Military Social Media Use As Strategic Communication
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Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) 2018 Tweeting Strategy: Military Social Media Use as Strategic Communication Rupinder Mangat Wilfrid Laurier University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd Part of the Defense and Security Studies Commons, Organizational Communication Commons, and the Social Media Commons Recommended Citation Mangat, Rupinder, "Tweeting Strategy: Military Social Media Use as Strategic Communication" (2018). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). 2071. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2071 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Tweeting Strategy: Military Social Media Use as Strategic Communication by Rupinder Kaur Mangat Dissertation submitted to the School of International Policy and Governance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Global Governance Balsillie School of International Affairs Wilfrid Laurier University 2018 © 2018 Rupinder Mangat. All Rights Reserved. Abstract Many Western militaries now actively engage with various social media platforms. The starting point for my dissertation research was this question: how does the military use social media? Considering the Canadian Armed Forces’ use of Twitter as a case study, I collected over 14,000 tweets from four Twitter accounts of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the Royal Canadian Air Force with some tweets as old as September 2012 and the most recent tweets from December 2015. I employed Grounded Theory Method to analyze these tweets, which revealed four themes — organization, history, preparedness, and partnership. These themes create an image of CAF as a Canadian institution and a military one, as they speak to the many war and other combat operations that the Canadian Armed Forces have engaged in at the behest of the government. A literature review conducted simultaneously with the analysis uncovered the International Relations literature on strategic narratives and the Organizational/Military Studies literature on strategic communication. The main finding is that the Canadian Armed Forces are using social media for the strategic communication of government strategic narratives because the norms of civil- military relations require the military to follow government orders and prevent the military from using social media as intended because social media tend to be political whereas the military has to be “apolitical.” The military, thus, maintains an “apolitical” image by communicating what the government wishes it to communicate, even though the government’s narrative can be political. Government strategic narratives frame organizational strategic communication, while organizational strategic communication supports government strategic narratives. 2 To my family: Mom, Dad, Biji, Naniji, Nanaji, and Daddy. 3 Acknowledgements There are not enough words in my vocabulary to capture the immense gratitude I feel for my family, friends, professors, and colleagues, but I will start with these two: Thank you. Thanks to my advisor, Dr. Alistair Edgar. Alistair, I am immensely grateful for your calm counsel through the dissertation process. I really could not have done this PhD without your cheerful encouragement and prescriptions of long contemplative walks. Thanks to my committee members, Dr. Jeremy Hunsinger and Dr. Roger Sarty. Jeremy, I am grateful for your patience with me as I muddled my way through figuring out what to say (in too many words) and how to write this book. Roger, I am thankful for your gentle guidance on all matters Canadian military; you made military history come alive for me. Thanks to Dr. Simon Dalby. Simon, you were not on the dissertation committee, but I am and will always be grateful for your good-humoured and timely advice. Thanks also to Dr. Bessma Momani. Bessma, your guidance with the dissertation process and my academic career is really appreciated. I would also like to thank faculty members at the Balsillie School, who taught me both inside and outside the classroom: Dr. Will Coleman, Dr. Neil Craik, Dr. Patricia Goff, Dr. Daniel Gorman, Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon, Dr. JingJing Huo, Dr. Veronica Kitchen, Drs. janet Lang and James Blight, Dr. Audra Mitchell, Dr. John Ravenhill, Dr. Horatiu Rus, Dr. Kim Rygiel, Dr. Andrew Thompson, Dr. Margaret Walton-Roberts, Dr. David Welch, and Dr. Randall M. Wigle. William Butler Yeats wrote, “My glory was I had such friends.” I am at the