The academic databases such as Scopus or Web of Science are commonly used to measure performance of universities, departments, and even single researchers. However, to what extent such databases can represent real outcomes of aforementioned units especially in the field of art and humanities where local languages and cultural phenomena play an important role is not clear. This article focuses on understanding how research in this field, as seen through the case of aesthetics in non-English speaking countries, Finland in particular, (...) is represented through major academic databases. This question is tackled by applying a data mining approach. First, we identify major academic databases, and afterwards test what is the proportion of Finnish aesthetics presented in those databases. Our approach allows us to critically look into representation of local art or humanities related research in general academic databases, and understand to what extent we can trust those sources in representing real pictures of the field. Results strengthen the well-known fact that most common academic databases draw a rather poor picture. In more particular this article shows that there are certain factors that influence analysis of the field: spread data, multilingual content, non-standard categorization, variability of venues, different publishing patterns, and unsuitable impact metrics. However, our results propose that alternative databases can be formed from university or meta-data databases. We also provide further directions for designing of such databases. (shrink)

This study investigated Finnish nurses’ experiences and views on end-of-life decision making and compared them with physicians’ views. For this purpose, a questionnaire was sent to 800 nurses, of which 51% responded. Most of the nurses had a positive attitude towards and respect for living wills, more often than physicians. Most also believed that a will had an effect on decision making. Almost all of the nurses considered it their responsibility to talk to physicians about respecting living wills. Do-not-resuscitate (...) (DNR) orders were often interpreted to imply partial or complete palliative (symptom-orientated) care, which may cause confusion. Half of the nurses reported that a DNR decision was discussed always or often with a patient who was able to communicate; physicians were more positive in this respect. Surprisingly, many nurses (44%) stated that active treatment continued too long. Two-thirds thought that their opinions were taken into account sufficiently, even though only half believed that, in general, they had some impact. (shrink)

Finnish is a small language area and classical philosophical translations have been largely missing. Translating Sein und Zeit brings forth some specific difficulties. Finnish philosophical tradition is mostly analytical and we don’t have established phenomenological concepts. For example, the word “Dasein” is translated in several different ways. Following Heidegger’s own method and philosophy of language a translator has to find his own path situated in the nearness of Being and language. Therefore a translation is always an act of (...) rewriting. Heidegger’s own roots in philosophical traditions of Neo-Kantianism, Aristotle and primal Christian thought must be taken into account as well. (shrink)

Background: Nurses’ voices remain unheard in most debates about euthanasia, although their crucial role in the euthanasia process is widely acknowledged. Moreover, in Canadian euthanasia law, nurses have a more active role, which further highlights the need for knowledge about nurses’ attitudes towards their role in the euthanasia process. Research questions: What are Finnish nurses’ attitudes towards their potential role in the euthanasia process? Which characteristics are associated with those attitudes? Research design: Cross-sectional web-based survey. Participants and research context: (...) 1003 nurses, recruited via social media and the members’ bulletin of the Finnish Nurses Association. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was obtained from the Committee on Research Ethics of the university to which the first author was affiliated. Findings: The great majority (85.2%) of nurses felt that their perspective should be considered in decision-making related to euthanasia. Furthermore, most of the participants (74.7%) reported willingness to participate in the euthanasia process if it were legal, and 88.6% agreed that a nurse should be present when euthanasia is performed if the patient wishes so. Furthermore, over half agreed that some of the preparatory tasks were part of their job description. However, a minority (32.9%) agreed with a possible obligation to participate based on their profession. Nurses’ age, religiosity and educational level influenced their attitudes in the current results. Discussion: Despite the strong agreement on decision-making concerning euthanasia and participation in the euthanasia process, obligation to participate based on the profession was rejected by most participants. Nurses regarded themselves as consultants in the decision-making process, which may indicate their unwillingness to share the responsibility for the decision itself. Conclusion: Specific safety mechanisms should be considered to protect nurses who refuse to be involved in the euthanasia process due to harm that involuntary participation might cause. (shrink)

Inflected words in Finnish show a range of interdependent stem and suffix alternations which are conditioned by syllable structure and stress. In a penetrating study, Anttila (1997) shows how the statistical preferences among optional alternants of the Genitive Plural can be derived from free constraint ranking. I propose an analysis which covers the rest of the nominal morphology and spells out the phonological constraints that interact to produce the alternations, and show how it supports a stratal version of OT (...) phonology. (shrink)

