certain types of physical exercise during the pandemic and to identify risk factors for inactivity. An international online survey with 13,881 adult participants from 18 countries/regions was conducted during the initial COVID-19 related lockdown (between April and May 2020). Data on types of exercise performed during and before the initial COVID-19 lockdown were collected, translated, and categorized (free-text input). Sankey charts were used to investigate these changes, and a mixed-effects logistic regression model was used to analyze risks for inactivity. Many participants managed to continue exercising but switched from playing games (e.g., football, tennis) to running, for example. In our sample, the most popular exercise types during the initial COVID-19 lockdown included endurance, muscular strength, and multimodal exercise. Regarding risk factors, higher education, living in rural areas, and physical activity before the COVID-19 lockdown reduced the risk for inactivity during the lockdown. In this relatively active multinational sample of adults, most participants were able to continue their preferred type of exercise despite restrictions, or changed to endurance type activities. Very few became physically inactive. It seems people can adapt quickly and that the constraints imposed by social distancing may even turn into an opportunity to start exercising for some. These findings may be helpful to identify individuals at risk and optimize interventions following a major context change that can disrupt the exercise routine. ; peerReviewed

The paper addresses a puzzle resulting from the current global state of alert: the coronavirus pandemic brought us back to the world of the allegedly sovereign nation states with borders and national governments in charge, yet in fact, this retrieved sovereignty looks very vulnerable and precarious. We explain this controversy through a triad of concepts—sovereignty, governmentality, and post-liberalism—that we apply to an analysis of a corona-imposed state of emergency in Estonia and Finland. Based on comparative case study research, we posit that sovereignty is precarious in post-liberalism due to its large dependence on the technologies of responsibilization and agency. From a biopolitical perspective, a major point in the anti-crisis management is to convince people to sacrifice personal liberties for the sake of public safety. These issues of governmentality will be dealt with based on critical discourse analysis and media analysis in Estonia and Finland. ; peerReviewed

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that the traditional "booth, ballot, and pen" model of voting, based on a specific location and physical presence, may not be feasible during a health crisis. This situation has highlighted the need to assess whether existing national electoral legislation includes enough instruments to ensure citizens' safety during voting procedures, even under the conditions of a global pandemic. Such instruments, often grouped under the umbrella of voter facilitation or convenience voting, range from voting in advance and various forms of absentee voting (postal, online, and proxy voting) to assisted voting and voting at home and in hospitals and other healthcare institutions. While most democracies have implemented at least some form of voter facilitation, substantial cross-country differences still exist. In the push to develop pandemic-sustainable elections in different institutional and political contexts, variation in voter facilitation makes it possible to learn from country-specific experiences. As accessibility and inclusiveness are critical components of elections for ensuring political legitimacy and accountability these lessons are of utmost importance. In this study, we focus on Finland, where the Parliament decided in March 2021 to postpone for two months the municipal elections that were originally scheduled to be held on April 18. Although the decision was mostly justified by the sudden and dramatic daily increase in new COVID-19 infections, the inability to guarantee the opportunity to vote for those in quarantine was included among the likely risks. The failure to organize health-safe voting procedures to accommodate the original schedule emphasizes a certain paradox in the Finnish electoral legislation: caution in introducing new facilitation instruments has led to lower levels of preparedness and flexibility in crisis situations. Although a forerunner in implementing extensive advance voting opportunities, Finland has only recently introduced postal voting, which is ...