Modernization of the Russian Economy : Fossil Fuels, Diversification, and the Shackles of International Political Economy

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Constructing Post-Soviet Geopolitics in Estonia : A Study in Security, Identity and Subjectivity

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.This study explores the construction of political space in post-Soviet Estonia. To this end, the study develops a new 'critical geopolitics' approach to the study of International Relations by importing perspectives from Political Geography and social theory, and by making use of Q methodological discourse analysis. On the whole, the new approach departs clearly from traditional geopolitical scholarship in focusing on the political, discursive and subjective aspects of geopolitics. In particular, this approach helps us to obtain detailed knowledge of how discourse construction, identity politics and subjectively experienced everyday life result in the creation of new symbolic and material (territorial) boundaries between groups, states and groups of states. In the early 1990s, the ethnic Estonians initiated the practice of 'restorationist geopolitics'. By clinging to the principle of restoration of Estonia's statehood, they drove themselves into a border dispute with Russia. They also found themselves at odds with Russia in practising exclusionist citizenship policies towards Estonia's Russophone minority and by trying to disengage Estonia firmly from Russia after some 50 years of Soviet rule over Estonia. However, by making use of Q methodological discourse analysis and in-depth interviews, the study locates three discourses that introduce interesting alternatives to 'restorationist geopolitics'. The significance of these three discourses is that they indicate a relative opening up of political space in Estonia. Importantly, there is now more room for competing forms of identity politics as well. This also means the transformation of the rigid boundaries of the early 1990s between the ethnic Estonians and Estonia's Russophones into more permeable ones, with the Estonian government also opting for more inclusive policies. Estonian-Russian interstate relations continue to display a somewhat more mixed pattern, but the application of the new 'critical geopolitics' approach provides good grounds for finding further routes of peaceful development in the Baltic Region and post-Soviet space at large.Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan poliittisen tilan rakentumista Virossa. Tätä tarkoitusta varten tutkimuksessa kehitetään uusi 'kriittisen geopolitiikan' lähestymistapa kansainvälisen politiikan tutkimukseen. Uusi lähestymistapa hyödyntää poliittisen maantieteen ja yleisen yhteiskuntateorian tutkimusta sekä Q-metodologista diskurssianalyysiä. Samalla se eroaa selkeästi perinteisestä geopolitiikan tutkimuksesta kohdistuessaan geopolitiikan poliittisiin, diskursiivisiin ja subjektiivisiin aspekteihin. Uusi lähestymistapa auttaa ymmärtämään, miten diskurssien sosiaalinen rakentaminen, identiteettipolitiikka ja subjektiiviset arkipäiväisen elämän kokemukset johtavat uusien symbolisten ja materiaalisten (territoriaalisten) rajojen luomiseen yhteiskunnallisten ryhmien, valtioiden sekä valtioiden muodostamien ryhmien välille. Korostamalla Viron valtion restauraation periaatetta virolaiset alkoivat 1990-luvun alussa harjoittamaan 'restauraationistista geopolitiikkaa'. Tämä johti Viron ja Venäjän väliseen rajakiistaan. Viro joutui myös konfliktiin Venäjän kanssa harjoittaessaan poissulkevaa kansalaisuuspolitiikkaa Viron venäläisvähemmistöä kohtaan ja yrittäessään vähentää siteitä Venäjään viisi vuosikymmentä jatkuneen neuvostovallan jälkeen. Hyödyntämällä Q-metodologista diskurssianalyysiä ja syvähaastatteluja tutkimuksessa löydetään kuitenkin kolme diskurssia, jotka tarjoavat kiinnostavia vaihtoehtoja 'restauraationistiselle geopolitiikalle'. Erityisen merkittävää on näiden diskurssien heijastelema Viron poliittisen tilan avautuminen. Viron poliittinen tila antaa nyt enemmän sijaa vaihtoehtoisille identiteettipolitiikan muodoille. Tämä tarkoittaa myös 1990-luvun alussa virolaisten ja Viron venäläisten välillä vallinneiden rajojen muuntumista helpommin ylitettäviin muotoihin. Viron hallitus on myös ottanut etäisyyttä poissulkevaan politiikkaan. Vaikka Viron ja Venäjän väliset suhteet antavatkin ristiriitaisemman kuvan, tutkimuksessa kehitetty 'kriittisen geopolitiikan' lähestymistapa antaa silti viitteitä rauhanomaisen kehityksen edistämiseen Itämeren sekä entisen Neuvostoliiton alueella

The structuration of Russia’s geo-economy under economic sanctions

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The politics of knowledge in black carbon mitigation : Policy entrepreneurship of Finnish actors and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition

