Pertti Alasuutari

I am interested in the global system and its transformation, especially in the global travel of ideas and in governance through epistemic means both in national and global contexts. Regarding global transformation, in addition to the role of policymaking, I am interested in the impacts of economy, science and technology,  and popular culture. I have also had a long-term interest in social research methodology, especially qualitative research.

As an emeritus professor, I am freed from formal administrative responsibilities, but I do supervise some doctoral candidates and am engaged in publishing articles and books with my former and current students.

Alasuutari, Pertti: “The vertical metaphor of power”. Journal of Political Power 2026, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2026.2660238.

Alasuutari, Pertti: National Parliaments as a Global Institution: An Institutionalist View. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2025. https://academic.oup.com/book/59563

Heimo, Lauri, Pertti Alasuutari, Laia Pi Ferrer & Olga Ulybina: ”Evoking ‘other countries’ in media discourses: The case of the Covid-19 pandemic in six countries.” Discourse, Context & Media 63 (2025), 100847, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2024.100847.

Rautalin, Marjaana & Pertti Alasuutari; “Navigating in the global discourse: The case of Swedish COVID-19 strategy”. Acta Sociologica 2025, Vol 68(3), 370-388, https://doi.org/10.1177/00016993241301604.

Ulybina, Olga, Laia Pi Ferrer & Pertti Alasuutari: “Intergovernmental organizations in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic: Organizational behaviour in crises and under uncertainty”. International Sociology 37(4), 2022, 415–438. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221094687

Qadir, Ali & Pertti Alasuutari: ”The Discursive Side of Sociological Institutionalism in the Study of Religion”. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 2022: 1-23, DOI https://doi.org/10.1163/15700682-bja10075

Alasuutari, Pertti & Ali Qadir: Epistemic Governance: Social change in the modern world . London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2019. 

Alasuutari, Pertti & Valtteri Vähä-Savo: Owning worldwide principles: The case of American exceptionalism. Social Science Information 57 (4), 2018, 533–552. 

Pi Ferrer, Laia, Pertti Alasuutari & Leena Tervonen-Gonçalves: Looking at others in national policy-making: the construction of reference groups in Portugal and Spain from 2008 to 2013. European Politics and Society 20 (3), 2018, 333–347. 

Alasuutari, Pertti, Marjaana Rautalin & Jukka Tyrkkö: The rise of the idea of model in policymaking: The case of the British parliament, 1803–2005. European Journal of Sociology 59 (3), 2018, 341-363. 

Alasuutari, Pertti: Authority as epistemic capital. Journal of Political Power 11 (2), 2018, 165-190. 

Wang, Li & Pertti Alasuutari: Co-construction of the tourist experience in social networking sites: Two forms of authenticity intertwined. Tourist Studies 17 (4), 2017, 388–405. 

Alasuutari, Pertti: The Synchronization of National Policies: Ethnography of the Global Tribe of Moderns. London: Routledge 2016. 

Alasuutari, Pertti & Ali Qadir: Imageries of the social world in epistemic governance. International Sociology 31 (6), 2016, 633-652.