Paradoxical pandemic politics: Examining paradoxes in political decision-making within the Finnish culture sector during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide, its impacts exceeded mere health implications on Finnish society. Like other governments worldwide, the Finnish government struggled with imposing effective yet just policies to control the spreading of the virus. Despite efforts, many sectors were severely impacted by policies set to protect public health. Specifically, the culture sector has been deemed one of the sectors most affected by restrictive measures, and more research is warranted to understand how some sectors were more affected than others. Crises such as the pandemic are also prone to the emergence of many paradoxes. While paradoxical tensions have been studied widely in the context of the pandemic, specifically from organisational- and management perspectives, no studies have focused on the emergence of paradoxes within the Finnish culture sector to understand the dynamics of political decision-making during the pandemic from this point of view. By extension, this thesis sets out to answer whether the decision-making process within Finland's culture sector during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2023) reveals paradoxes. Secondly, it examines whether the paradox theory lens can provide a framework for analysing and understanding paradoxes in political decision-making. By adopting a paradox theory as its theoretical framework, the thesis argues that paradoxical tensions are often approached with an either/or approach while embracing an both/and perspective, which might result in a more nuanced understanding of tension management. Paradox theory in this study argues for a strategy that does not seek to solve existing paradoxes automatically but urges that they needn't always be solved in the first place. The thesis follows systems thinking as its research philosophy, which frames the way paradoxes and reality of knowledge are approached in this thesis. Paradoxes are thus seen as existing across different levels of structures, which manifest on the surface, helping with the analysis of findings, as paradoxes are seen as full of interconnections. An explorative single case study was conducted based on 13 semi-structured interviews, initially collected for a research project named "Kulttuuripolitiikka korona-ajan Suomessa. Kuinka jatkaa tästä eteenpäin?". Interviewees consist of members of government officials, representatives of the field of arts and culture, academic specialists, and members of the Finnish Parliament. Articles from online magazines, mainly Helsingin Sanomat, were then used to support the thematic patterns and tensions found in the interview data. Interview data was analysed using thematic analysis, and five main themes with sub-themes were discovered to reveal paradoxical tensions from the data. The analysis of themes revealed 10 separate yet somewhat interrelated paradoxes, which were reflected upon through the framework of paradox theory. The benefits and contribution of the framework are introduced with a discussion on the nature of identified paradoxes, and lessons from systems thinking were also applied to a specific example of a paradox. The thesis provides theoretical and practical contributions to understanding the existence of paradoxical tensions in political decision-making, especially in crisis situations like the COVID-19 pandemic. First, it sheds light on existing paradoxical tensions within the culture sector during the pandemic. Second, it offers ways to understand how the paradox theory lens can help understand the dynamics of these paradoxical tensions that arise as a direct cause of political decision-making or are further fuelled by it. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to the wider body of paradox-, political- and pandemic-time research. Future research could focus on understanding paradoxes in other sectors within the political decision-making context of the pandemic. Understanding the existence of various paradoxical tensions that may exist in crisis situations can also aid in understanding political decision-making dynamics and preparation for future crises.