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The mechanism of crustal recycling in subduction zones has been a heated debate, and Mg–Fe isotopes may provide new constraints for this debate. This study reported the Fe–Mg isotope data for mafic plutonic rocks from the eastern and central Gangdese arc and their associated trench sediments in southern Tibet. The δ26Mg (–0.32 to –0.20‰) and δ56Fe (0.04 to 0.12‰) values of the eastern Gangdese arc rocks show negative and positive correlations with (87Sr/86Sr)i and (206Pb/204Pb)i values, but positive and negative correlations with εNd(t) and εHf(t) values, respectively. The Mg and Fe isotopic compositions (δ26Mg = –0.28 to –0.15‰; δ56Fe = 0.02 to 0.12‰) of the central Gangdese arc rocks are comparable with the eastern ones, but they are not covariant with Sr–Pb–Nd–Hf isotopes. More importantly, the Fe–Mg isotopes for most of the arc rocks fall in between local trench sediments (δ26Mg = –0.61 to –0.30‰; δ56Fe = 0.00 to 0.17‰) and the normal mantle. Integrated qualitative analyses and quantitative simulations suggest that while the Mg–Fe isotope variations in the eastern Gangdese arc rocks revealed the important role of source mixing between sediment-derived melts and peridotite, their variations in the central Gangdese arc rocks reflected the controlling effects of source mixing between carbonated serpentinite-derived Mg-rich fluid and peridotite and source melting. The good covariant relationships between Mg–Fe isotope and traditional geochemical tracers provide further evidence for the recycling of crustal materials in subduction zones via various types of slab-derived fluids and melts.

The growth of the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement has provoked considerable scholarly interrogation of the claimed social benefits of sport. However, little is known of public attitudes to the topic. This article reports research carried out in Northern Ireland regarding sport as a means of bringing divided communities together. Respondents viewed sport as effective in breaking down barriers, yet the demographic reach in terms of the participants in sports-based projects was shown to be limited. Qualitative research revealed diverse experiences of the impact of sport. The conclusion highlights the significance of a public attitudes perspective on SDP—it can reveal (a) the degree of public receptivity to SDP, (b) the participating constituencies, and (c) sociopolitical barriers to SDP and wider sporting inclusivity.

This paper draws upon participant observation data conducted before and after all 10 qualifying matches for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship to explore the dynamics underpinning the Northern Irish Green and White Army (GAWA) football carnival. Supplemented by interviews with Northern Ireland fans themselves and informed by the dramaturgical perspectives of Erving Goffman, the paper contends that the anti-sectarian ‘norms’ of GAWA football fandom are dominant in public spaces before matches when the GAWA ‘performance team’ are visible to one another and their audience within a geographically circumscribed space. In a post-match evening context however, various ‘cliques’ of supporters enact their own social rules within a ‘back-stage’ environment of more relaxed peer-to-peer surveillance. These at times transgress the established norms of GAWA fan behaviour. The paper acknowledges that inappropriate supporter behaviour, even within small groups, can damage the wider image of football teams and their supporters in ‘impression management’ terms. But rather than imposing top-down ‘solutions’ which are often devised with limited input from supporters, we suggest that football governing bodies, associations and clubs should look to work in partnership with supporters to identify creative ways in which supporters can be resourced to proactively become ‘norm entrepreneurs’ and challenge inappropriate behaviour from within.

In terms of the extant literature to date on sport and fandom in the divided society of Northern Ireland, academic attention has focused almost exclusively on its apparently contentious nature. However, until now, there has been a dearth of actual empirical data to inform such analyses. This article is designed to help rectify this deficit by drawing upon interviews with Northern Ireland football supporters and Irish Football Association staff to explore their co-creation of the Football for All campaign, which aimed to challenge sectarian fan behaviour within the national stadium. This resulted in the previously variegated Northern Ireland fan base becoming the Green and White Army, an informal collective identity for supporters. In continually (re)producing the Green and White Army as a ‘social system’, it is argued that fans are knowledgeable actors who continually draw upon what Giddens refers to as practical and discursive consciousness. Informed by Giddens’ structuration theory, the article argues that in relation to the current policies of the Union of European Football Associations and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association to close stadiums in the event of ‘discriminatory’ fan behaviour, priority should instead be given to supporting fan activism to effectively challenge such behaviour at matches; particularly given the potential for social control over supporters in a situated geographical space.

