Citizenship, Religion and Education in View of Human Security and Radicalization Issues in Finland and Europe: An analysis of public policies between realist assumptions and constructivist perspectives

There is currently a lack of scholarly research on security (particularly human security) in education. The purpose of this article-based dissertation is to contribute to filling this gap by adopting an interdisciplinary approach to studying selected public policies relating to citizenship, religious education (religion in education or the study of religion), security, and radicalization issues in basic education (especially grades 7–9). The security perspective emphasized in this dissertation is based on the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 1994 promulgated concept of human security, which has now been problematized in scholarship. This dissertation explores the complex realities of citizenship, religion, education and human security, as state and intergovernmental actors seek to counter radicalization/extremism/terrorism in Finland and Europe. Of special interest in this work is maximal citizenship, a critical model of citizenship in education, as research on the maximal interpretation of citizenship education is generally lacking in Finland. The dissertation is anchored in analyses of data from selected policy documents of Finland and the UK (United Kingdom), the EU (European Union), the UN (United Nations) and some of its agencies, and a media report.

This article-based dissertation is based on three different but related original studies, published in peer-reviewed journals, referred to in the dissertation as Studies I, II and III. The three studies rely on qualitative analyses of the selected policy documents. The method of analysis employed in each of the three studies varies. Study I used qualitative content analysis (QCA) with its often descriptive and implicit (empirical) realist assumptions. Study II employed descriptive discourse analysis, while Study III applied critical discourse analysis; so, both Studies are inevitably based on constructivist perspectives. A mix and an interplay of the varied methods were used in the dissertation. This article-based dissertation summarizes, harmonizes, and synthesizes Studies I, II, and III through the following three research questions: (1) How are citizenship, religion and education interrelated in Finnish policies in relation to the concept of human security promoted by the UN? (corresponding to Studies I and II); (2) How could the concept of human security help the EU and countries like Finland and the UK to address and learn from the unintended negative tendencies and consequences of the education-related counter-radicalization policies in certain quarters in Europe? (corresponding to Studies I and II); and (3) How does maximal citizenship appear in the policies relating to citizenship in Finnish religious education, and what implications does it have for education for citizenship, human security, and radicalization issues in policymaking in general? (corresponding to Studies I, II and III).

The main findings of Study I reveal that citizenship in Finnish religious education addresses personal security concerns dealing with psychological and human rights issues impacting Finns and immigrants in Finland. Finland uses citizenship in religious education and the model of the study of religion in its policies to promote security and good ethnic relations between Finns and immigrants in Finnish society. The current model of religious education in Finnish policy is non-confessional, allowing individual pupils to receive religious education according to their own religion. This is partly meant to allay fears of a possible loss of national cultural heritage and individual religious identities between the ethnic majority and minorities in Finland. These are found to be relating to human security as conceptualized by the UN. However, human security is rarely addressed explicitly in Finnish policies; instead, Finland emphasizes its practical applications. The explicit incorporation of critical thinking, global citizen, and human rights into Finnish religious education in the 2014 curriculum seems to project critical global citizenship for young people, thereby promoting human security. Study I reveals a nexus between citizenship, religion, education, and human security.

The main findings of Study II reveal that the counter-radicalization policies of Finland, the UK and the EU require teachers and schools to police their students/pupils for possible signs of radicalization, and to report them accordingly to security/non-security agencies for further counter-radicalization actions. This negates an impression given by previous research literature, which suggests otherwise in the case of Finland. It appears the policing approach can negatively affect the psychological dimensions of students’ personal security form of human security in their learning environments. Study II also shows that the UK’s counter-radicalization policy appears to be biased against Muslim students and could therefore hinder their potential to contribute in class. This appears to be making British Muslim students fearful of speaking freely in class, creating mistrust between the British state and its citizens, and between students and teachers, and may be stifling the radical potential of students in the positive sense of the term. The study indicates that the UK, the EU and Finland scantily use human security explicitly in their policies. The analysis suggests that the policy deficiencies and associated negative tendencies and consequences identified in Study II appear to have occurred because policymakers did not explicitly use the principles (such as freedom from fear and indignity) and language of human security in formulating the counter-radicalization policies. It therefore recommends that policymakers explicitly use these principles and language when designing such policies henceforth.

The main findings of Study III suggest that Finnish policies relating to citizenship in Finnish religious education are only somewhat compatible with maximal citizenship. This indicates that the potential for students’ critical worldviews is not optimal. As such, the results of Study III challenge the findings on critical global citizenship presented in Study I. The study also indicates that our individual language (mother tongue) could determine whether our conception of citizenship would be minimal (i.e., uncritical and narrow) or maximal (i.e., critical and broad). This is because the analysis of the conception of citizenship (kansalaisuus) in Finnish policies in relation to the Finnish language is found to be minimal as it is traditionally, linguistically, and exclusively ethno-nationalistic rather than open to diversity and global tendencies.

The dissertation uses postmodernism as its theoretical framework to advance and consolidate my argument on the key findings of Studies I, II and III. The intention is to solidify the discussion on the findings and to safeguard them against possible counter-theoretical or conceptual readings. Overall, the dissertation suggests that security is now an emergent subject and concern in public education, and that the policies guiding it are mainly state-centric rather than human-centred. This has, or may have, a negative impact on the personal security form of human security of the students in Europe. I suggest that scholars now need to develop a veritable body of research in education where human security would take centre stage. Similarly, I contend that the emergence of security in public education, where the state generally dictates the pace at the expense of students’ personal security, calls for a reorientation of our philosophy of education in order to delineate the place of human security within education. The dissertation is significant as it lays a foundation for the theoretical development and empirical analysis of the nexus between citizenship, religion, human security, and education in Finland. More specifically, the dissertation pioneers the study of human security within the field of religious education in general. The dissertation also lays a foundation for the study of the nexus between citizenship education and human security studies in the context of preventing or countering violent radicalization/extremism in Finland, the UK, the EU and, by extension, Europe. The dissertation is all the more significant as its linguistic perspective on maximal citizenship is relatively new in scholarship.

Keywords: human security, human rights, religious education, maximal citizenship, education for citizenship, radicalization, extremism, terrorism, policing, minorities, Muslim, realism, constructivism, postmodernism, Finland, the UK, the EU