Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

published_or_final_version / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1999. / Typescript (photocopy). Vita. Abstract. Includes appendices. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-146).

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Headlines of the sniper attacks were relentless for almost an entire month. During 22 days in October 2002, the snipers' killing spree injured three and killed ten people. The media converged on the story at a non-stop pace, and the public understandably was entitled to be alarmed. High-profile cases such as the sniper attacks draw a large amount of attention and, therefore, can become cases through which professionals and scholars alike can learn. The sniper incident is one such case that provides exceptional research possibilities. The style and unique dialogue used in news conferences grabbed the attention of the media, the public, and the criminal community. How did law enforcement use public relations to help in its case? What crisis plan did Montgomery County, Maryland, the lead investigating department, implement? The goal of this research was to examine the crisis management plan of law enforcement when tragic situations such as the sniper attacks occur, and further to investigate agenda-setting within law enforcement's media services departments. This research was conducted as a case study, using interviews with public information officers of law enforcement agencies and numerous media reports including newspapers, news magazines, and television news. Results from this case study revealed that communicating accurate information to both the media and the community in a crisis was a top priority. Additionally, it was shared that the public information officer's role is to be ready and on the scene of crises in order to disseminate precise information. In the sniper attack incident, law enforcement controlled the flow of information and, therefore, set the agenda for the media. Moreover, the Chief of Police, when he realized the enormity of the case, took on the role of spokesperson, because he did not want the PIO to bear the burden of responsibility.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

This research aims to explore and identify essential elements of community engagement in the public sector, including library services. Previous research has highlighted public libraries objectives in undertaking community engagement, in terms of tackling social exclusion, promoting democracy and contributing to social/cultural/human capital. However, it is also apparent that there is a lack of shared vision and strategy for community engagement in public libraries. Furthermore, little systematic research has examined the community engagement process in practice. Hence there is a need for a systematic, comparative and empirical investigation into essential elements of community engagement in public libraries. The study was qualitative, involving three case studies in England. Research methods employed to gather data included semi-structured interviews, direct observation and document analysis. Both the viewpoints of service providers and service users were captured. Essential elements of community engagement were initially identified in case specific contexts. The discussion of the relationships between elements then identified two key underlying variable drivers (i.e. influence of authority and willingness to learn ) that had a fundamental impact on community engagement. Influence of authority was defined as the extent that the initiative was led by the service or the community. Willingness to learn was defined as the extent that the service was willing to embrace a community-driven approach or a library-based approach for implementing community engagement. The empirical investigative results identified the essential elements of community engagement as comprising of: accountability , belonging , commitment , communication , a flexible approach , genuineness , relevance and sustainability . The significance of this research is the identification, based on empirical data, of arguably the essential elements of community engagement in the public library context. However, it is likely that these elements are key to forms of community engagement both within and outside the public sector. Recommendations are made in conclusion for the promotion of genuine community engagement, where the community-driven approach and the organic nature of the community engagement process are seen as being paramount to engagement.

This thesis examines how practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) serve to legitimise Uruguay's largest ever foreign investment, the US$2.5-billion pulp mill constructed by the Finnish-Chilean firm Montes del Plata. Unusually, this investment prompted little social conflict, which runs counter to the community tensions frequently associated with large-scale infrastructure investments in Latin America. To explore this, the thesis takes an agency-oriented approach to the study of corporate-community relations. It offers fresh insights for critical management scholars and anthropologists of corporations into the techniques of collusion and co-optation in large-scale foreign direct investment (FDI) projects. Based on participant observation with Montes del Plata's community relations managers and their community interlocutors, conducted over separate periods during and after the mill's construction, the thesis examines the legitimising impulse of corporate citizenship, both as concept and practice. I show how the company seeks to incorporate itself as a morally-infused entity through ongoing interactions between its representative agents and external actors. I argue that the form of CSR that emerges is neither moral nor responsible, but its command over social relations nonetheless makes it a potent force for corporate capitalism's expansion. The mill owner attempts to manage its social and political relations in such a way as to secure the proximity needed for legitimacy-building, while creating the requisite distance to reduce onerous moral obligations; a balance that I analyse using the concepts of detachment and depoliticisation. The thesis opens with a discussion of the politics of representation, demonstrating how the agents of Montes del Plata (the Corporation) shape the local political ecosystem through the recognition, or not, of its counterparties' claims to representativeness. Chapters 1 and 2 also explore the theory of personation, especially in the efforts by the Corporation's community managers to infuse the company with moral characteristics. Their struggles in doing so invite consideration of a pragmatic approach to legitimacy building through the calculated management of social relations. Chapters 3 and 4 further show how principles of detachment and depoliticisation frame the Corporation's approach to relationship management. Chapter 3 examines how participation and empowerment are utilised to depoliticise development goods and stage the Corporation's detachment from their delivery. Chapter 4 examines the detachment effects of the changes to the region's political economy sparked by the mill project, and how the mill owner depoliticises public expectations of job creation. The conclusion makes the case for a distinctive approach to FDI legitimation driven by detachment (and reattachment) and facilitated by depoliticisation, which I term 'detachable CSR'.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1967. / Title from title page screen, viewed Aug. 6, 2004. Dissertation committee: Elwood F. Egelston (chair), Clayton F. Thomas, Richard E. Hulet. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-138). Also available in print.