Väitös (poliittinen historia): MA Zoé Allen-Mercier
MA Zoé Allen-Mercier esittää väitöskirjansa ”Negotiating the Boundaries of Social Order: Discourse and Governance in Soviet Karelia in the 1970s–1980s” julkisesti tarkastettavaksi Turun yliopistossa perjantaina 30.10.2026 klo 12.00 (Turun yliopisto, Publicum, Pub3, Assistentinkatu 7, Turku).
Vastaväittäjänä toimivat professori Simo Mikkonen (Itä-Suomen yliopisto) ja professori Emilia Koustova (Strasbourgin yliopisto). Kustoksena toimii professori Louis Clerc (Turun yliopisto). Tilaisuus on englanninkielinen. Väitöksen alana on poliittinen historia.
Tiivistelmä väitöstutkimuksesta:
The thesis examines Soviet mechanisms of maintaining social order in the 1970s and 1980s in the Republic of Karelia, within the context of Détente and active protest movements in the country. The period of Détente had significantly compromised the epistemic order in the Soviet Union and induced a shift in state-society relations. Along with certain issues related to the policy of “developed socialism”, these factors contributed to creating an atmosphere of tension and exacerbating the risks of subversion within the population. Rather than looking at repressive methods, the study analyzes the development of prophylactic discursive devices and non-coercive measures designed to regulate the social order. These phenomena are highlighted through the example of a border republic where such issues were most imminent. By examining shifting popular discourses and the state’s response, the analysis demonstrates a multilateral negotiation of power as well as efforts to revitalize the official discourse, while also examining their role in center-periphery relations.
Overall, this dissertation illustrates the elaboration of integrative, dynamic and adaptative methods of mass political work which were incrementally developed over the post-war period, but coalesced in the mid-1970s amidst the policies of Détente. The dissertation thus sets out to challenge the perception of rigidity in official discourse production and the concept of stagnation during the Brezhnev era.