This chapter concludes the book’s comparative research by focusing on the Finnish sauna in light of its affinities with the ritualistic elements discussed in the context of the other saunas and sweat lodge practices. While the sauna culture does not appear to share all of the most archaic aspects of Indigenous North American or Galician saunas of the Castro culture, its rich lore of guardian spirits and sauna goddesses commands attention. The chapter presents the primal elements of the (...) class='Hi'>Finnish sauna with its past and present shamanic and animistic elements, its herbs and gifting practices and the idiosyncronies of vihtas, whisks for healing and holistic massage. The focus on saunas as sites of meditation, liminality, imitative magic and ancestor worship serve to inspire other sauna scholars to consider similar notions in other cultures. The chapter includes brief references to sauna and sweat lodge among Canadian Finns, who tend to retain more primitive features of their home country’s culture than Finns back in Finland.As sauna guardian spirits and goddesses have turned out to be important protectors of the sauna and sweat institutions, and they have previously not received attention apart from my own books, I list them here, followed by a brief description of their spheres of activity. As one example, we can reconstruct the pre-Christian role of Hongatar/Hongotar with her slightly different names through cross-cultural mythology with a focus on Bear Goddesses elsewhere. The figure also takes us far back into Greek and Roman mythology where there are similar Goddesses linked with rebirth (Artemis, the Mistress of Animals, for example). As we learn from the Greeks, the story of bear Goddesses in their dens, such as Callisto, has been compared to tale of the sun that spends the winter in the depths of the Earth only to give new life to hibernating animals. (shrink)

The purpose of the research was to study Finnish people's attitudes towards biomedical research and whether the research sponsor makes a difference to those attitudes. A survey questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 25-64 years old. Respondents had a positive attitude towards biomedical research and there were only small variations by population group. When asked whether one's own clinical blood samples could be used in scientific biomedical research, 84 per cent of the respondents would allow it. The (...) most important reasons for giving routinely collected samples to a biobank were altruistic. Attitudes were strongly dependent on the sponsor of the research. Domestic research was looked at more positively than international research. Whether research was made by a public or private actor had less impact. The results suggest that people want to be research participants to help such research of their own free will, and to choose whom they help. This has an impact on the way participants are informed, on the criteria used by ethics committees and other research regulators, and also on transparency and access to research results. (shrink)

Philosophers active in Europe in the early decades of the twentieth century developed not only insightful and original responses to the American pragmatist tradition but also philosophical ideas not explicitly influenced by the American pragmatists yet bearing striking resemblance to pragmatist thought. Philosophers in the Nordic countries were no exception. Pragmatist themes were discussed early on especially in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. (For historical examinations of “Nordic pragmatism”, see Pihlström 2010; Rydenfelt 2018.) This chapter will not trace the general history (...) of Nordic pragmatism reception. I will only examine, as a case study, two major Finnish philosophers, Eino Kaila (1890–1958) and Georg Henrik von Wright (1916–2003), whose contributions to pragmatism were perhaps not obvious – and are certainly less known and less frequently acknowledged than their contributions to logical empiricism and analytic philosophy – but were nevertheless original and potentially relevant to the on-going re-evaluation of the pragmatist tradition and its European influences and analogies. (shrink)

This article gives an overview of Finnish aesthetics in the past forty years. I will introduce major figures who have done research in aesthetics and topics that have been investigated. I will divide the field of aesthetics in two: philosophy of art and environmental aesthetics. Especially the latter has gained a lot of prominence in Finnish aesthetics, and there are also institutional settings that have made this possible. But philosophical problems in the arts have been scrutinized intensively, too. (...) Finnish aestheticians have taken inspiration both from the Anglo‐American analytic tradition and the German and French phenomenological tradition. In order to put the contemporary considerations into some perspective, I will give a brief outline of the early stages of Finnish Aesthetics. The early 20th century was a heyday in Finnish Aesthetics. (shrink)

