Skip to content
Home » Alumni » Max Weber Alumni Bio

Koivisto, Ida

Assistant Professor of Public Law

University of Helsinki, Finland

Finland

Max Weber alumnus

Department of Law

Cohort(s): 2015/2016

Ph.D. Institution

University of Helsinki, Finland

Biography

I conducted my doctoral research at the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki. During my doctoral studies, I also worked briefly for the Ministry of Justice in Finland. After my graduation in 2011, I worked as a researcher and as the coordinator of the Finnish nation-wide doctoral programme for law. In 2014-2015, I spent an academic year at New York University as a Hauser Global Post-Doctoral Fellow.
In my dissertation (Hyvän hallinnon muunnelmat: julkisoikeudellinen tutkimus, or ‘The Varieties of Good Governance: A Study of Public Law’), I discussed the many discourses of good governance. My main argument was that the linguistic open-endedness, as well as the strategic use of the words ‘good’ and ‘governance’, make the concept radically indeterminate. As such, it can be plausibly used for multiple ideological purposes. Relatedly, I critically examined the normative pull of legal rationality.
During and after my doctoral studies I was also teaching. I have taught general administrative law, academic writing, methodology of law and legal argumentation. I have also taught a course on the intersections of administration, law and power.
My research interests cover public law, especially administrative law, global governance, socio-legal studies and legal theory, language and philosophy. In general, I am interested in the interconnections of law and other normative systems in society. My current research focuses on the concept of transparency and its implications in global governance.
Expertise for Teaching and Mentoring of PhD Researchers: Public law, global governance, legal theory
Go back to top of the page