finish line of this PhD because of friends who were there for me through thick and thin. Tahnee Prior and 4 Sara Rose Taylor, you have been amazing friends and guides these past five years. Tracey Wagner-Rizvi, you have been a rock and cheerleader throughout: Finished is better than perfect. Carla Angulo-Pasel, I loved being able to share the highs and lows of the process with you. Maissaa Almustafa, Carla Angulo-Pasel, Mitul Dasgupta, Frances Fortune, Kshitij Ghai, Kayla Grant, Fay Green, Kali Hridey (Sunny Mishra), Neha Jain, Diane Klaver, Masaya Llavaneras Blanco, Mike Lawrence, Pattie Mascaro, Sarah Murray, Jinelle Piereder, Tahnee Prior, Kirsten Rohling, Sara Rose Taylor, Barbara Russo, Bridget Sainsbury, Justine Salam, Kaustubhi Singh, Irene Spagna, Diana Thomaz, Anastasia Ufimtseva, Tracey Wagner-Rizvi, Karolina Werner, Jessica West, and Khethwen Woo, thank you for your support and for inspiring me with your strength and determination. Most importantly, I must thank Dr. Dolly Mangat and Lt. Col. Sukhvinder Singh Mangat (in my daily life, I call them mom and dad). Mom and Dad, you are my guiding lights, my inspiration, and my best friends. Thanks for always having faith in me. I love you. There are many others to whom I owe my gratitude. I am sure that if I mentioned all their names the list would be longer than this dissertation. So, with apologies to the unnamed many, I will end where I started, and say once again, thank you. “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” – Albert Schweitzer 5 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 4 List of Tables 8 List of Figures 9 List of Appendices 10 List of Abbreviations 11 Chapter 1: Introduction 12 The State and the Government 18 The Military 23 The Public(s) 26 Social Media 28 Dissertation Plan 30 Chapter 2: Literature Review 33 Information Strategy 34 Strategic Communication 37 Strategic Narratives 39 Similarities between Strategic Narratives and Strategic Communication 42 Differences between Strategic Narratives and Strategic Communication 44 Public Organizations, Strategic Narratives, and Strategic Communication 46 Civil-Military Relations 48 Civil-Military Relations in Canada 49 Civil-Military Relations, Strategic Narratives, and Strategic Communication 50 The Public and Information Strategy 52 The Public 53 The Imagined Public 56 Social Media 57 Strategic Narratives, Strategic Communication, and Social Media 59 Chapter 3: Case Study — Canadian Armed Forces and Twitter 62 6 Canadian Armed Forces 62 Canadian Military History 63 Canadian Civil-Military Relations 68 Canadian Military and Information Strategy 72 Twitter 75 Organizational Identity as Performed Strategic Communication 77 Strategic Narratives, Strategic Communication, and Twitter 79 Chapter 4: Methods 81 Methodological Approach 81 Grounded Theory Method 83 Data 88 Research Process 93 Chapter 5: Data 108 Themes 114 Theme 1: Organization 115 Theme 2: History 154 Theme 3: Preparedness 168 Theme 4: Partnership 175 Chapter 6: Analysis 194 Theme 1: Organization 196 Theme 2: History 198 Theme 3: Preparedness 199 Theme 4: Partnership 201 Strategic Communication of Strategic Narratives 202 Information Strategy, Imagined Public(s), and Social Media 205 Chapter 7: Conclusion 208 Limitations and Future Research 213 References 217 Appendix A: Codebook 253 7 List of Tables Table 1: Military Twitter followers as a percentage of populations 13 Table 2: Number of tweets gathered from each CAF Twitter account 91 8 List of Figures Figure 1: State, government, public, and military relationships 15 Figure 1: State, government, public, and military relationships 103 Figure 2: Strategic communication and strategic narratives 105 9 List of Appendices Appendix A: Codebook 253 10 List of Abbreviations Abbreviation Expanded Form CAF Canadian Armed Forces CDS Chief of Defence Staff Canada CFB Canadian Forces Base CMR Civil-Military Relations DND Department of National Defence Canada DND/CAF Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces GTM Grounded Theory Method ISIS or ISIL Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant MND Minister of National Defence Canada NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force RCMP Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCN Royal Canadian Navy UK United Kingdom UN United Nations US United States of America 11 Chapter 1: Introduction The starting point for my research was this question: How is the military using social media? I found one answer at the intersection of the information strategy, strategic narratives, and strategic communication literatures