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Title [en]
Anti-racist contentions in the Baltic Sea region – a study of anti-racist activists' interplay with politicians and civil servants
Abstract [en]
The on-going refugee crisis and recent years’ electoral successes for right-wing parties with anti-migration stances have in many European countries led to an increase in antiracist mobilizations. Anti-racist activists have rallied for refugees’ rights and taken part in voluntary work with newly arrived immigrants. This project investigates the interplay between anti-racist activists, politicians, and civil servants during significant campaigns of the anti-racist movement in four countries of the Baltic Sea region: Finland, Germany, Poland, and Sweden. While Germany and Sweden both have a tradition of extensive immigration, Finland and Poland have had more restrictive immigration policies. The study’s main goal is to contribute to a better understanding of the relation between contemporary social movements and established actors within the political system. In particular, the project aims to describe the key factors that promote or discourage contacts and collaboration between activists and politicians/civil servants. The following questions will be addressed: What types of interplay occur between activists, politicians, and civil servants? What are the activists’, politicians’, and civil servants’ main motives for seeking, affirming, or refusing contacts and/or collaboration with each other? How do the different actors, in the light of their own experiences, perceive the risks, merits and outcomes of this interplay? By interplay we mean various forms of advocacy-related interaction. These forms of interaction may range from close collaboration, via sporadic contacts, to one-sided pressures. Four types of actors will be analysed: politicians, civil servants, ‘moderate’ activists, and ‘radical’ activists. While ‘radical’ activists tends to be sceptical towards contacts with state representatives and prefer more conflict-oriented strategies, the ‘moderate’ activists tends to see contacts with institutionalized politics as necessary. The project’s main method will be individual semi-structured interviews. The project will generate new knowledge and theoretical insights about why interplay between civil society actors and institutionalized politics sometimes occur and other times do not. The project will also deepen our knowledge of the relation between state and civil society in contemporary democratic societies in the Baltic Sea region and in Eastern Europe, and cast light on contemporary conflicts about minority groups’ conditions and rights in this region.
Publications (3 of 3) Show all publications
Kuukkanen, M. (2025). Constrained Cooperation: Activist Politicians and Their Engagement With Social Movements in Protest and Parliamentary Arenas. PArticipation and COnflict, 18(1), 61-80
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Constrained Cooperation: Activist Politicians and Their Engagement With Social Movements in Protest and Parliamentary Arenas
2025 (English)In: PArticipation and COnflict, ISSN 1972-7623, E-ISSN 2035-6609, Vol. 18, no 1, p. 61-80Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The article contributes to the study of the intersections between institutional and non-institutional politics through an analysis of politicians from activist backgrounds who continue to cooperate with social movements while in office. Previous research on institutional activism and dual militancy has paid inadequate attention to the differences between politicians and civil servants in this respect even though these two groups of actors face differing constraints and opportunities for promoting movement agendas within political institutions as well as for participating in movement activities such as protests. The article maintains that to best understand the relationship between these 'activist politicians' and social movements, it is necessary to consider the micro, meso and macro levels alike. In other words, the overall relationship is affected by the politicians' identities and role properties, the organisational characteristics and dynamics of movements and parties, in addition to structural and cultural factors. The empirical case discussed in the article concerns migrant rights activism in Finland in the late 2010s.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Coordinamento SIBA - Università del Salento, 2025
Keywords
activism, Finland, migrant rights, politicians, social movements
National Category
Sociology (Excluding Social Work, Social Anthropology, Demography and Criminology)
Research subject
Baltic and East European studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-56964 (URN)10.1285/i20356609v18i1p61 (DOI)001473912900004 ()2-s2.0-105004899813 (Scopus ID)
Funder
The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 57/2016
Available from: 2025-04-23 Created: 2025-04-23 Last updated: 2025-06-03Bibliographically approved
Kuukkanen, M. (2024). (Un)making the established-outsiders figuration in anti-racist and migrant rights activism. Current Sociology, 72(1), 48-64
Open this publication in new window or tab >>(Un)making the established-outsiders figuration in anti-racist and migrant rights activism
2024 (English)In: Current Sociology, ISSN 0011-3921, E-ISSN 1461-7064, Vol. 72, no 1, p. 48-64Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The article discusses recent anti-racist and migrant rights activism in Finland with the help of Norbert Elias' figurational sociology and the concept of the established-outsiders figuration. The mobilisation of 'outsiders' (racialised minorities and migrants) has reordered the contemporary field and challenged the 'established' majority activists to reflect on their own practices. Through combining figurational and cultural perspectives, I compare the extent to which established liberal and left-libertarian activists, with their distinct ideological positions, have succeeded in transforming the power ratio between themselves and the outsiders. This article advances the use of the established-outsiders conceptualisation in cases where the established support, in principle, the outsiders' inclusion. This helps to shed light on both the more covert and subtle ways through which the established reproduce their power as well as their agency in dismantling the power disparity.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2024
National Category
Sociology
Research subject
Baltic and East European studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-48762 (URN)10.1177/00113921221082699 (DOI)000775837600001 ()2-s2.0-85127322621 (Scopus ID)
Funder
The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 57/2016
Available from: 2022-04-19 Created: 2022-04-19 Last updated: 2024-01-04Bibliographically approved
Jämte, J., Kelekay, J., Schclarek Mulinari, L. & Sohl, L. (2020). Samhällsvetenskapliga perspektiv på Black Lives Matter. Sociologisk forskning, 57(3-4), 363-379
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Samhällsvetenskapliga perspektiv på Black Lives Matter
2020 (Swedish)In: Sociologisk forskning, ISSN 0038-0342, E-ISSN 2002-066X, Vol. 57, no 3-4, p. 363-379Article in journal (Other academic) Published
Abstract [sv]

