War Narratives: Framing Our Understanding of the War on Terror

Kathe Callahan · Melvin J. Dubnick · Dorothy F. Olshfski

37 citations0/0 files storedPublic Administration Review

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Public Relations and Crisis Communication Public Policy and Administration Research Rhetoric and Communication Studies

Abstract

Unlike past American wars, the current war on terror has not been associated with a centrally proffered narrative providing some guidance and orientation for those administering government services under state-of-war conditions. War is as much a cultural endeavor as it is a military undertaking, and the absence of a clear sensemaking narrative was detected in this study of public administrators from three agencies with varying proximity to the conflict. Q-methodology was used to explore the way individuals processed the war narratives put forth by the Bush administration and reported in the media immediately following the September 11 attacks. Though no distinct state-of-war narratives were found among the public administrators in this study, there are clear indications that latent narratives reflecting local political and organizational task environments have emerged.

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References

1996Sensemaking in Organizations 1997The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order 2002Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology 1969Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology 1999An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method 1967The phenomenology of the social world 1968The Phenomenology of the Social World.1979Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film

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