Bowman, Sarah

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Northumbria Research LinkCitation: Bowman, Sarah (2019) Resilience and stabilisation in post conflict  situations: The media, communications and security nexus. In: XXVII IAMHIST Conference: Power and the Media, 16-18 Jul  2019, Newcastle upon Tyne. URL: This  version  was  downloaded  from  Northumbria  Research  Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46414/Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners.  Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any  format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder.  The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/pol  i cies.html  This  document  may differ  from the  final,  published version of  the research  and has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies. To read and/or cite from the published version of the research, please visit the publisher’s website (a subscription may be required.)                        Resilience and Stablization in post-conflict situationsThe media, communications and security nexusDr. Sarah BowmanWhat is civil society?• Taylor (2009)– Citizens– Institutions– Media– NGOs– INGOs– Business– Governance– Strong civil society embedded within societal resilienceStructure of presentation• What’s the issue • What do we know• Current historical research/methods• A suggested way forward• Limitations etcWhat is the issue?• Communications and media critical in selling war, selling peace (Lowe, 2010)• To understand better the role of media and communication in post-conflict (or divided) societies – what role do they play and the type of interventions necessary to rebuild/support civil societyWhat do we know• Communication, in some form, central component of all community resilience models (Houston et al., 2015) -natural and manmade disasters• Community resilience = collective activity to foster recovery, adaptive capacities (Norris et al, 2008)• Capacities: communication and information; community competence; social capital and economic development = strong link to systems theoryCommunication and Information• Narratives• Responsible media• Communication skills and infrastructure• Trusted sources of information• All scholars agree inc.Pfefferbaum and Neas et al. (2013) = systemic resilience• Communication ecology perspective that includes:– Organizational– Mediated– Interpersonal– But also PR which is about developing relationships and community – Multimodal approachA communication and media approach to community resilience (Houston et al., 2015: 274 Methodology• Philosophical position: social constructivism, interpretivist and exploratory• Case Study (Stake, 1995; Merriam, 1998 and Yin 2002)– Interviews with those on the ground (Albany Associates, FC0)– Citizens involved in post-conflict territories– Conceptual lens: systems• Content analysis – Media coverage re: narratives– Documents re: UN, UNICEF, UNESCO• A case study is: “a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context, especially when the boundaries between a phenomenon and context are not clear and the researcher has little control over the phenomenon and context” (Yin, 2002:13)Thematic Analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001: 388)Case Studies• Bosnia (and the Baltics) from the late 1980s– By 1991 wealthier republics of Slovenia and Croatia seceded from Yugoslav Federation – By 1992 Bosnia fell into civil war on independence and end of free media and rise of state control of information– Collapse of civil society – Following Dayton Peace Agreement influx of NGOs –media relations? Rise of alternative media– Role of media inc. social and grassroots interventions to create a ‘Euro-Baltic identity’Case Studies• Somalia (civil war 2009-present….)– Changing media actors and embryonic press freedom– Role of media reporting in driving/preventing violent extremism– Accountability of state security institutions and media and security services relationships –training sessions– Community initiatives in those areas recovered from Al-Shabaab control – town hall debates, sporting activities, networks to build resilience, consultation forumsCase Studies• Nigeria (a paradox)– Nigeria suffers a variety of complex political problems including inequality, corruption, oil disputes, national disunity, media and the Boko Haram insurgency– Growth of grassroots organisations eg Peace Initiative Network• But also:– Centre for Democracy and Peace Building (NI)– Darfur, Western Sudan (local scriptwriters, weekly radio drama since 2013, diverse communities)– Establishment of communications regulators and public service broadcastersWay Forward• Through case studies attempt to:– Identify elements of community resilience post conflict– Better understand organisational linkages and role of media and PR in this– Reflect on the role of multi-disciplinary teams and collaboration to support specific interventionsFinal Reflections: Pillars of Peace• Think about how this work links to Institute for Economics and Peace framework:– Well functioning government– Sound business environment– An equitable distribution of resources– An acceptance of the rights of others– Good relations with neighbours– Free flow of information– High level of human capital – Low levels of corruptionLimitations• Qualitative• Bias• Sampling• Access• Reliability• Replicability• But still worth doing….References and Further Reading• The Institute for Economics and Peace http://economicsandpeace.org/• Houston, J.B., Spialek, M.L., Cox, J., Greenwood, M.M., and First, J. (2015). The Centrality of Communication and Media in Fostering Community Resilience: A Framework for Assessment and Intervention. American Behavioral Scientist, 59 (2), 270-283• Lowe, E., (2010). The Media and Political Process (2nd Edition). Sage.• Norris, F.H., Stevens, S.P., Pfefferbaum, B., Wyche, K.F., and Pffefferbaum, R.L. (2008). Community resilience as a metaphor, theory, set of capacities, and strategy for disaster readiness. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 127-150.• Taylor, M., (2009). Civil society as a rhetorical public relations process. In R. Heath, E. L. Toth and D. Waymer (Eds). Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations II (pp. 76-91). Hillside, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum• Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). Thematic Networks: An Analytic Tool for Qualitative Research.  Qualitative Research, 1 (3), pp. 385-405.• Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.• Stake, R. E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications• Yin, R. K. (2002). Case study research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

Resilience and stabilisation in post conflict situations: The media, communications and security nexus

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Resilience and stabilisation in post conflict situations: The media, communications and security nexus

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