This article investigates how political institutions affect government–media relationships. Most studies of media-politics focus on majoritarian parliamentary or presidential systems and on how party systems affect journalism. This tends to neglect important issues that pertain in more constitutionally complex democracies, such as the consociational institutions in postconflict societies. Taking the Northern Irish context as a strategic case study, we analyze data from thirty-three semistructured interviews with the actors responsible for communicating political issues in Northern Ireland: political journalists and the two groups of government communicators, civil service Government Information Officers (GIOs) and Ministerial Special Advisers (SpAds). By examining their roles and relationships in this context, we demonstrate the importance of considering the institutional design of the democratic system itself when attempting to develop a more comprehensive and nuanced theory of media-politics. In Northern Ireland, the absence of an official political opposition in the legislature, together with the mandatory nature of the multiparty coalition, means that the media have come to be perceived by many political and media actors as the opposition. This in turn influences the interpersonal interactions between government and media, the way political actors try to “manage” the media, and the media’s approach to reporting government.

While there is a growing literature in the field of gender, sexuality and sport, there is a dearth of research into the lived experiences of transgender people in sport. The present study addresses this research gap by exploring and analysing the accounts of transgender people in relation to their experiences of sport and physical activity. These are examined within the theoretical rubrics of social exclusion and minority stress theory. The findings from in-depth interviews with 10 transgender persons are detailed. Four interconnected themes emerged from the interviewee accounts: the intimidating nature of the changing/locker room environment; the impact of alienating sports experiences at school; the fear of public space and how this drastically constrained their ability to engage in sport and physical activity; and the overall effects of being denied the social, health and wellbeing aspects of sport. The findings are discussed in relation to the distinctive quality of transgender exclusion, and the related distal and proximal stressors experienced by this particular minority group.

Using the case of Northern Ireland, this article examines how post-conflict transition impacts sports organisations which have traditionally underpinned societal division and what factors facilitate or restrain such organisations from fulfilling peacebuilding functions. The article identifies three peacebuilding functions of sport: in-group socialisation, promoting social cohesion and symbolically representing new identities. Then, after outlining the sporting and political context in Northern Ireland, the article explores changes within the sporting environment stemming from the peace process as well as persistent socio-political barriers to sport’s capacity to encourage reconciliation and integration, especially symbolic contestation and territorial segregation. The analysis draws on a public attitudes survey (n = 1210) conducted by the authors as part of a major government-funded study. The findings demonstrate the potential of the three peacebuilding functions of sport, yet also, crucially, the constraints imposed by the distinct and divided political context. Avenues for further and comparative research are identified.

How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The paper unpacks how businesses communicatively construct a link between their private interest and the public interest. The findings illustrate the flexibility of the public interest argument and hence also the potential problem. If everything can be made out to be in the public interest, the concept becomes empty and easy to capture for special interests. At the same time, unpacking the communicative construction helps in critically evaluating lobbyists’ claims of working in the public interest.

This article examines the role of ministerial special advisers (SpAds) in Northern Ireland’s government communication. Using data gathered from elite interviews with SpAds, government information officers, and political journalists, we argue that the role of the SpAd is influenced by the post-conflict political culture in Northern Ireland and the consociational structure of government. The article suggests that current theorizing of the role of SpAds in democratic societies must also take account of how they operate within mandatory coalitions such as those found in Northern Ireland. We call for more research into their communication role in post-conflict consociational environments.

Using data gathered from interviews with political journalists, Government Information Officers and Special Advisers (SpAds), this chapter examines the role of these communication elites in Northern Ireland’s mandatory consociational democracy. In particular, we consider how their communication roles are affected by the consociational design of the Northern Ireland government, and how this in turn affects the communication of departmental and executive policy in Northern Ireland. While in some ways, these actors function similarly to those working elsewhere in Westminster model democracies, this political context adds complexity to their roles. For example, on the one hand, SpAds promote partisan issues to the media and reinforce ‘party fiefdoms’; on the other, they play an important diplomatic role in inter-party negotiation and conflict resolution between the five ideologically opposed parties in government. We suggest that an analysis of the government communication sphere provides a good indication of the kinds of issues and inherent contradictions which exist in post-conflict consociational democracies, meaning that scholars may gain insight into the functioning of these institutions by examining the communicative role and relationships of political communication elites.

Northern Ireland's democratic governance is consociational (i.e. power-sharing is mandatory) and therefore substantially different from the majoritarian electoral system which characterizes most Western democratic societies. Consociationalism has been advocated as a form of democracy which can reconcile post-conflict societies fragmented along ethnic, religious or linguistic lines. Political public relations within mandatory coalitions have received little attention from scholars to date. Drawing on data from elite interviews with Government Information Officers (GIOs), Ministerial Special Advisers (SpAds) and journalists in Northern Ireland, this paper analyses their perspectives on political public relations in Northern Ireland's evolving democratic institutions. Our findings suggest Northern Ireland's public sphere is characterized not just by the usual contest between government communicators and journalists over political stories, but also by competition across government departments and within departments between GIOs and SpAds. Our research investigates the role of public relations in Northern Ireland's developing democratic institutions and more generally identifies important issues surrounding government communication in post-conflict power-sharing democracies.

