The globalized security situation characterized by transnational threats and international interventionism in “new wars,” connect non traditional local actors and traditional global actors to one another in unprecedented ways. We argue that children in particular need to be highlighted because they are highly pertinent to the globalized security situation, yet they make up one of the few agents that have remained non‐politicized in the eyes of the scholarly community. The article suggests a framework of analysis that can generate analyses on security of traditional as well as non‐traditional agents. Placing non‐traditional groups in the center of attention serves to mirror the complexities of the current security situation better.
The new media situation gives fuel to increased competition between narratives. In the sphere of security this poses challenges to government strategic narratives. Scholars, drawing on findings from the Anglo-Saxon sphere, suggest that the new media activism gives rise to counter-hegemonic narratives that thrive on and through social media sites. We argue that the emergence of counter-narratives in the sphere of security depends upon a few key dynamics that might vary with political context such as political culture, the size of the blogosphere, the debate in mainstream media and socialization processes within the military organization. Our case study of Swedish blogging about Sweden’s military contribution to the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan suggests that blogs are mainly used to sustain – and not to challenge – the governmental narrative. This invites us to question the significance of new media platforms as counter-hegemonic forces in communities beyond the Anglo-Saxon sphere.
Amateur imagery has become an important component of news coverage of distant crisis events, and it plays a decisive role in shaping how audiences respond to crises. In this article, we discuss how the factors of authenticity, affectivity, and ethics play a role in the ways in which citizen images engage or disengage the distant audience. The article is based on 17 focus group interviews in Sweden and Finland that centred on a selection of visual news coverage of the Arab Spring in Syria and Libya – landmark news events in the use of citizen eyewitness images in the Nordic countries. The results indicate that citizen imagery is indeed a potential tool with strongly engaging characteristics, especially in terms of its authenticity and to some degree also its affectivity. However, disengagement may also result, especially due to the interpreted deficiencies in terms of ethics.
This article suggests a diagnostic framework of public communication intended to capture new communication strategies used by Armed Forces across Europe to legitimize new tasks and recruit new personnel. Three distinct communicative models that impact differently on democratic values and public support are suggested: an Old Public Administration (OPA) model influenced by bureaucratic values, a New Public Management (NPM) model fuelled by market values and a deliberative model labelled 'New Public Service' (NPS) that is largely influenced by proponents of 'e-democracy'. A case study of the communication of the Swedish Armed Forces identifies a lingering bureaucratic (OPA) ideal. The market ideal (NPM) however clearly dominates. The article concludes that communication along market purposes, principles and practices risks distancing Armed Forces further from society. Yet, an embryonic deliberative ideal (NPS)-much fuelled by the use of social media such as blogs-was also identified. This growing ideal holds the potential of infusing deliberative vigor into the organization and presumably facilitates the bridging of the gap to society.
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