Finland is internationally known as one of the leading centers of twentieth century analytic philosophy. This volume offers for the first time an overall survey of the Finnish analytic school. The rise of this trend is illustrated by original articles of Edward Westermarck, Eino Kaila, Georg Henrik von Wright, and Jaakko Hintikka. Contributions of Finnish philosophers are then systematically discussed in the fields of logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, history of philosophy, ethics and social philosophy. Metaphilosophical (...) reflections on the nature of philosophy are highlighted by the Finnish dialogue between analytic philosophy, phenomenology, pragmatism, and critical theory. (shrink)

Our aim was to study how nurses interpret patient autonomy in end-of-life decision making. This study built on our previous quantitative study, which evaluated the experiences of and views on end-of-life decision making of a representative sample of Finnish nurses taken from the whole country. We performed qualitative interviews with 17 nurses and analysed these using discourse analysis. In their talk, the nurses demonstrated three different discourses, namely, the ‘supporter’, the ‘analyst’ and the ‘practical’ discourses, each of which outlined (...) a certain position for patients and relatives, and a certain identity for the nurses in end-of-life decision making. The nurses’ talk showed notable differences when compared with that of physicians, highlighting the differences that take place in respect of the image of a person’s work, professional culture, professional identification and responsibilities. An important finding was that the nurses often described their participation in end-of-life decision making in terms of indirect influence. (shrink)

Finland is internationally known as one of the leading centers of twentieth century analytic philosophy. This volume offers for the first time an overall survey of the Finnish analytic school. The rise of this trend is illustrated by original articles of Edward Westermarck, Eino Kaila, Georg Henrik von Wright, and Jaakko Hintikka. Contributions of Finnish philosophers are then systematically discussed in the fields of logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, history of philosophy, ethics and social philosophy. Metaphilosophical (...) reflections on the nature of philosophy are highlighted by the Finnish dialogue between analytic philosophy, phenomenology, pragmatism, and critical theory. (shrink)

The purpose of the research was to study Finnish people's attitudes towards biomedical research and whether the research sponsor makes a difference to those attitudes. A survey questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 25-64 years old. Respondents had a positive attitude towards biomedical research and there were only small variations by population group. When asked whether one's own clinical blood samples could be used in scientific biomedical research, 84 per cent of the respondents would allow it. The (...) most important reasons for giving routinely collected samples to a biobank were altruistic. Attitudes were strongly dependent on the sponsor of the research. Domestic research was looked at more positively than international research. Whether research was made by a public or private actor had less impact. The results suggest that people want to be research participants to help such research of their own free will, and to choose whom they help. This has an impact on the way participants are informed, on the criteria used by ethics committees and other research regulators, and also on transparency and access to research results. (shrink)

This essay introduces two leading Finnish philosophers of the twentieth century, Eino Kaila and Georg Henrik von Wright, who not only established analytic philosophy in Finland but also made original contributions to the development of pragmatism. The pragmatist dimensions of Kaila’s thought were clearly influenced by the classical American pragmatists, primarily William James, whose writings Kaila read and commented on already at an early stage of his career in the 1910s. Kaila then continued to develop a quasi-pragmatist idea of (...) “practical testability” during his logical empiricist period in the 1930s and 1940s. Unlike Kaila, von Wright was never directly inspired by James or any other classical pragmatists, although he did refer to Peirce and James as informal precursors of logical empiricism in the 1940s. His highly original theories of human action and causation, mostly developed in the 1970s, contain interesting pragmatist aspects, however. Both Kaila and von Wright, moreover, shared a life-long engagement with an issue that also troubled all the classical pragmatists: a reconciliation of a “humanist” philosophy with a thoroughgoing appreciation of the natural sciences. Thus, they both developed non-reductive versions of naturalism (or naturalist versions of pragmatist humanism) that, in their emphasis on the disunity of science, were not terribly far from the positions of classical pragmatists like James and Dewey. (shrink)

Finland is internationally known as one of the leading centers of twentieth century analytic philosophy. This volume offers for the first time an overall survey of the Finnish analytic school. The rise of this trend is illustrated by original articles of Edward Westermarck, Eino Kaila, Georg Henrik von Wright, and Jaakko Hintikka. Contributions of Finnish philosophers are then systematically discussed in the fields of logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, history of philosophy, ethics and social philosophy. Metaphilosophical (...) reflections on the nature of philosophy are highlighted by the Finnish dialogue between analytic philosophy, phenomenology, pragmatism, and critical theory. (shrink)

This bibliography aims to gather together studies in the philosophy of literature by Finnish researchers. It consists of articles and monographs which treat i) philosophical literary theory, ii) philosophical literature, or iii) literary philosophy and philosophers’ use of literary devices. The bibliography, collected by requests of publication data and from several Finnish publication databases, is not intended inclusive. Nevertheless, it is being throughout updated, and all kinds of suggestions, updates and corrections are most welcome.

