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The Politics of Information: Examining the Conflict Between Wikileaks and the US Government Esther Raelene Armstrong a Thesis

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The Politics of Information: Examining the Conflict Between Wikileaks and the US Government Esther Raelene Armstrong a Thesis The Politics of Information: Examining the Conflict Between WikiLeaks and the US Government Esther Raelene Armstrong A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MA in Criminology Department of Criminology Faculty of Social Science University of Ottawa © Esther Raelene Armstrong, Ottawa, Canada, 2015 Abstract In 2010 WikiLeaks released a number of secret and classified documents that contained information pertaining to the United States government. Since then, WikiLeaks and the United States government have been engaged in a rhetorical battle over the circulation of information. Using membership categorization analysis (MCA) as an analytical technique this thesis answers the following research question: what form(s) of politics are made possible as the result of the social orders produced by both WikiLeaks’ and the United States government’s public discourse on the circulation of information? After analyzing a sample of the related discourse, it became clear that the disagreement between WikiLeaks and the United States government is much greater than different views on the distribution of, and access to, information. Rather, the major issue is that the discourses produced by representatives of both organizations constitute two similar and yet somehow opposing social orders. The social orders produced result in different forms of politics and democracy. In turn, this involves each side thinking differently about transparency, the public, the government, the law, and the media. ii Acknowledgements Without the assistance of the following people this thesis would not have been possible. First of all, thank you Professor Maritza Felices-Luna for your continued support and guidance throughout this process. I appreciate you investing the time to help me fully develop this project. Professor Wayne Hanniman also needs to be acknowledged for providing my first introduction to WikiLeaks during his political crime course. Paula Hirschmann needs to be thanked for reading an earlier draft of this thesis and providing such detailed and interesting comments. I would also like to thank my readers, Professor Christine Gervais and Professor Justin Piché, for taking the time to provide such thorough feedback and challenging me to develop aspects of this thesis even further. Finally, thank you to my family, friends, and cohort members for your on-going encouragement throughout this process. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ iii Table of Figures ..................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1-7 Chapter 2: WikiLeaks and the Circulation of Information .......................................... 8-31 2.1 Transparency ............................................................................................................ 9-15 2.2 Media ....................................................................................................................... 16-21 2.3 WikiLeaks ................................................................................................................ 21-31 Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 32-48 3.1 A Weberian Perspective On Politics ....................................................................... 32-38 Law and Media: Tools of State Power ...................................................................... 35-38 3.2 Arendt, Politics and the Public Sphere .................................................................... 39-48 Politics and the Public Sphere ................................................................................... 41-45 The Internet as a Site and Tool of Activism .............................................................. 45-48 Chapter 4: Methodology and Method .......................................................................... 49-61 4.1 Setting the Stage: An Introduction to Membership Categorization Analysis ......... 50-54 Research Question and Goals ..........................................................................................54 4.2 Sampling Method and Justification ........................................................................ 54-58 4.3 Analysis: An Overview of the Process ................................................................... 58-61 Chapter 5: Analysis ...................................................................................................... 62-107 5.1 Information .............................................................................................................. 63-71 5.2 Rhetorical Battles: Framing WikiLeaks Actions ..................................................... 71-75 5.3 Concept Maps: A Visual Representation of Social Order ...................................... 76-79 Concept Map Legend .......................................................................................................76 United States Government Social Order ..........................................................................77 WikiLeaks First Social Order ..........................................................................................78 WikiLeaks Second Social Order ......................................................................................79 5.4 Political System ....................................................................................................... 80-85 5.5 Civil Society: An Active vs. Passive Public ............................................................ 85-91 iv 5.6 Justice and Legal System ......................................................................................... 91-95 5.7 Media ..................................................................................................................... 95-100 5.8 Politics and Social Order ..................................................................................... 100-107 Chapter 6: Concluding Remarks .............................................................................. 108-117 References .................................................................................................................. 118-132 Appendix A: Key Players .......................................................................................... 133-134 Appendix B: Timeline of Key Events ........................................................................ 135-136 Appendix C: Final Sample in Chronological Order .......................................................137 v Table of Figures Figure 1: Concept Map Legend ...............................................................................................76 Figure 2: United States Government Social Order .................................................................77 Figure 3: WikiLeaks First Social Order ..................................................................................78 Figure 4: WikiLeaks Second Social Order ..............................................................................79 vi Chapter 1: Introduction Since early 2010 WikiLeaks has engaged with the United States government in an ongoing battle over the circulation of information. Through their release of classified or secret documents, WikiLeaks promotes and facilitates access to information. In contrast, the US government believes that confidentiality and secrecy are important tools for effective governance and seek to control the information that is rendered public. Despite their differing stances in regards to the circulation of information, both WikiLeaks and the US government claim to be protecting democracy through their actions and beliefs. In spite of their differences, both WikiLeaks and the US government clearly see the value of information and recognize that citizens require information in order to take part in the democratic political process. They seem to share the belief that “information is the lifeblood of democracy” (Quigley, 2012, p. 79). As argued throughout this thesis, there is a discursive connection made in the literature as well as by WikiLeaks and the US government between democracy, information and transparency. Citizens are responsible for participating in democratic governments through making informed, rational decisions. However, this is only possible if citizens are given access to information (Foerstel, 1999; Simon & Eitzen, 1990) which is dependent on transparency. Transparency as a political and social ideal has become a global issue as it has moved beyond Western, democratic societies to a worldwide-scale level (Florini, 2007; Lord, 2006). This global push for transparency is facilitated by a “growing demand for open and improved access to information” (Garvin, 2011, p. 6). In response to this call for transparency, governments around the world are establishing (or reforming) various policies 1 meant to increase access to information and transparency in regards to various governmental institutions and practices (Erkkilä, 2012; Otenyo & Lind, 2004). While the US government does acknowledge the benefit that transparency and access to information
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