Mitigation of black carbon (BC) is a potent short-term measure for climate and environmental policy due to the short lifetime of BC particles in the atmosphere. Fewer BC emissions would decelerate warming especially in the Arctic and bring significant co-benefits particularly in populous countries owing to BC’s negative public health, food security and socio-economic effects. However, scientific knowledge on BC remains uncertain regarding the measurement, monitoring and precise effects of BC while the respective global policy framework is fragmented. To address this situation, we scrutinize the science/policy nexus in BC mitigation on the regional level where some promising openings exist. For this end, our new analytical framework focuses on policy entrepreneurs, their interests and cognitive frames, and the structural environment. Utilising content analysis of expert interviews and document data, three cases are covered with significant policy entrepreneurship on BC. First, we examine Finland ‘s high-profile BC initiative, finding it to frame BC pollution as an Arctic climate threat. Second, Finland’s research, development and innovation cluster, which has substantial expertise on air pollution, frames BC as a public health hazard, and scopes prospects for policy frameworks helping to open markets for mitigation technologies and solutions. Third, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition approaches BC with a wide multipollutant frame, driven by broad socio-economic and developmental interests. The Finnish initiative’s potential is found to suffer from insufficient coordination with the RDI cluster. Both Finland’s BC specific and the CCAC’s wider multipollutant frame can in different ways contribute to abatement.Peer reviewe

Russian nuclear energy diplomacy in Finland and Hungary

We   compare   Russian   nuclear   energy   diplomacy   towards   Finland  and  Hungary,  where  the  Russian  state  corporation  Rosatom intends to build nuclear power plants by the 2020s. Russian nuclear energy diplomacy features Rosatom working with  other  state  institutions,  its  own  subsidiaries  and  an  extensive  network  of  companies  and  R&D  actors  to  support  Russian nuclear power projects abroad. Using the structuration approach,  we  find  three  interests  driving  such  diplomacy:  energy business and associated profits; modernization of the Russian  economy,  including  the  diversification  of  its  export  structure;  while  foreign  policy  interests  are  also  involved,  considering  the  constraints  emerging  in  EU-Russia  energy  diplomacy in the oil and gas sectors, including the sanctions since  2014.  Some  domestic  actors  in  Finland  and  Hungary  make the linkage between nuclear energy and foreign policy as  explicit  as  do  some  western  commentators.  Seeking  to  pursue  these  interests,  Russian  actors  must  accommodate  their  considerable  assets  to  the  structural  constraints  they  encounter  in  the  target  countries.  We  identify  four  structural  dimensions  The  Russian  actors  are  well  endowed  as  regards  the   resources,   technology,   and   infrastructure   dimension;   and    the    dimension    of    finance,    business    models,    and    markets.  However,  on  the  institutional  dimension  they  face  a  less  controllable  environment.  Regarding  the  ecological  dimension,  they  must  conform  to  local  safety  requirements.  In   both   cases,   Russian   actors   were   able   to   strengthen   perceptions of joint interests with actors in the target country facilitating  the  nuclear  power  plant  projects,  thereby  paving  the way for the use of soft power.</p

From path dependence to policy mixes for Nordic electric mobility: lessons for accelerating future transport transitions?

We examine the problem of how to accelerate policies related to electric vehicles (EVs) in the Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. These four Nordic countries represent an interesting collection of cases by virtue of having common decarbonization targets extending to the transport sector, interlinked electric energy systems and a joint electricity market largely based on low-carbon energy while they are open societies bent on innovation, making them well adaptable to a transition toward electric mobility. Our analytical framework drawing from transition research, lock-in and path dependency and institutionalism enables us to discern technological, institutional and behavioral mechanisms which can have both constraining and enabling effects vis-à-vis this transition by means of shaping national socio-technical systems and regimes. On this basis, we also discuss how to develop policies accelerating the transition. We find that the incumbent industries can shape policy choice through the lock-in into institutional inter-dependencies. The accumulation of social and material features, and vested interests of actors, for its part can maintain regime level inertia, impeding the transition. Yet, technological lock-in can also enable EVs, by means of learning effects from technologically interrelated wind energy projects and available infrastructure in buildings that support the EV charging needs. Overall, the complexity of path-dependent mechanisms embedded in the dominant regimes, together with the diversity of emerging policy mixes, demands attention both on the technologies and broader socio-technical systems in order to properly assess the prospects of transition toward electric mobility

From Bilateral Science Diplomacy to Wider Black Carbon Governance? : Norwegian-Chinese and Finnish-Russian Initiatives

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Russian nuclear energy diplomacy in Finland and Hungary

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The Potential of Biomethane in Replacing Fossil Fuels in Heavy Transport : A Case Study on Finland

Electrification is a frequently discussed solution for reducing transport related carbon dioxide emissions. However, transport sectors such as aviation and heavy-duty vehicles remain dependent on on-board fuels. Here, biomethane is still a little exploited solution, and the case of heavy-duty vehicles is particularly underappreciated despite the recent technical advances and potentially notable emission reductions. This paper discusses the potential of biomethane in heavy-duty road transport in the case of Finland, where the utilization rate is low compared to the technical potential. To this end, the potential of biomethane production through both anaerobic digestion and gasification was calculated in three scenarios for the heavy-duty transport fleet, based on the literature values of biomethane potential and truck class fuel consumption. The authors find that approximately half of the heavy-duty transport in Finland could be biomethane fueled by 2030. The estimated production costs for biomethane (81-190 €/MWh) would be competitive with the current consumer diesel price (152 €/MWh). Utilizing the total biomethane potential in heavy-duty transport would furthermore decrease the respective carbon dioxide emissions by 50%. To accelerate the transition in the heavy-duty transport sector, a more comprehensive political framework is needed, taking into account both production and consumption.publishedVersionPeer reviewe