This paper analyses managers'' moral decision-making, and studies the role of ethical theories in it by following the research tradition using the multidimensional ethics scale. The research question is: what kinds of ethical dimensions do Finnish business managers reveal when they are making moral decisions, and how have these dimensions changed in the 1990s? This question is answered by examining what kinds of factors emerge when the multidimensional ethics scale is used to analyse Finnish managers'' attitudes toward moral (...) dilemmas. The results show that Finnish managers'' decision-making reflects a variety of ethical theories. Teleological thinking is strongly emphasised by Finnish managers, and relativist thinking is used as well, but often combined with either deontology or justice thinking. In addition, a strong moralistic dimension emerged in Finnish managers'' decision-making. The analysis was carried out in two different surveys in years 1994 and 1999, and the results show that the ways of decision-making were more complex at the end of the 1990s than almost six years earlier. (shrink)

The need to create more sustainable food systems calls for careful attention to justice in making the transition. However, to achieve a just transition and create policies to support the goal of developing sustainable food systems, we need more knowledge of the ways current policies tackle justice. This knowledge can reveal blind spots and development needs and increase the transparency of potentially conflicting goals, which is essential for designing just transition policies. From the normative perspective of food justice, a food (...) system should produce three principal outcomes: food security and nutrition, livelihoods and fair income, and environmental sustainability. In this article, we take these outcomes as the starting point to study how they relate to the distributive, procedural, and recognitive aspects of food justice in the context of Finnish food policies. Our data consist of Finnish policy strategies relating to the national food system and data from interviews with experts involved in the policy processes. Our results suggest that food security and farmer livelihoods have dominated justice related considerations at the cost of environmental sustainability. Although these are important for distributive justice and for recognizing vulnerabilities, the current setting reveals risks regarding the possibilities of transitioning to a low-carbon food system. The invisibility of the often-invisible groups is also notable in the policy documents. To promote justice more broadly, there should be greater emphasis on environmental sustainability as well as procedural and recognitive justice and opportunities for diverse people to participate in food policymaking. (shrink)

In this paper I try to underline both the positive and negative circumstances in which I began translating Heidegger's "Sein und Zeit" in Greek. In 1971 I started, as a young student of philosophy, to study and translate this book, although I misunderstood it and considered it as a paradigm of "existentiell", not existential philosophy. I benefited essentially from both the English and the French translations and I've also received great help from my Greek mentor, E. N. Platis. I published (...) my translation in two volumes, one in 1978 and the other in 1985 and the critics have been very positive. At the beginning, I gave extended explanations about the translation problems and my solutions in a paper published in 1974. In the following years, I wrote articles about the Heideggerian concepts, in order to facilitate a better understanding of his philosophy.. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ ethical sensitivity in Finland (N = 255) and Estonia (N = 412). The survey included the quantitative Ethical Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire and a qualitative open-ended question about successful teaching. In order to capture its essential characteristics, ethical sensitivity was examined using a four-factor structure. Triangulated data indicated that Caring by connecting to others was the most essential dimension of ethical sensitivity among both Finnish and Estonian teachers. By contrast, Reading (...) ethical issues was the lowest rated and least mentioned dimension of ethical sensitivity. Approximately 30% of teachers from both countries did not perceive ethical sensitivity to be part of successful teaching. The results indicate the need for moral education to help teachers gain a more holistic understanding of the moral nature of teaching and recognize and visualize solutions for moral dilemmas in school communities. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This study investigates the development of Finnish adolescents’ perceptions of their life purposes and is based on a concept where purpose is understood as a long-term intention to accomplish something significant to the self while contributing to society. We follow 73 adolescents’ responses to online surveys in 2020 (N = 843) and 2022 (n = 73). At both timepoints, four purpose profiles were identified: Purposeful, Self-oriented, Dreamer, and Disengaged. Within two years, participants’ wish to contribute to the world (...) had increased, with changes towards the Purposeful profile related to higher parental education and towards the Dreamer to female gender. Adolescents’ written responses showed at both timepoints that most of the written life purposes included a quest for happiness, development, and a career. Triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative data indicated similarities in purpose development, suggesting that the beyond-the-self orientation manifests later in adolescence. (shrink)

