The Åland Islands Peace Institute conducts projects and research into peace and conflict issues in a broadly defined sense from the vantage-point of Åland and the special status that Åland enjoys under international law. The institute focuses on security, autonomy and minorities.
Challenging Gender Roles for Prevention of Trafficking
Konferens om ungdomar, genus, normer och politik
Den 1-2 december deltog andreea Bolos i ungdomsstyrelsens rikskonferens i Stockholm. hon har nu sammanställt en kort rapport från de fyra seminarier hon deltog i . Seminarierna behandlade killar och jämställdhet, europeisk ungdomspolitik, kvinnligt entrepenörskap och unga som säljer sex.
On Monday 11 January 2010 the seminar "Strategic options for Åland in the EU" was held in the town library of Mariehamn. The seminar is based on the researcher Sarah Stephan's report "Regional voices in the European Union - regions with legislative power and multi-level-governance. Perspectives for the Åland Islands." Sarah Stephen demonstrates how different ways of looking at the EU can have effects on the methods for influence chosen by regions. She also indicates that there are more ways of gaining influence than those normally considered, and since these methods do not need to be expansive they can also be useful for smaller regions with limited resources. A few possible alternatives for Åland is to increase the presence in Brussels, to offer expert knowledge within special areas of expertise, and to increase the knowledge of Åland at a national level as well as at a European level through for instance civil service exchanges.
Strategic options for regions in the EU explored in new report
In her report ”Regional voices in the European Union – regions with legislative power and multi-level governance. Perspectives for the Åland Islands” Sarah Stephan, LL.M. and researcher at the Peace Institute raises an inventory of channels of participation used by the Åland Islands and points to the unexploited potential of multi-level governance for small regions with legislative power.
The report is published within the Åland Islands Peace Institute Report Series and can be downloaded here.
The report will be launched at an open seminar in the City library of Mariehamn on January 11th at 6 p.m. Sarah Stephan will present her findings in English and a following discussion can be conducted both in English and Swedish.
Due to the Christmas holidays the Peace Institute will only be partly staffed between 21 of December 2009 and 4th of January 2010. We kindly ask you to be patient if answers to e-mails are delayed and kindly ask you to make an appointment if you wish to visit the institute during this time.
Grant awarded for research on the Åland example
The Finnish Ministry for foreign affairs has awarded the Åland Islands Peace Institute a grant of € 40.000 for research on the Åland example. The purpose of the research project, which has the working title ‘The Åland example: Still interesting and relevant?’, is to produce an updated publication about the Åland example in its entirety, aimed at an international audience.
The research will examine the dynamic nature and development of Ålandic self-governance and investigate how the system has changed over time, who the central actors in this development are and have been, and how tensions between Mariehamn and Helsinki have been managed. The research project will also gather and analyze the insights of experienced diplomats, experts and politicians in respect to the application of the Åland example in international conflict situations.
The project will result in a book in English and in a large international conference on Åland in the autumn of 2011. The project is led by the director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, associate professor in international law. Contributing to the project are amongst others Sarah Stephan and Heidi Öst, researchers at the Åland Islands Peace Institute.
