Photo: Tarja Lehtonen.
Elina Eloranta’s doctoral dissertation in International Relations examines how states seek to produce security and what motivations guide their security policy choices. The study argues that security measures can be understood through four strategies: defence, offence, relations- and cooperation-building, and assimilation. The pursuit of standing and political interests often influences policy choices more strongly than the goal of increasing security itself. The research highlights that security cannot be generated by military force alone. Approaches based on cooperation and relationship-building can, in many cases, provide an effective means of enhancing security. The dissertation offers new tools for assessing the objectives and effects of security policies and for evaluating how effectively different strategies contribute to security.
The doctoral dissertation Master of Social Sciences Elina Eloranta, What We Do When We Do Security: A Comprehensive Analysis of Action and Non-Action with an Application to EU Counter-Terrorism, will be publicly examined at the Facultuy of Management and Business at Tampere University on 11 September 2026. The dissertation is in the field of International Relations.
The opponent will be Professor Christopher Browning of the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. The custos will be Professor Tuomas Forsberg from the Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University.