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Arvio teoksesta Risto Heiskala, Jari Aro, Olli Herranen & Riku Viitamäki (2022): Suomen kolmas tasavalta. Hallitsemistapa EU-aikakaudella. Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 460 s.

Artikkeli tarkastelee Euroopan unionin (EU) ulkopolitiikan nykytilaa kartoittamalla sen kansainvälispoliittisen toimijaluonteen diskursiivista rakentamista ja kehitystä unionin ulko- ja turvallisuuspoliittisten strategioiden teksteissä. Tässä unionin toimijaluonne nähdään laajemman unionin kollektiivisen identiteetin operationalisoitumisena strategiseksi kulttuuriksi, joka asettaa ulkopolitiikalle sen vaatimia pysyväisluonteisempia suuntaviivoja. Artikkelissa luodaan ensin tiivis katsaus EU:n toimijaluonteesta esitettyihin teorioihin. Sen jälkeen tarkastellaan näiden teorioiden päälinjoista koostetun teoriakehyksen avulla, miten EU:n toimijaluonteen rakentuminen unionin ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikkaa linjaavissa strategia-asiakirjoissa kehittyy vuodesta 2003 aina vuoden 2022 Strategiseen kompassiin asti. Artikkeli nostaa esiin pidempään jatkuneen kehityksen, jossa unionin turvallisuusympäristössä tapahtuneet muutokset ovat ohjanneet unionia omaksumaan perinteisemmän valtapolitiikan piirteitä normatiivisen vallan identiteetin rinnalle.

Background: The significance of web-based health and social care services has been highlighted in recent years. There is a risk that the digitalization of public services will reinforce the digital and social exclusion of vulnerable groups, such as individuals with mental health problems. Objective: This study aims to examine the associations between mental health problems and attitudes toward web-based health and social care services in the general population. The attitudes measured include lack of interest, perceived need for face-to-face encounters, and concern for safety. The study also evaluates whether sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, education level, and poverty) modify these associations. Methods: Cross-sectional population-based data were collected from 4495 Finnish adults in 2017. Linear regression was used to examine the main effects and interactions of poor mental health and sociodemographic characteristics on attitudes toward web-based health and social care services. Results: The results show that mental health was associated with attitudes toward web-based health and social care services. Individuals with mental health problems were especially concerned about the safety of web-based services. Poor mental health was independently associated with negative attitudes toward web-based services over the effects of sociodemographic factors. Some of the associations between poor mental health and negative attitudes toward web-based services were stronger among older people and men. With regard to sociodemographic characteristics, particularly higher age, low education, and poverty were associated with negative attitudes toward web-based health and social care services. Conclusions: Poor mental health is associated with negative attitudes toward web-based health and social care services and thus indirectly with exclusion. It seems that being older and being male both reinforce the link between poor mental health and exclusion. In supporting the digital inclusion of people with mental health problems, attention should be paid to guidance and counseling, reliability, and the user-friendliness of web-based services as well as to the prevention of poverty. In addition, it is essential to see web-based services as complementary to, and not a substitute for, face-to-face services.

Prisoners are a group of people with many health and social problems. However, in prisons the use of the Internet is controlled. Thus, prisoners’ access to digital health care and social welfare services is limited. In addition, there are many cognitive and attitudinal barriers to the use of digital health care and social welfare services for prisoners. Cross-sectional survey data (N = 225) were collected from eleven prisons in different parts of Finland and analysed using linear regression analysis. The results are consistent with Ajzen’s theory and previous studies on the acceptance of information systems in health care. Prisoners’ behavioural intentions related to the use of digital health care and social welfare services are influenced by their perceptions of their capacity to use digital services, the expectations of their close people and their attitudes, as well as by trust in the Internet and services. In contrast, the age of prisoners’ indirectly affects their willingness to use digital services. The study recommends that prisoners are supported in the use of digital health care and social welfare services by prison staff and other people. Digital skills training is also needed in order to support digital inclusion, especially for older and long-term prisoners.

