Legitimization of Nord Stream 2: stakeholder interactions and perceptions in Finland

This master’s thesis studies the stakeholder interactions for the development of the Nord Stream Project 2 in the regions of Kotka and Hanko. The objective of this study was to analyse the stakeholders’ perception of the project in the Finnish municipalities involved in the construction of a second pipeline that transport natural gas to Europe through the Baltic Sea. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the social and political relationships of large-scale energy projects, at the regional and international level, as well as examine the institutional role of corporations in the new social, political and economic paradigm. Qualitative content analysis was chosen as a research method. For that, face-to-face and online interviews were conducted, and press releases and reports were chosen to collect the data needed for this study. The data reflected the role of businesses in international relations. This issue has been analysed through the lens of international political economy and with the help of the English School. These premises support the understanding of the main theory, stakeholder theory, that focuses on the relation of the corporation with the stakeholders in the social, political and economic dimensions. To do so, this theoretical framework combines the Post’s model of stakeholder mapping and Mitchell, Agle & Wood’s model of stakeholder identification with the main theory in order to explain how these relationships are shaped. This research proposed two research questions, RQ: what legitimizes an actor to execute transnational energy projects that cross different jurisdictional zones? (RQ1) and how residents of Hanko and Kotka Finnish government and Nord Stream 2 AG cooperated to provide with social license to operate for the project? (RQ2). RQ1 was answered by first, in current political economies such as Finland, legitimation entails that state actors and market forces keep an effective relation in order to successfully execute macro-energy projects. Second, the security of supply of energy products highly depends on the cooperation and coordination between state authorities and market forces. This is only possible to achieve by open and constant communication flow, as well as mutual understanding. Whilst, concerning RQ2: third, corporate disclosing and stakeholder accountability and engagement were essential to achieve the cooperation between the authorities, the project company and the citizenry. Fourth, this cooperation was also achieved thanks to the development regional development strategies coordinated by the project company and the regional authorities. This research contributes to firstly, understand the relationship between democracy and corporate planning; secondly, to comprehend the new socio-political context where organisations operate. This is important when developing internal and external processes; and thirdly, it opens new perspectives for research in IR and energy issues