This chapter introduces the issue of public relations in deeply divided societies. Most empirical studies of public relations focus on the activity as it is practiced within ‘normal’ liberal democratic societies. This has had a hegemonic influence on attempts within the academy to theorize public relations with the dominance of theory and models from US scholars being a notable feature. This raises the important question of the extent to which the theory building, and ensuing public relations/communication models developed in these ‘normal’ societies have an application to the many countries in the world which are divided by deep societal cleavages along racial, ethnic, religious or linguistic lines. As this chapter shows, a key purpose of this text is to not only reflect on this question but turn it around and explore how public relations practice in divided, conflict and post-conflict societies may contribute to theory building in the field of public relations more generally. Moreover, contributions to the book help to redefine the role of public relations in society by emphasizing its potential contribution to peace building, conflict resolution, and empowering civil society. It will therefore be of interest to scholars in disciplines such as political science, international relations, and especially peace and conflict studies.

Relationships between the media and political actors are of central importance in contemporary democracies. The growth of public relations in governmental systems is irreversible and it has become a crucial 'part of the infrastructure of modern political communication'. In the United Kingdom (UK), two distinct groups of communication professionals coexist: Government Information Officers (GIOs) and ministerial Special Advisers (SpAds) who are personally appointed by a departmental minister. In recent times UK research on government communication has raised concerns about the 'politicisation' of the civil service and concomitantly that the neutral GIO is being undermined or supplanted by the partisan SpAd. With the establishment of a devolved governing administration in Northern Ireland - and this is true to an extent in the other devolved UK national regions of Scotland and Wales - significant power has moved from civil servants to locally elected ministers and their support network.

This study analyses the public relations strategies employed by the mainstream political parties during the ‘Good Friday Agreement’ referendum campaign in Northern Ireland in April/May 1998. Using data from elite interviews, triangulated with content analysis from campaign literature, we assess the communication strategies of the pro- and anti-Agreement parties who were attempting to persuade the people of Northern Ireland to vote Yes or No to the Agreement. Key findings of the research include: first, in comparison to the ‘normal’ political culture in Northern Ireland, there was a significant increase in the deployment of public relations expertise in the referendum campaign; indeed, for many of the political parties it represented their first major investment in political public relations. A second key finding pertains to the communicative model adopted by the key actors. All parties, in different ways, adopted a ‘dissemination’ model rather than a ‘dialogic’ one to communicate with allies, rivals and the general public. In our view this is an entirely appropriate approach to political public relations and we suggest that the communication model of the Social Democratic and Labour Party is particularly noteworthy because it was an approach underpinned, we argue, by dissemination and reconciliation. Moreover, we also suggest that public relations based on dissemination and reconciliation to difference offers a more realistic and appropriate approach, than the currently fashionable dialogic model, for the kinds of communication and information exchange required in contemporary democratic societies.

This study examines how the pre-war debate of the U.S. decision to invade Iraq was discursively constructed in pro- and anti-war newspaper op/ed argumenta- tion. Drawing on insights from argumentation theory, and using these within a framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, we explore fallacious arguments within the ‘justification discourse’ used in the pro-war opinion/editorials (op/ eds). We argue that the type of arguments marshalled by the pro-war op/ed com- mentators uncritically bolstered the set of U.S. official ‘truth claims’ and ‘presup- positions’. Conversely, anti-war op/ed debaters dismissed the Bush administra- tion’s ‘neo-imperialistic’ reasoning and called into question the logic of militarist ‘humanitarianism’ by arguing that brute force and daylight ‘plunder,’ found in the language of a ‘noble ideal,’ were part of a long Western colonialist tradition that glorified the West as the ‘civiliser’ of distant cultural others. Keywords: Argumentation, fallacy, CDA, media discourse, Iraq, op/eds