Suomalaista ammattikorkeakoulutusta on koko 2000-luvun ajan kehitetty osaamisperusteiseen suuntaan. Käytännössä tämä on näkynyt muun muassa opetussuunnitelmien kielessä ja rakenteessa, arvioinnissa sekä koulutuksen ja työelämän suhteessa. Vaikka osaaminen on käsitteenä moniulotteinen ja haasteellinen, ammattikorkeakoulut ovat omaksuneet varsin kritiikittömästi osaamispohjaisen ajattelun opetuksen suunnittelun lähtökohdaksi. Tässä artikkelissa pohditaan, millaisiin olettamuksiin ja yhteiskunnallisiin arvolähtökohtiin ammattikorkeakoulujen opetussuunnitelmien osaamisperusteinen kehittäminen perustuu. Tarkastelu pohjautuu ammattikorkeakouluopetuksen suunnittelun kehittämistä koskeviin raportteihin. Analyysi osoittaa, että siirtyminen osaamispohjaisiin opetussuunnitelmiin ei ole neutraali valinta, vaan se on sidoksissa yhteiskunnallisiin tavoitteisiin ja vallitseviin arvoihin. Kansalaisten liikkuvuuden edistämisen ja elinikäisen oppimisen helpottamisen lisäksi kilpailukyvyn parantaminen on läsnä asiakirjoissa, joskin se näyttäytyy eri yhteyksissä olennaisesti eri tavoin. Laajemmassa kehityskulussa on nähtävissä uusliberalistista painotusta. Toisaalta osaamisperusteisuuden taustalla on myös pyrkimys vastata työelämän kvalifikaatiovaatimuksiin tavalla, joka samalla vahvistaa ammattikorkeakoulutuksen duaalimallin mukaista profiilia ja ammattikorkeakoulukentän yhtenäisyyttä.

Ylemmän ammattikorkeakoulututkinnon ja yliopistollisen maisterin tutkinnon oletetaan tuottavan samantasoista mutta eri tavoin profiloitunutta osaamista. Tutkimus osoittaa, että käytännössä tutkintojen profiilierot eivät ole riittävän selkeitä ja yksiselitteisiä. Lisäksi työnantajat arvioivat ylemmän ammattikorkeakoulututkinnon suorittaneiden osaamista kriittisemmin kuin yliopistosta valmistuneiden osaamista, kun lähtökohtana käytetään eurooppalaisessa ja kansallisessa tutkintojen viitekehyksessä määriteltyjä oppimistuloksia. Artikkelin tutkimus pohjautuu laajaan työnantajakyselyyn sekä ylemmän AMK-tutkinnon ja yliopistollisen maisterin tutkinnon suorittaneiden haastatteluihin sosiaali-, terveys- ja kaupalliselta alalta.

One of the tasks of social policy is to support economic development. Governments invest in social policy to protect citizens from social risks (for instance, in the labor market). In this sense, economic policy and social policy are strongly linked. The different choices governments have with respect to social policy lead to variations in welfare states. Typically, scholars have divided welfare states into three groups: social democratic, liberal, and continental countries. This study examines citizens’ attitudes toward social policy in 23 European countries, and especially within the three groups of welfare states. Attitudes toward social welfare are divided into two parts: respondents’ opinions regarding national policy and their attitudes toward poverty. The study focuses on the connections between the type of welfare state and its citizens’ attitudes toward social policy. The study also examines whether so-called situational factors (e.g., the level of income inequality, social expenditure, and social insurance) influence the social welfare attitudes of citizens. The data, which were gathered in 2012, are based on the European Social Survey’s (N = 43,897) sixth round. The results show that the situational factors have an important role, especially in how citizens evaluate national social policy. However, simultaneous analyses of all the situational factors and social welfare attitudes suggest that the situational factors have only an indirect influence on attitudes toward poverty, such that respondents’ opinions of national policy have a mediating role. In this sense, the results support a weak interpretation of the influence of situational factors on attitudes toward social welfare. Furthermore, the results show that attitudes toward social welfare are connected to the types of the welfare states, in this analysis, especially in the Nordic (particularly Finland, Norway, and Sweden) and liberal countries (particularly Great Britain and Ireland). In these countries, unlike others, respondents’ opinions regarding national policy and attitudes toward poverty are positively related. However, according to a more detailed analysis, the Nordic and liberal countries can be separated from each other. The group of continental countries was excluded from the final analysis because it seemed not to be a coherent group, as the original welfare-state typology indicated.