The Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 is awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.

The Director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark comments:

"The Nobel prize is awarded a head of state and an individual but also a whole package of ideas, concepts and institutions. The Committee emphasises the importance of international agreements, mediation, conciliation as well as that of strong constitutions. Abiy Ahmed is prime minister for a large federal state and a young democracy with many different needs and expectations in the regions and amongst different groups. The Nobel prize shows that peace agreements are possible and that conflicts can be solved. Abiy is also a military who has opted for a strong diplomatic path. The prize is equally awarded to a whole region, East Africa, where the trajectory is currently positive and gives hope to millions of people. Women’s participation in public life and a stark pro-democracy agenda are efforts that Abiy Ahmed has actively promoted."

The Åland Islands Peace Institute offers an opportunity for one or two trainees to experience a dynamic and flexible internship during the spring semester of 2020. 

We are looking for applicants interested in issues concerning peace, security, minorities and autonomy. The work assignments include arrangement of seminars, information dissemination and website development. Suitable fields of study background are social, legal or political sciences but also IT, communication and information management. In this year’s call for applications, we also appreciate a background or interest in one or more of the following fields: graphic design, research, conflict management and event management.

Lunch seminar on Wednesday 9 October 2019 at 11.30-12.30 in hotel Arkipelag's restaurant.

In a time when the cities grow and the digital development advances with giant steps, small societies get into trouble. In Sweden and Finland there are about five regions per country, in essence the five biggest university cities with their surroundings, that can cope, while the rest of the regions regress economically and demographically. An important reason for the increasing regional inequality in the Nordic countries and Europe is the ongoing brain drain, as well-educated people stay in or move to the big cities to a greater extent than people with a lower level of education. This is hastening the uneven regional development. Åland has so far been a brilliant exception, but the question is whether the long-term development is sustainable? In the light of such trends and from an economic perspective, what are the prospects for the Ålandic economy and for the Ålandic autonomy legislation?

Link to / Länk till Nyhetsbrev / Newsletter 3/2019

Ladda ner Nyhetsbrev / Download Newsletter as pdf

CONTENTS

• Upcoming lunch seminar 9.10.2019: Edvard Johansson: Small economies and global trends - how can Åland meet the future?
• Call for Interns at the Åland Islands Peace Institute in the spring of 2020
• Many visits during autumn, including officials from Sweden and EU-ambassadors
• Conference participation; political participation, sovereignty and borders discussed in Hungary, Greece and Gibraltar respectively
• New interns at the Institute
  and more

INNEHÅLL

• Kommande lunchseminarium 9.10.2019: Edvard Johansson: Små ekonomier och globala trender - hur kan Åland möta framtiden?
• Praktik vid Ålands fredsinstitut våren 2020
• Många besök under hösten, inklusive riksdagsledamöter från Sverige och EU-ambassadörer.
• Konferensdeltagande; politiskt deltagande, suveränitet och gränser diskuterades vardera i Ungern, Grekland och Gibraltar.
  m.m.

The Director attended research network RECAST meeting on political participation and mobilization of citizens

The research network RECAST (Reappraising Intellectual Debates on Civic Rights and Democracy in Europe) had a meeting and a seminar at the Central European University in Budapest on 19-20 September 2019. The seminar discussed new forms for political participation and mobilization of citizens. In November 2019 the Training School of the network will be organised in co-operation with the Norwegian Institute at Athens. For further information about the Training School see here. The research network is financed through the so called COST-program (Cooperation in Science and Technology) and researchers from 30 European countries belong to the netwotk. The Director of the Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, acts as the Vice Chairperson of the network.

September brought many interesting meetings and discussion opportunities to the Peace Institute.

3.9.2019
Susann Simolin, The Head of Information, held a presentation for employees at the Swedish Agency for Public Management.

4.9.2019
Dan Ferna, City leader at the Åland Chamber of Commerce and Siavosh Derakhti, social entrepreneur and lecturer who has got many awards for his work against hate and conflicts and for tolerance, visited the Institute.

5.9.2019
The Research Coordinator of the Peace Institute Petra Granholm presented the Åland Example to a group from Turku United Nations Association (TYKy) which is a non-profit, national and politically unaffiliated youth organization.

5.9.2019
Members of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the Swedish Parliament met with Director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark.

Calle Koskela is a research intern at the Åland Islands Peace Institute from September 2019. Originally Calle is from Vaasa, and currently he studies political history at the University of Helsinki.  His goal is to finish his master's thesis during 2020. During his internship at the Peace Institute Calle will assist with publications and research applications.

Call for Papers for next issue of the Journal of Autonomy and Security Studies. Deadline 30th of September 2019. The editors of JASS welcome submissions of manuscripts that focus on, or relate to, the topics and intersections of security, autonomy arrangements, and minority issues. Apart from reviewed articles, JASS also welcomes other kinds of contributions, such as essays, book reviews, conference papers and research notes.

The President of the Republic of Finland has appointed the Director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute, Associate Professor of International Law Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, conciliator to the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), upon nomination by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark was appointed together with Kimmo Kiljunen (conciliator), Erkki Kourula (arbitrator) and Jan Klabbers (alternate arbitrator) for a term of six years, beginning in 2019.

The court works with conciliation and arbitration as working methods for various intergovernmental disputes and provides a mechanism for peaceful settlement of disputes between States. The OSCE conciliation and arbitration proceedings have not yet been activated by any of the 33 States which have signed the Convention, but it remain an option for the peaceful settlement of disputes in Europe.

More information about recent appointments to the Court can be found here.

Karoliina Paakkinen is a communications intern at the Åland Islands Peace Institute from August to October. She will work with the renewal of the website of the Peace Institute and with other communications tasks. In addition, she will assist at conferences and presentations where the Peace Institute takes part. Karoliina studies Social Sciences at Tampere University and she is writing her Master´s thesis about Zambian female politicians´ possibilities to participate in the decision-making processes.