Beyond Green: The Arts as a Catalyst for Sustainability

The creative sector has played a significant role in efforts to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change and encourage sustainable social, economic, and environmental practices worldwide. Many artists and cultural organizations have embarked on remarkable projects that make us reflect on our behaviors, our carbon footprints, and the claims of infinite growth based on finite resources. Sometimes treading a fine line between arts and advocacy, they have sparked extraordinary collaborations that reveal new ways of living together on a shared planet. The 'art of the possible' will become even more relevant as 2016 dawns - bringing the challenge of how to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and the Climate Change Agreement adopted at the end of 2015. Yet with negotiations overshadowed by scientific controversy, political polemic and geographic polarization, individuals can easily lose faith in their own ability to shape change beyond the hyperlocal level. Against this challenging backdrop, could the arts and creative practice become a particle accelerator - to shift mindsets, embrace new ways of sharing space and resources, and catalyze more creative leadership in the public and private spheres? The goal of this Salzburg Global Seminar session was to build on path-breaking cultural initiatives to advance international and cross-sectoral links between existing arts and sustainability activities around the world, encourage bolder awareness-raising efforts, and recommend strategic approaches for making innovative grassroots to scale for greater, longer-term impact

Addressing climate vulnerability : promoting the participatory rights of indigenous peoples and women through Finnish foreign policy

Julkaistu versi

The post-Lisbon role of the European Parliament in the EU's Common Commercial Policy: Implications for bilateral trade negotiations. EU Diplomacy Paper 05/2012, July 2012

This paper sets out to conduct an empirical analysis of the post-Lisbon role of the European Parliament (EP) in the EU’s Common Commercial Policy through an examination of the ‘deep and comprehensive’ bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) currently negotiated as part of the EU’s Global Europe strategy. The EU-Korea and EU-India FTAs are used as case studies in order to determine the implications of the EP’s enhanced trade powers on the processes, actors and outcomes of EU bilateral trade policy. The EP is now endowed with the ‘hard power’ of consent in the ratification phase of FTAs, acting as a threat to strengthen its ‘soft power’ to influence negotiations. The EP is developing strategies to influence the mandate and now plays an important role in the implementation of FTAs. The entry of this new player on the Brussels trade policy field has brought about a shift in the institutional balance of power and opened up the EP as a new point of access for trade policy lobbyists. Finally, increased EP involvement in EU trade policy has brought about a politicisation of EU trade policy and greater normative outcomes of FTAs

Policy Design for International Greenhouse Gas Control

In this heart-searching, process based thesis, I want to find out who I am in the field of Architecture. Trough my urge to create, I am discovering and searching by making and producing objects by hand to feel and be present with the materiality, construction and art of architecture. My production of objects are divided in three parts based on scale, context and time, giving me a richer understanding about my will, intent and qualities.   "Two truths approach each other, one comes from within, one coming from the outside and where they meet there is a chance to see yourself” Tomas Tranströmer, Preludium II I detta hjärtsökande, processbaserade Xjobb, vill jag ta reda på vem jag är inom området arkitektur. Genom min lust att skapa, upptäcker och söker jag genom att göra och producera objekt för hand för att känna och vara närvarande med materialiteten, konstruktionen och konsten i arkitekturen. Min produktion av objekt är uppdelad i tre delar baserad på skala, kontext och tid, vilket ger mig en rikare förståelse om min vilja, avsikt och kvaliteter.   “Två sanningar närmar sig varann, en kommer inifrån, en kommer utifrån och där de möts har man en chans att få se sig själv”     To­mas Tran­strö­mer, Pre­lu­dium I

Explaining the Evolution of the Arctic Council

The Arctic Council is an international institution made up of the eight states that have territory in the Arctic, namely Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States, as well as six indigenous peoples’ organizations. When states created the Council in 1996, it was a research institution that addressed environmental issues and a loosely defined version of sustainable development. It was a weak institution, without a permanent secretariat. By 2014, it had become a policy-making body, as well as a research body, that addressed a wide range of issues, with the aid of a permanent secretariat. New states and institutions sought to become a part of the Council, which potentially challenged the role of the indigenous peoples’ organizations. This thesis answers the following question: how can we explain this evolution of the Arctic Council? It examines the Council’s evolving mandate, policy-making role, institutional capacity and membership. It addresses this question by analyzing three international relations theories, namely functionalism, neorealism and neoliberal institutionalism. This thesis concludes that the economic opportunities in the region made possible by climate change best explain the evolution of the Arctic Council. Neoliberal institutionalism best explains the evolution of the Council, while neorealism provides the best explanation for the outcome of that process

Foundation Focus (Issue 17): Social Dialogue - For a Competitive, Fair and Modern Europe

Social dialogue is a key part of the European social model, with European social dialogue having been launched at the historic Val Duchesse meeting 30 years ago. However, since then, established approaches to social dialogue in Europe have been challenged by industrial and social change. Ongoing shifts towards greater decentralisation of collective bargaining have resulted in a polarisation of Member States and the crisis has resulted in an increased trend towards unilateral decisionmaking by governments at the expense of social partners’ autonomy. In response to these challenges, the new Juncker Commission has set about a ‘relaunching’ of social dialogue. This issue of Foundation Focus looks at the current state of play of social dialogue in Europe, focusing in particular on Eurofound’s extensive research findings from both its Europe-wide surveys and its observatories

The effect of Dutch and German cultures on negotiation strategy comparing operations and innovation management in the supply chain

negotiation, strategy, culture, Dutch, German

A Policy-Oriented Narrative Approach to IR

Yamin and Depledge (2004) argue that the UNFCCC regime is characterised by formal and informal coalitions, alliances, and political groups. Blaxekjær and Nielsen (2014) have demonstrated how new groups since COP15 have transformed the narrative positions and negotiations space in the UNFCCC, creating bridges as well as new trenches between North and South in relation to the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibility. As the UNFCCC regime readjusts after COP21, these new narrative positions and negotiations space should be re-examined. Through original data such as official statements from groups, observations at UN climate conferences (2011-2015), and interviews with delegates and experts, the paper analyses the narrative position of the Like Minded group of Developing Countries (LMDC), an influential political group under the UNFCCC established in 2012. Following Blaxekjær and Nielsen’s (2014) policy-oriented narrative approach to IR the paper analyses LMDC’s identity, the problems identified by LMDC and the solutions to these problems, and the paper identifies five central characteristics of the dominant LMDC narrative. The analysis also touches upon what narrative techniques are used in constructing the LMDC identity. This framework reveals the embeddedness of narratives in practice as they unfold in the formation of new alliances and ruptures in old ones. This paper contributes to the emerging Narrative in IR research agenda with a policy-oriented model of analysis. The paper also contributes to the broader research agenda on the post-Paris UNFCCC regime, and argues that as long as CBDR/RC is a major unresolved issue – an essentially contested concept – as long will the LMDC play a prominent role in the UNFCCC regime