Sociologisk Forskning bad tre samhällsvetenskapliga forskare, verksamma i Sverige och USA, att svara på några frågor om rörelseprotesterna under parollen Black Lives Matter (BLM), antisvart rasism och dödligt polisvåld mot svarta människor. Deras svar grundar sig i egen och andras forskning inom områden som relationen mellan rasifiering och kriminalisering, postkoloniala perspektiv och kritisk kriminologi, erfarenheter av polisiär kontroll bland människor med afrikanskt ursprung i Stockholm, Malmö och New York samt sociala rörelser och politisk aktivism – särskilt olika former av antirasism.

En av tidskriftens redaktörer, Lena Sohl, redigerade svaren till ett gemensamt samtal, där de tre forskarna kunde ändra och göra tillägg i sina egna svar. Den slutgiltiga texten färdigställdes den 10 december 2020.

De medverkande forskarna är Jan Jämte, statsvetare och lektor i samhällskunskap vid Örebro universitet, som forskar om sociala rörelser och politisk aktivism, i synnerhet olika former av antirasism; Jasmine Kelekay, doktorand i sociologi vid University of California, Santa Barbara och gästdoktorand vid Kriminologiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet samt Centrum för mångvetenskaplig forskning om rasism vid Uppsala universitet, vars avhandling handlar om relationen mellan rasifiering och kriminalisering, med fokus på konstruktioner av svarthet och polisiär kontroll av svarta människor i Sverige; samt Leandro Schclarek Mulinari, doktor i kriminologi, vars forskning uppehåller sig vid skärningspunkten mellan kriminalitet och kriminalisering, i synnerhet förhållandet mellan denna skärningspunkt och frågor om rasism.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sveriges Sociologförbund, 2020
Keywords
Black Lives Matter, racism, sociala rörelser, antirasism, rasifiering
National Category
Sociology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-43122 (URN)10.37062/sf.57.22320 (DOI)000600691300008 ()
Funder
The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 57/2016
Available from: 2021-01-12 Created: 2021-01-12 Last updated: 2022-10-18Bibliographically approved
Co-InvestigatorPiotrowski, Grzegorz
Principal InvestigatorWennerhag, Magnus
Co-InvestigatorJämte, Jan
Co-InvestigatorKuukkanen, Mari
Coordinating organisation
Södertörn University
Funder
Period
2017-01-01 - 2019-12-31
Keywords [sv]
Östersjö- och Östeuropaforskning
Keywords [en]
Baltic and East European studies
National Category
Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Identifiers
DiVA, id: project:1725Project, id: 57/2016_OSS