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In this article we sketch out a geography of hope in Palestine. We focus on ‘hyperprecarious’ sites, exactly those where exposure to harm is heightened and where thus reasons not to hope seem plentiful. Focusing on fieldwork at such sites, we examine hope as a temporal practice of waiting, attending especially to how a ‘moment to come’ (kairos) constitutes and affirms anti-colonial practices and topologies of everyday Palestinian life. Hope in the cases we discuss is not simply a positive orientation to the future, but an experience of kairo-logical time that ties hopeful waiting to topo-logical practices that disrupt the space-times of the Israeli occupation, and the horizon of hopelessness it creates for Palestinians. We propose that attending to kairos and topos can therefore reveal the ways that together they can operate as conditions of possibility, as a ‘moment’ and ‘place’, for time-spaces to come forth anew, and so as structuring conditions for everyday Palestinian hope for life that is irreducible to the systematic subjugation and violence of the occupation.

In the West Bank, hundreds of non-Palestinian women who are married to Palestinian men have recently been issued shortened visas with tightened restrictions. This means they are often prevented from working, their mobilities are severely reduced and they are placed in extremely precarious bureaucratic and procedural positions. The research in this article draws from fieldwork interviews with women affected by such restrictions to show how politically induced precarities produce gendered effects towards specific ends of the occupation of Palestine. We thus frame a discussion of the women’s experiences of visa regulations through precarity before giving an account of the profound effects on women’s roles in family and political life. We then broaden the focus to consider Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the demographic implications of the gendered effects of visa precarity. In doing so we make the argument that Israel’s spousal visa regulations contribute to the (re)production of uneven gender relations and the demographic objective of emptying out the West Bank.

The study of political leadership in Lebanon has most often revolved around the questions of the attributes and networks of leaders commonly considered within the frame of patron–client rel...

The concept of smart specialization has rapidly acquired a central position in European policy and academic circles. It raises interesting challenges for the regional studies agenda. First, smart specialization is about not only policy formulation, implementation and evaluation but also pooling scattered resources, competencies and powers to serve both shared and individual ambitions. Thus, policy formulation and implementation need to be seen in a new light. Second, when smart specialization is seen as one of the platforms for aligning several actors to boost regional economic development, the need to understand agency in its multiplicity emerges as central. This paper argues that to achieve truly transformative smart specialization strategies, there is a need to investigate in more depth the multi-actor strategy processes and new forms of leadership, as well as to invest time and money in advancing related capabilities across European regions.

Knowledge brokering is on the rise in various spheres of knowledge societies. The aim has been to improve the interaction between knowledge production and use. This paper analyses knowledge-brokeri...

The pursuit of sustainability through various smart solutions has become prominent in urban policy-making. We explore how cities utilize particular planning and management tools in this endeavour. ...

Due to the national importance of metropolitan areas, central governments seek to make them as attractive and competitive as possible. In many cases, this is done through state control over metropolitan areas and their governance arrangements. This article examines the relationship between state control and metropolitan governance capacity based on a comparative case study of four metropolitan areas: Auckland, Dublin, Montreal and Oslo. These areas represent different models of metropolitan governance, as well as different forms of state control. We studied state control by focusing on political and administrative decentralization: how independently can the metropolitan government make decisions and perform its tasks? The conclusion is that the different dimensions of decentralization are connected to capacity, but not straightforwardly. This study indicates that state involvement through different forms of control can increase metropolitan governance capacity, but only if it is combined with mandate and supportive policy actions.

In this paper, we propose that there is a politics of encounters centered on the body at play in seeking asylum and refuge, and that it is critical to study how it unfolds from the point of view of both governing and agency. Building on existing work that looks at the role of embodiment in the political struggles of refugees, and leaning on Helmuth Plessner’s original thinking about social embodiment, we develop a theoretical understanding of this political dynamic, illustrating how it can help us make sense of power relations and forms of governance and (latent) resistance involved in it.

This paper examines the ways in which colonial violence is transformed and spatialised into negotiated precarities at the occupied Palestine. The notion of “negotiated precarity” is developed herein, to refer to two aspects in particular. First, to spatial compartmentalisation, which shows how the settler colonial power operates by creating precarious administrative zones, where the life of the colonised becomes prone to several flexible, negotiated uses of power. Second, negotiated precarity is used to refer to the conduct of the colonised that counters, transforms, redirects, cancels or hampers the colonial spatialisations of power. By focusing on the “negotiated precarities” in a singular West Bank village, I exemplify how the colonial governing is entwined with spatial compartments that enable several informal, indirect and ad hoc techniques of colonial violence, but also how the colonial governing is constantly mobilised, negotiated, countered and redirected in/through the everyday Palestinian spaces. publishedVersion

Unlearning is drawing attention in sustainability research. Unlearning old beliefs and assumptions is needed to tackle wicked problems and to make space for learning. We introduce a framework for examining the potential of unlearning as a group process for transformational change. We integrate conceptual elements of unlearning with framing research and analyze 1) factors that facilitate unlearning, 2) the moments of doubt where unlearning and reframing takes place and 3) how unlearning can be operationalized in the analysis of discussion material. We demonstrate the framework by using a conflict situation – the conservation of Siberian flying squirrels in the Tampere urban region in Finland – as a case study where the participating actors had to unlearn dominant beliefs and assumptions to make space for a more strategic, comprehensive and proactive approach to collaborative conservation. A predictive habitat model of the regional flying squirrel population helped the process, but the decisive support for unlearning was a facilitated dialogue process with diverse assignments. The framework is tailored to experimental group processes by which innovative unlearning and reframing can be initiated and supported for organizational and interorganizational change.

