title: Communicating strategically: public relations and organisational legitimacy

authors: Schoenberger-Orgad, Michèle Anne

subjects: public relations

abstract: This thesis aims to facilitate an understanding of some of the critical debates in public relations theory and practice. It joins others in contributing to a shift from a functional systems-based public relations paradigm to one where public relations is transparently seen as playing a role in shaping democracy in a global society.
The research analyses NATO's communication operations in the Kosovo Campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, examining the case from a number of different perspectives. The thesis contributes to the body of knowledge of public relations practices and how, in this case, they were used to inform and persuade publics of the moral cause of a bombing mission to achieve specific strategic organisational and communication goals. Further, it contextualises the case of NATO as an organisation facing a crisis in legitimacy following the end of the Cold War. It demonstrates how the Kosovo Campaign provided a vehicle to transform NATO's identity while retaining military capabilities, to make the organisation relevant to the global demands of the 21st century. In this way, NATO could claim a  unique self  and maintain its credibility and relevance.
The thesis argues that NATO's public relations campaign was successful in maintaining both credibility and popular support for a 78-day bombing campaign within the 19 nations of the Alliance. The campaign allowed NATO to claim that it was the only organisation that could provide
ii
security and stability, as well as be the main bulwark of the defence of Western values in a rapidly globalising and changing world. Moreover, by framing the Kosovo air campaign as a humanitarian intervention, NATO was not only able to legitimise its actions but transform its military might with an acceptable human face in order to achieve its broader ideological goals in Europe.
This thesis demonstrates how military interventions on behalf of powerful interests can be legitimised if the appropriate public relations framework is used and acceptable communication strategies employed. It suggests how citizens of democratic countries can be led to support decision-makers who present themselves as acting altruistically even when their actions may be self-interested.

text: Communicating strategically: public relations and organisational legitimacy This thesis aims to facilitate an understanding of some of the critical debates in public relations theory and practice. It joins others in contributing to a shift from a functional systems-based public relations paradigm to one where public relations is transparently seen as playing a role in shaping democracy in a global society.
The research analyses NATO's communication operations in the Kosovo Campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, examining the case from a number of different perspectives. The thesis contributes to the body of knowledge of public relations practices and how, in this case, they were used to inform and persuade publics of the moral cause of a bombing mission to achieve specific strategic organisational and communication goals. Further, it contextualises the case of NATO as an organisation facing a crisis in legitimacy following the end of the Cold War. It demonstrates how the Kosovo Campaign provided a vehicle to transform NATO's identity while retaining military capabilities, to make the organisation relevant to the global demands of the 21st century. In this way, NATO could claim a  unique self  and maintain its credibility and relevance.
The thesis argues that NATO's public relations campaign was successful in maintaining both credibility and popular support for a 78-day bombing campaign within the 19 nations of the Alliance. The campaign allowed NATO to claim that it was the only organisation that could provide
ii
security and stability, as well as be the main bulwark of the defence of Western values in a rapidly globalising and changing world. Moreover, by framing the Kosovo air campaign as a humanitarian intervention, NATO was not only able to legitimise its actions but transform its military might with an acceptable human face in order to achieve its broader ideological goals in Europe.
This thesis demonstrates how military interventions on behalf of powerful interests can be legitimised if the appropriate public relations framework is used and acceptable communication strategies employed. It suggests how citizens of democratic countries can be led to support decision-makers who present themselves as acting altruistically even when their actions may be self-interested.

year: 2007

title: Literacy research methodology that is up to the challenge

authors: Smyth, John

subjects: multi-facetedmethodology

abstract: This paper outlines the methodological dimensions of the secondary literacy research evaluation that is the focus of this special issue-the New Zealand-based Secondary Schools' Literacy Initiative (SSLI). We argue that these methodological dimensions are an example of the type of contextualised and critical research that might be usefully applied in exploring literacy across the curriculum in other national contexts. A particular concern addressed in the paper is the need to develop a contextualised, rich description of literacy practices in schools, while also addressing a wider policy climate, which is often preoccupied with issues of literacy achievement and, particularly, often-entrenched differential achievement for students across class and ethnicity lines. To achieve this, the researchers adopted a quasi-ethnographic, multi-locale, mixed-methods approach intended to enhance the robustness of the research design and the validity of the results.

text: Literacy research methodology that is up to the challenge This paper outlines the methodological dimensions of the secondary literacy research evaluation that is the focus of this special issue-the New Zealand-based Secondary Schools' Literacy Initiative (SSLI). We argue that these methodological dimensions are an example of the type of contextualised and critical research that might be usefully applied in exploring literacy across the curriculum in other national contexts. A particular concern addressed in the paper is the need to develop a contextualised, rich description of literacy practices in schools, while also addressing a wider policy climate, which is often preoccupied with issues of literacy achievement and, particularly, often-entrenched differential achievement for students across class and ethnicity lines. To achieve this, the researchers adopted a quasi-ethnographic, multi-locale, mixed-methods approach intended to enhance the robustness of the research design and the validity of the results.

year: 2007

title: Restoring Indigneous Law and Justice Traditions

authors: Cook, Michelle Lynn

subjects: Indigenous peoples

abstract: Restoring indigenous people's law and their ability to practice their justice traditions is a fundamental aspect of non-discrimination, decolonization, self-governance, self-determination, and social justice. The critical application and interpretation of indigenous people's law has revolutionary potentiality to transform, confront, and heal multiple forms of oppression such as environmental destruction, patriarchy, and the prison/criminal justice system. The sovereign jurisgenerative (law making) power of indigenous peoples is a site of profound hope for the revitalization of indigenous law and justice traditions restores legal principles and values of sacredness, harmony, balance, and interconnectivity within human relationships and with the natural world. Revitalizing indigenous law is a way to re-construct the self and society while also finding and re-connecting to new/old ways of being human. This thesis focuses on both Navajo and Māori practices and visions of law and justice; the challenges and, successes they have faced and the hopes they have of living by their law. Indigenous peoples, their ways of being, their wisdom, laws, and philosophies, must be respected, protected, and preserved not only because they contribute to humanity's richness and cultural diversity but also because they are living examples of  a more just, dignified, and ecologically sustainable society, which can serve all humanity.

text: Restoring Indigneous Law and Justice Traditions Restoring indigenous people's law and their ability to practice their justice traditions is a fundamental aspect of non-discrimination, decolonization, self-governance, self-determination, and social justice. The critical application and interpretation of indigenous people's law has revolutionary potentiality to transform, confront, and heal multiple forms of oppression such as environmental destruction, patriarchy, and the prison/criminal justice system. The sovereign jurisgenerative (law making) power of indigenous peoples is a site of profound hope for the revitalization of indigenous law and justice traditions restores legal principles and values of sacredness, harmony, balance, and interconnectivity within human relationships and with the natural world. Revitalizing indigenous law is a way to re-construct the self and society while also finding and re-connecting to new/old ways of being human. This thesis focuses on both Navajo and Māori practices and visions of law and justice; the challenges and, successes they have faced and the hopes they have of living by their law. Indigenous peoples, their ways of being, their wisdom, laws, and philosophies, must be respected, protected, and preserved not only because they contribute to humanity's richness and cultural diversity but also because they are living examples of  a more just, dignified, and ecologically sustainable society, which can serve all humanity.

year: 2010