The digital revolution has changed how we interact and organize ourselves, how wars are fought and how peace is restored. The nature of conflicts has changed, and so should the theories with which we try to understand conflicts. Communication is power, and understanding power relations in the information era is fundamental to address peacebuilding. In this paper I investigate which communication plays in power relations and how this can be applied to classical peace theory. I do this by discussing the elements of Galtung’s classical conflict cycle in light of the network theory. I define power in the networks as communicative power which it is exercised within, between and behind the different networks. The widely distributed internet access and possibilities to influence others has not only skewed the power relations within the political sphere, but also created effective ways to damage democratic principles and structures through communication. In my discussion, I argue that communication as discursive power can be seen as the source of conflict, because the one dominating the discourse dominates the network. Based on Galtung’s framework, I show how communicative violence can be structural, cultural and direct. Communication can be used violently to harm infrastructure, mislead and create mistrust, and marginalize actors. Because communication plays a pivotal role in everyday life, I further argue that it can also be seen as a basic human need. To create a sustainable peace, we have to think about peacebuilding across the different networks of society, ensuring access and aiming for a more constructive discourse.

The development of communication technology has also created new structures, able to challenge the traditional power roles of the communicative process. Social media have become a fruitful arena of this change due to their users having the possibility to respond to the producers’ messages. Thus, the traditional lineal structure turns to an interactional one and consequently, the lines become blurred between the roles of the dominant and dominated as assumed by the senders/producers and the receivers respectively. Controversial issues shed light on this ‘battle for power’, such as the sustainability actions and reporting of Zara and H&M. These companies are the leaders of the fast fashion industry; one of the most ‘unsustainable’ fields. Through a critical discourse analysis of the posts that the companies launch on their Facebook-sponsored accounts as well as the comments related to sustainability that they obtain from their users, the communicative process occurring in social media can be assessed. The aim of this analysis is to provide an insight into how the communicative process between sender and receiver in social media creates public opinion and affects the development of sustainability discourse. It has been shown that users have found in social media a powerful tool to challenge the companies’ power: they can comment on the informative product in question. Also the users have taken the sustainability discourse as the required ‘object’ when questioning a product’s reliability. The latter is in some way another means with which to challenge the companies’ power.

Video game journalism has been accused for lack in journalistic legitimacy for decades. The historical relation between video game journalists and video game publishers has always been problematic from an objective point of view, as publishers have the power to govern and dictate journalistic coverage by withdrawing financial funding and review material. This has consequently lead to lack in journalistic legitimacy when it comes to video game coverage. However, as the grass roots media movement gained popularity and attention in the mid 2000s, a new more direct and personal way of coverage became evident. Nowadays, grass roots media producers operate within the same field of practice as traditional journalists and the difference between entertainment and journalism has become harder than ever to distinguish. The aim of this master thesis is to discover if grass roots media is more critical than traditional video game journalism regarding industry coverage. The study combines Communication Power theory, Web 2.0 and Convergence Culture, as well as Alternative Media and Participatory Journalistic theory, to create an interdisciplinary theoretical framework. The theoretical framework also guides our choice in methodology as a grounded theory study, where the aim of analysis is to present or discover a new theory or present propositions grounded in our analysis. To reach this methodological goal, 10 different grass roots media producers were interviewed at 6 different occasions. The interviewees were asked about their opinions regarding grass roots media production, their own contribution, as well how they identified journalistic coverage. It was discovered that the grass roots media producers were not more critical than traditional video game journalists. This was because grass roots media producers operate under the rules of entertainment production. It was discovered that if grass roots media producers break out of the normative rules of entertainment production, they would either loose their autonomous freedom or funding, resulting in a catch-22 situation. Furthermore, it was found that grass roots media producers did not identify themselves as journalists; rather they identified themselves as game critics or reviewers. Thus, a video game journalist is categorised as an individual that report writes or edits video game news as an occupation, with formal journalistic training. However, since neither grass roots media producers nor industry veterans in general have journalistic training, it is still unclear who is a video game journalist. Lastly, we found that grass roots media producers have little possibility to influence traditional video game journalism. The only way to increase the status of journalistic legitimacy is by encouraging journalism itself, to engage in critical media coverage. As there is a public demand for industry coverage, and journalistic legitimacy is grounded on the normative democratic self-descriptions of the profession, video game journalism needs to move beyond entertainment and engage in democratically, constructive and critical coverage.