This paper is an attempt to explicate a peculiar logic of government Israeli state apparatuses use to control the Palestinian population and colonize the West Bank; namely, the one of slowness, delay and waiting. To understand the operational logic of such governing, I suggest the conditions of recognizing Palestinian rights, their theatric performance by the Israeli state apparatuses, and the maintaining of precarity among Palestinians are the critical aspects to expand. By looking at the West Bank sites close to expanding Israeli settlements, I show how this mode of governing operates by recognizing the Palestinian right to claim justice, security and governance without actualization of these rights, therefore directing Palestinian resistance and sense of injustice to support the theatric functions of settler colonial state. Hence, theaters of recognition are created, the ones that ceremoniously keep administrative, legal and security processes functional, but through the slow processing, stalling and endless piling up of decisions, regulations, requirements and security exceptions do not alleviate the induced precarities.

This article discusses three success stories of good governance, those in Finland, New Zealand and Singapore, and their ability to serve as benchmarks or models for developing countries seeking to eradicate corruption. The analysis shows that Finland and New Zealand are evolutionary cases with low-profile anti-corruption policies, whereas Singapore is a revolutionary case with an array of institutionalised anti-corruption measures providing a fast track to good governance. At first glance the latter case may appear appealing to developing countries, but in the current economic situation the case of Singapore is difficult to replicate as diminishing growth prospects undermine the viability of this option. In this sense the balance naturally leans towards the evolutionary 'social change' model, which is a cost-effective though slow path towards good governance. Whatever the preferred development path, it is vital that developing countries emulate and adapt success stories on their own terms. This ensures a sufficient degree of ownership and justification for the context-sensitive adjustment, dissemination and implementation of new ideas for controlling corruption.

We compare Russian nuclear energy diplomacy toward 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 RD 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 ...

The ferryboat has been there all day long, its engine kept running. Its cargo hold is expecting entries with its throat wide open. Earlier in the day there was another ferryboat that left for the n...

In this article, we examine Russia’s geo-economy under the economic sanctions imposed by the EU, the USA and many other states since spring 2014, including restrictions on economic cooperation in areas such as trade, certain types of energy technology, access to credit, trade in arms, travel bans and asset freezing. We first examine Russia’s economic and geopolitical interests and the cognitive frames Russian policymakers use to weigh these diverse interests against each other. Second, we examine how Russian policymakers can further these interests given the effect of the sanctions on Russia’s geo-economy. We analyse constraints and opportunities along the resource geographic, financial and institutional dimensions of geo-economy. Regarding resources, the sanctions seriously hamper new greenfield projects in Russia’s emerging energy provinces. They impede the industry’s middle- to long-term prospects while some Russians perceive new opportunities for its domestically induced modernisation. Along the financial dimension, low oil prices since mid-2014 shape existing fossil fuels trade more than the sanctions, which have no impact on Russia’s arms exports. The combined effect of low oil prices and sanctions on Russia’s state budget, the financial sector and the rouble is severe. On the institutional dimension, Russia’s international standing suffers, but its domestic institutions are relatively resilient. Overall, we see Russia as part of an international structure where it can constitute itself as an autonomous geo-economic actor under favourable conditions including high oil prices and no sanctions.

In parallel with developing participatory policies, public administration in Finland and elsewhere has undergone constitutive administrative reform. By analysing policy documents and civil servants’ experiences, we ask how meta-level administrative steering modes manifest themselves in the motives and goals set for participation and what kinds of political agencies they allow for children and young people who play a pivotal role in the future shape of democracy. We conclude that coexisting different steering modes produce different practical solutions that define the content of “citizenship” in different ways. What is essential is the reflectivity concerning whether one or another steering mode dominates participation policy, and with what consequences.

Artikkeli on julkaisu teoksessa: Tulkinnan mahti. Artikkelin loppuun on liitetty teoksen erillinen lähdeluettelo.

This paper poses the question of whether innovation policies are customized to meet the varying needs of different regions and industries. The research questions are: (a) are the investigated innovation initiatives context sensitive and customized to the prevailing innovation problems and, hence, to what extent do they focus on overcoming specific bottlenecks in the particular regional innovation system and address system failures hampering innovation; (b) have innovation policies aiming to support specific industries recognized the differences and, if yes, have they been customized accordingly? The paper discusses emerging forms of local/regional innovation policy using, as cases in point, Finland and especially two different industries (intelligent machinery and digital content services) in three different kinds of regional innovation system. The empirical research is based on data gathered (a) through 40 interviews with Finnish innovation policy makers and (b) through 91 structured interviews with firm representatives; (c) in addition, interview data from another study with 53 national-level innovation policy makers are exploited. The empirical analysis shows that, in spite of a shared understanding about the generic principles of the innovation policy and the investigated local/regional policy, initiatives are clearly customized to serve the current challenges of the specific regions and industries.

This article aims to shed light on the attempts that have been made to adjust Finnish policy-making to the changes in the global techno-economic environment, as well as to the meta-rationales behind the evolving cluster flavoured innovation policies (CFI). Policy learning is discussed with reference to the main cluster and innovation policy changes in Finland and related conceptual development. The main aim of this article is to paint an overall picture of Finnish cluster flavoured innovation polices and learning related to them as well as analyse how efforts to redesign the policies have been unfolding over the past 20 years. This article is based on a) secondary data, ie earlier studies and reports on the Finnish cluster and innovation policies and b) data from two empirical studies. "Sotarauta Markku, 2012. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and planning C: Government and policy , 30(5) 780-795, 2012, doi:10.1068/c1191"