Most students entering higher education in Northern Ireland's two universities have experienced a highly segregated educational system since they were five years old. This context creates a specific set of issues and problems for the educator who wishes to engage with student groups in a critical analysis of complex and controversial topics within the curriculum. This article presents the results of a research project which was designed to assess student (and educator) experiences of studying the issue of ‘PR and terrorism’ at Northern Ireland's largest university. Data was gathered from undergraduate public relations students using survey questionnaires (administered before and after the teaching and learning experience). The educators engaged in this activity also report on their own ‘participant observation’ experiences and reflect critically upon the role academic staff might play in developing pedagogic practices which are accepting of diversity in respect to controversial and complex curriculum topics.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the public relations strategies of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and their political wing Sinn Féin, throughout the historical period known as the Northern Ireland “Troubles”.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses semi‐structured élite interviews as its primary data. The study structures a historical account of the development of republican public relations around three main phases: the “propaganda of the deed” phase; the development of political public relations phase; and the peace process phase.FindingsMuch previous research traces a common trajectory for terrorist organisations, where they begin with large‐scale “propaganda of the deed” activities, and then move toward more typical PR activities when their “message” begins to be heard. The findings suggest that this is only partially true for the republican movement. Previous research also claims that peace settlements virtually never acknowledge the demands of terrorist groups. However, the findings indicate that the republican movement, via the use of skilful public relations techniques and disciplined internal organisational communication, pushed itself to the forefront and remained central in the efforts to develop a peace process.Research limitations/implicationsThe study draws on interview data with a small group (six) of republican strategists, all of whom where involved in some capacity in public relations activities. While it is not claimed that they represent the views of the whole republican movement on the issues discussed, they do arguably represent the views of a “dominant coalition”. Future research could usefully investigate the public relations of power sharing since the Good Friday Agreement.Originality/valuePrevious approaches to analysing the subject of public relations and terrorism have tended to regard it as an activity engaged in by psychopaths or criminals. This paper's starting‐point is to problematise this definition of “terrorism” and at the same time widen the application of the term to include State actors. In this regard, it is in opposition to much current Western media, governmental and academic usage of the term. This research also differs from most other studies of terrorism in the public relations literature, in that it uses élite interviews as its primary source of data.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the results of research conducted among Scottish communication professionals, which investigated their perception of and attitudes toward recent trends and future developments with respect to the free organisational publication.Design/methodology/approachThe mainly qualitative data presented in this paper were gathered using an in‐depth self‐completion questionnaire.FindingsThe paper finds that first, there have been significant changes in purpose, content, design and distribution of free organisational publications in recent years, but for the foreseeable future communication professionals envisage important roles for both print and electronic organisational publications. Second, practitioners tend to adopt the rhetoric and language of “technological determinism” when discussing new media technologies. That is, they tend to see themselves as relatively powerless in the face of “technological advances” and see their role as simply adopting what is given to them. This article argues that viewing the technology/society relationship from a more “social shaping” perspective will allow practitioners to utilise new media technologies in ways which will benefit them and their stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper provides a more complete picture of the “value” of free organisational publications. Future research must necessarily investigate the viewpoint of the audiences.Practical implicationsThe paper draws lessons for practitioners on how best to employ print and electronic publications and how they should respond to current claims made about new media technologies.Originality/valueThis paper investigates what is, in many ways, a quite different new media environment from that analysed by previously published UK research in this area. This study also theorises practitioner discourses in a more comprehensive way than many earlier studies by examining them in the context of the theoretical debates surrounding the relationship between technology and society.

The authors describe a study of the social dynamics of new media in Scottish households. The evolving project drew on dialogues with multiple household members elicited in group conversations. This approach to interviews captured different and conflicting points of view, a feature shared with certain social approaches to systems design. Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that there are recurrent narratives and behavioral genres across households (and across sample groups), and that these reflect tactics, stratagems, and plans by means of which respondents navigate social space. The authors’ approach contrasts with prevailing “needs and uses” models in information science, in offering a methodological framework based on group narrative and genre analysis that contributes to a theory of social informatics in the household.

This article offers an introduction to a theoretical approach which has recently begun to be used by organisational theorists to explain the distribution and exercise of power between organisations and entities within particular spheres, or “networks”. This approach, which has been labelled “actor‐network” theory, argues that focusing on questions of “identity”, particularly questions of self‐identity, depends upon accepting and reproducing a “modern” set of presuppositions. These modern presuppositions are concerned primarily with the creation of stable boundaries and hierarchies, between subject and object, and between self and other. Actor‐network theory proposes that the notion of “agency” offers an alternative “amodern” perspective from which to explore how entities, or actors, influence other actors through the process of translation. Concludes that actor‐network theory, as a meta‐theoretical position and as a methodological approach offers an alternative to existing public relations theory which cannot easily be ignored.

Although there is a small body of feminist scholarship that problematizes gender in public relations, gender is a relatively undefined area of thinking in the field and there have been few serious studies of the socially constructed roles defining women and men in public relations. This book is positioned within the critical public relations stream. Through the prism of ‘gender and public relations’, it examines not only the manipulatory, but also the emancipatory, subversive and transformatory potential of public relations for the construction of meaning. Its focus is on the dynamic interrelationships arising from public relations activities in society and the gendered, lived experiences of people working in the occupation of public relations. There are many previously unexplored areas within and through public relations which the book examines. These include: • the production of social meaning and power relations • advocacy and activist campaigns for social and political change • the negotiation of identity, diversity and cultural practice • celebrity, bodies, fashion and harassment in the workplace • notions of managing reputation and communicating policy. • In extending the field of inquiry, this edited collection highlights how gender is accomplished and transformed, and, thus how power is exercised and inequality (re)produced or challenged in public relations. The book will expand thinking about power relations and privilege for both women and men and how these are affected by the interplay of social, cultural and institutional practices.