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted and reshaped experiences of bodily disposal and memorialization around the world. One key characteristic of almost all religious practices and traditions is the centrality of face-to-face gatherings (Baker et al. 2020). The spatial turn shows the need to study space and place in research on religion (Knott 2010). Avril Maddrell has utilized a spatial lens for death studies with her concept of the deathscape, by which she means both the places associated with death and the (...) dead and how these are infused with meaning (Maddrell and Sidaway 2010). The aim of my article is to uncover which spaces were used in Finnish funerals and what they reveal about deathscapes during Covid-19. The forty-five pieces of correspondence that form the qualitative data of the research were received between October 2020 and February 2021; they offer some important, real-time insights into how funeral spaces and burial places were experienced during the two first waves of the pandemic. The findings reveal that participation in the ritual was more important than the actual site of the funeral, burial or memorial. The findings indicate that deathscapes in Finnish funerals during Covid-19 typically dealt with how ritual space was created during restrictions. The physical site was important as long as it created ritual space and was aligned with the personality of the deceased. Central to these actively created spaces was that they followed the deceased body either physically, virtually or spiritually. The latter was a conceptual finding from the data and a means by which the writers pointed to spatialities of belief and virtual attendance that were not digitally mediated. (shrink)

Recent years have seen a tremendous growth in international scholarly communication, especially perhaps in Europe. On the one hand, the technical means of communication have undergone a major revolution. Scholars and scientists can communicate almost instantly via phone, fax and especially by e-mail, and post their results on their websites instead of having to wait for months and sometimes years to have them published. On the other hand, various institutional frameworks have been created for the purpose of fostering international scientific (...) communication and cooperation. These institutional arrangements have typically been supported by responsible governments. One unspoken or spoken motive (among others) in encouraging international exchanges - especially in the humanities and social sciences - is the expectation that the new technical and institutional improvements in communication not only facilitate research and scholarship but directly or indirectly contribute to the discussion of important cultural, educational and social issues in the different participating countries, and perhaps even help people and peoples to cope with them. (shrink)

(1994). European dimensions of Finnish culture: A survey of international and European orientation of Finnish intellectuals. World Futures: Vol. 39, The Evolution of European Identity: Surveys of the Growing Edge A Report by the European Culture Impact Research Consortium (EUROCIRCON), pp. 25-46.

Patient autonomy is a fundamental principle in end of life decision making. However, its realisation may take a variety of forms. Discourse analysis was conducted in a qualitative interview study of 19 physicians. The physicians made use of three different discourses, each of which contained a specific understanding of patient autonomy and a physician’s proper activities in the context of end of life decision making.

The aim of the study was to explore the effects of the Responsible Care (RC) programme and how it is applied in practice. The present research questions include the following focus: how should we assess the performance of an organization's RC activity and what are the different criteria for assessing RC practices? The results indicate that the RC programme provides practical tools for developing health, environmental and safety operations. RC companies are committed to developing their products and processes, and continuously (...) strive to minimize emission levels and improve the efficiency of their use of raw materials and energy. The RC partnership between the chemical industry and its customers is executed in the form of responsibility for the product and its safe use. The product stewardship approach provides companies with tools that help secure safe usage throughout the product life cycle. (shrink)

Finnish is one of the few existent Finno-Ugric languages, a language without articles, and with only one, genderless word for the pronouns “she” and “he”. Due to this, the problems faced by the Finnish translators of _The Second Sex_ differed in some ways from those discussed after the publication of the new English translation. This chapter describes the genesis of the second, unabridged Finnish translation, the choices made by the translators as well as the philosophical interpretations motivating (...) those choices. In addition, Beauvoir’s way of understanding the concept of becoming is analyzed. The chapter ends with a discussion of the philosophy of translation and of the reception of the second Finnish translation. (shrink)