Thesis (M.A.)--Hong Kong Baptist University, 2005. / Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-48).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1989. / Adviser: Paul H. Arntson. Includes bibliographical references.

Globalization and technological advancements continue to challenge contemporary organizations’ aims to balance stability and change. As a response to this challenge, organizations often turn to empowerment and participatory processes. Current research emphasizes the need for enhanced communication in these processes. However, there is a lack of research studying how organizations practically enact this idea that these processes require more communication. This dissertation is aligned with the Montreal School’s CCO perspective and departs from communication theory seen as a dialogic of conversation and text, thus directing attention to coorientation and how organizational members coordinate in organizing processes. Based on this theoretical framework, the study aims to contribute to a better understanding – empirically as well as analytically – about the variety of texts that are a part of communicative initiatives aiming at enhancing communication, encouraging participation and empowerment processes. The empirical material is based on how two organizations explicitly emphasized communicative initiatives throughout each organization’s empowerment process attempts. One organization mainly used workshops to provide opportunities for communication, while the other organization incorporated an interactive video website for the same purpose. This dissertation acknowledges that managers and subordinates are not equally capable of discursively constructing the organization. However, enhanced communication through empowering processes has been shown to facilitate members’ abilities to contribute to the organizing process. Hence, the study combines two theoretical frameworks, the empowerment process model and the Montreal School’s CCO perspective, extending both and thereby accentuating the communication-power relationship. To further explore how conversations and text interact in the case organizations, the study enacts a tension-centered approach, arguing that tensions are produced, co- and reproduced and enacted through organizations’ wills to empower their members through communication. The findings indicate a recursive and reflexive relationship between the empowerment process, coorientation, tensions and participation. In practice, this means that organizational members who have the opportunity to engage in conversations about matters of concern while perceiving themselves as taking part in an empowerment process tend to more actively identify and co-produce tensions. Tensions increase participation and lead to new insights. As members realize the value of their input, this further enhances the empowerment process.

This master's thesis analyses the following plays by contemporary American playwright, David Mamet: Oleanna (1992) and Glengarry Glen Ross (1983). The thesis deals with the discourse that was used and the question of the characters' power relations, which are examined from a sociolinguistic point of view. Firstly, the thesis defines power relations according to Michel Foucault and shows that communication can serve as an instrument of how to act upon others. The thesis is primarily based on the theory of Deborah Tannen, who observes the ambivalent nature of solidarity and power, and introduces her five areas of interest: indirectness, interruption, silence versus volubility, topic raising and verbal conflict. The thesis examines a selection of dialogues from the plays in order to elucidate how these aspects further influence the actions and behaviour of the characters, and explores the effects of the utterances including the effects of power. The thesis also deals with the question of failure of communication, which is examined from the perspective of Roman Jakobson's functions of language, Paul Grice's cooperative principle and Geoffrey N. Leech's politeness principle. Key Words Mamet, Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross, discourse, power, power relations, failure of communication

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, Faculty of Medicine, 2001. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 146-155.

The study is a participant observer study of the transformation of the city planning function of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CTMM) from 5 December 2000 to 30 June 2002. The study is rendered in the form of a narrative told in the first person. The focus of the story is on how power and the aspiration to power influenced the actions of the people in the employ of the municipality and the relations between them during the study period. In this regard the story draws heavily on the work of Bent Flyvbjerg (1998, 2001). A number of recurring themes or golden threads are identified and highlighted through the narrative. These threads are analysed in more detail in the final chapter of the study. They are: -- The influence of power and the prevalence of different types of power; -- The role played by communication during the transformation; -- The lack of regard for people that characterised the process; and -- The inherent resistance to change displayed by the organization. The study unlocks opportunities for further study. It could form the basis of a comparative study with other cases of organizational change, particularly those related to restructuring in the other South African metropolitan municipalities. Furthermore, the struggle for recognition of the City Planning function within the new Tshwane organizational structure could be further investigated against the backdrop of the broader search for a new role and identity for the planning profession. / Dissertation (M (Town and Regional Planning))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Town and Regional Planning / unrestricted

This study investigates the possibility of implementing national psychological defence measures utilizing social media. These measures are understood as an exercise of political power and are contextualised in the contemporary global information arena using Castells theory of communication power in the network society, while employing PSYOPS methodology to further understand the tactical dimensions. It also attempts to evaluate the prevalence of ”filter bubbles” and the potential hindrance such may be to successful implementation. Results show that key audiences can be reached and effectively influenced through the use of social media advert targeting systems and open source, fact-based information campaigns.