Multilayered Borders of Global Security (GLASE)

Public description of the goals at the beginning of the project

The contemporary security scene is characterised by pronounced regional instability and a complex combination of both traditional geopolitical and new “hybrid” security threats. For Finland, the potential threats derive particularly from Russia’s increasingly assertive actions on the geopolitical arena, extensive uncontrolled migration, cross-border crime and extremism, but also from the internal socioeconomic inequalities. This consortium seeks to analyse the security challenges to the resilience of Finnish society and to enlarge the knowledge basis for understanding security issues and potential threats as they pertain to Finland in particular and Europe more generally. The specific focus of our work is on the interwoven nature of external and internal security that we approach through the prism of borders. Borders are an interface between domestic concerns and wider interstate and intercultural contexts that have fundamental impact on security of Finnish society at various levels.

Public description of the results at the end of the project

The GLASE project analysed new security challenges to the resilience of Finnish society and sought to enlarge the knowledge basis for understanding the nature of security issues and potential threats operating at a European level. Specific focus was on the interwoven nature of external and internal security and borders as an interface between domestic concerns and wider global contexts impacting on Finnish society at various levels. The project was coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland and realised in partnership with the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu and the Border and Coast Guard Academy. At one level we addressed questions regarding changes in the broader security environment and the preparedness of Finnish society regarding traditional and new external security challenges emerging in the post-Soviet space. GLASE also investigated effects of migration and political extremism, including hate speech and crimes, from the perspectives of everyday security, state policies and the legal framework.  This assessment of security challenges and resilience provided a basis for Finnish and EU policy options for improving societal response capacities.