This article considers the entanglements of neuroscience, economics and behaviourism in a two-year experiment (2017–18) with basic income in Finland. The participants in this mandatory, state-led experiment are unemployed individuals (25–58 years old) recruited by the National Social Insurance Institution. The experiment is a randomised controlled trial intended to provide useful information about the impacts of basic income on employment and well-being. Focusing on the epistemological foundations of the experiment, this analysis suggests that the Finnish trial with basic income (...) should be considered to be an example of the neuroliberal movement in policy-making as it uses behavioural economics and popularised neuroscience to optimise the cognitive abilities of the unemployed. The primary contribution of this paper is to raise concerns about how neuroliberalism reconfigures citizenship by obscuring the limits between freedom and control and how societies of control use neuroliberal models such as nudging to organise the disorganised and control the uncontrolled. (shrink)

Bureaucratic selectivity mechanisms are the true colours of welfare states, stigmatising benefit recipients while hampering their trust in institutions and society at large. Universal policies such as the Universal Basic Income could protect recipients’ trust by circumventing selectivity paraphernalia. By analysing regressions on the Finnish UBI experiment’s survey data, we assess the links from policy selectivity to trust in the benefit-providing institution and generalised trust through the pathway of reduced bureaucratic experience. More specifically, we analyse whether receipt of UBI (...) leads to greater trust directly or while accompanied by an actual or perceived reduction in bureaucracy. According to our results, UBI is accompanied by greater trust, while selectivity does not necessarily lead to less trust or perception of less bureaucracy. However, in our analysis, policy selectivity did not directly correlate to recipients’ reported bureaucratic experiences, and their relationship with trust proved tricky: selectivity did not risk recipients’ trust in the policy-implementing institution, but generalised trust in other people was lowered. Thus, selective benefit recipients might be prone to self-inflicted stigma, hampering their trust in other people, regardless of actual bureaucratic experiences or trust in the welfare system. (shrink)

This exploratory mixed methods case study examines the life goals of Finnish social services students (N = 151) and whether they justify their goals with self- or other-focused reasoning. Purpose is understood as reflecting the students’ life goals that benefit not only oneself but also others. On the basis of this study, close relationships, pursuit of happiness, self-actualization and hedonistic goals described these students’ life goals. Most of the students justified their goals through self-benefits only. One-fifth of the students (...) found purpose in familial concerns and one-fourth in pursuing a helping profession. Students’ life goals and purposes are discussed particularly in relation to helping profession. (shrink)

This chapter explains the political mechanism of the Finnish welfare state adapted to a post-industrial society as one of the Nordic welfare states (Esping-Andersen, The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Polity Press, 1990) and countries with a coordinated market economy (Katzenstein, Small states in world markets industrial policy in Europe. Cornell University Press, 1985). Steinmo (The evolution of modern states: Sweden, Japan, and the United States. Cambridge University Press, 2010) argues that Sweden has several adaptive advantages that enable the (...) coevolution of politics, economics, and social policy. However, Finland has many differences from Sweden in its conditions, which raises the question of how Finland achieves the current position. When strong presidential power ended in the 1980s, parliamentarianism began to function. Since 1983, stable 4-year governments of majority coalitions out of a multiparty system have been in power. Diverse coalition governments with no dominant party and different parties’ combination are one of the characteristics of Finnish politics that bring resilience to its policies in a rapidly changing society. Higher education, and economic policies, especially science and technology, and information and communications technology policies developed since the 1960s, have been strongly integrated into the program of post-industrial welfare state since the 1980s. As Lijphart (Patterns of democracy. Yale University Press, 1999) argues for the possibility of a consensus model as a form of democracy in opposition to the Westminster model, the case of Finnish political mechanism provides policy flexibility in post-industrial society. (shrink)

This paper examines environmental strategies used in Finnish forest, metal, chemical, and energy industries. It focuses on six corporations, Neste, the IVO Group, Outokumpu, Rautaruukki, Kemira, and United Paper Mills, which all are among the most environmentally-intensive companies in the country. A framework for analyzing the environmental strategies of these corporations will be developed.

