New Book: Politiikan paluu: Globalisaatioliike ja julkisuus [The Return of Politics: The Global Justice Movement and the Public Sphere]

The struggle over globalization has arguably been the most important debate in world politics of the 2000’s. This study maps the origins of this debate, its most important actors and its results so far. The focus is on the Global Justice Movement which launched the globalization debate to the mass media spotlight. Particular attention is given to the World Social Forum, the movement’s global gathering, analyzed as a new form of global publics. The mediation of the debates initiated by these publics to the Finnish national context is analyzed at two levels: First, through forums for policy debate such as the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy and second, through the public debate in the Finnish mass media.

• Book summary in English
• The book's homepage in Finnish
• Get it at the Vastapaino webshop

Current research

I work with the Helsinki Group for Political Sociology at the University of Helsinki. I'm engaged in a project titled Climate change, Media and Civil Society, comparing the public debate on climate and the participation of civil society in this debate in six countries.

My research interests include political sociology, social movements, world politics, democratic theory and pragmatist social theory.

Teaching

2009-2010: Master's seminar on civil society studies

2005-2007: Instructor of students' working groups for the course Introduction to Finnish Sociology by Professor Arto Noro.

2006: Course The Public Sphere and Democracy at the University of Helsinki Open University.

2004-2005: Research Methods and Practice in the Study of Social Movements (with Risto Alapuro, Eeva Luhtakallio and Suvi Ervamaa)

2004: Public Debate in the Information Age (with visiting lecturers)

2003: Public Debate and Democracy (with visiting lecturers)

2003-2010 Several visiting lectures at the departments of Social Sciences and Political Science and Economics at the University of Helsinki, The Helsinki School of Economics, The University of Art and Design Helsinki and the University of Jyväskylä among others.

Other

I belong to the multidiscpilinary Network for the Study of the Public Sphere at the University of Helsinki. The affiliated institutions are the Department of Sociology, the Center for Nordic Studies the Communication Research Center and the Media Law Research project at the Institute for International Economic Law