Higher education institutions need to address the global polycrisis. This organizational study delves into Finnish universities´ sustainability programs, management challenges and what are the stifling factors for implementation despite the accelerating sustainability and CSR commitments. This chapter introduces how differences between universities´ talk, decisions, and actions appear in the context of Finnish universities. Hypocrisy, greenwashing, and aspirational talk will be discussed, and managerial implications for transformational change in the organizations will be introduced. Empirical study is based on (...) class='Hi'>Finnish universities, 14 in total, all committed to national theses on advancing sustainable development. By using mixed methods, grounded theory, and Gioia method, walking the talk is examined. Strong stakeholder expectations and moderate priority of sustainability implementation seem to lead to hypocritical activities. Factors and impulses supporting and weakening the SD-CSR implementation are mapped, and universities are categorized into four groups in terms of differences between the sustainability talk and walk: beginners, followers, question marks, and forerunners. The typical challenges are strong but ambiguous commitment combined with low implementation, minimal human and other resources, unclear organizational status, ambiguous responsibilities, and temporary positions. The chapter will provide possible solutions and managerial implications on how to prevent decoupling and turn the hypocrisy into authenticity and transformative action. (shrink)

The key stakeholders of the Finnish engineering education collaborated during 2006–09 to reform the system of education, to face the challenges of the changing business environment and to create a national strategy for the Finnish engineering education. The work process was carried out using participatory work methods. Impacts of sustainable development (SD) on engineering education were analysed in one of the subprojects. In addition to participatory workshops, the core part of the work on SD consisted of a research (...) with more than 60 interviews and an extensive literature survey. This paper discusses the results of the research and the work process of the Collaboration Group in the subproject of SD. It is suggested that enhancing systematic dialogue among key stakeholders using participatory work methods is crucial in increasing motivation and commitment in incorporating SD in engineering education. Development of the context of learning is essential for improving skills of engineering graduates in some of the key abilities related to SD: systemic- and life-cycle thinking, ethical understanding, collaborative learning and critical reflection skills. This requires changing of the educational paradigm from teacher-centred to learner-centred applying problem- and project-oriented active learning methods. (shrink)

Thirty high-level essays on various aspects of semiotics by Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian scholars.

This study identifies the kinds of public policy reforms that have shaped Finnish regional governance to discern the main developmental phases it has undergone. The idea is to deepen the understanding concerning the problematic features of the latitude of regional public affairs and role of regional policymaking in constructing, shaping, and consolidating the Finnish welfare state. Our study is based on a literature review and analyses of law drafting materials and ministerial and other governmental reviews and white papers. (...) The main historical phases of regional governance include four distinct eras. During the first, locally developed reform initiatives generated frail systems of regional public services. The second era entailed the expansion and consolidation of regional public services based on inter-municipal collaboration (IMC). The third aimed to improve efficiency through further regionalisation and amalgamations. At the beginning of 2023, the latest era started with the foundation of new welfare regions. The creative evolution of regional governance has been flexible and evolving, enabled some regional variations, and improved economies of scale. In addition, it has been unpredictable and progressed without a stable consensus concerning the societal functions of the regional public authorities. Above all, it has supported undemocratic regional structures. (shrink)

This chapter examines the structural reforms of Finnish welfare provision, focusing on changes in the local government system and intergovernmental relations. The Finnish welfare state and its welfare provision are characterized by a complex interplay between central and local government. Since the 1990s, Finland has undertaken numerous reforms to make its welfare provision more flexible and responsive to changing societal needs. These reforms have been driven by factors such as globalization, demographic changes, technological advances, and Finland’s integration into (...) the European Union. The analysis highlights the role of local governments in welfare provision and their ability to innovate and adapt to new challenges with initiatives and support from central government. Case studies illustrate how Finnish local and central governments have implemented reforms, sometimes initiated by central government and sometimes driven by local needs. The chapter concludes that the Finnish approach to welfare provision is dynamic and evolving, influenced by both external pressures and internal innovation. Reforms are seen as part of an adaptive process by local governments to create new initiatives and ensure the sustainability of welfare provision with the support of central government although initiated by both top-down and bottom-up processes. (shrink)