For my parents Abstract The aim of this dissertation is to discuss the influence that organizations have on public policies through their rhetoric and use of resources. The empirical focus is on public relations strategies regarding the public policy area on energy and the environment. Two case studies are conducted, centering on what have been the two most controversial environmental conflicts in Norway; the first concerns a hydroelectric development and the second relates to the building of gas-fired power plants. The environmentalists lost the first conflict, whereas the latter plants have still not been built. The theoretical starting point for the dissertation is within the realm of rhetorical studies of public relations, but it is argued that these studies have seldom contained specific suggestions for how to go about broad-based analyses. Furthermore, it is claimed that the studies have remained ontologically underdeveloped, which means that they do not offer analytical frameworks that make it possible to account adequately for organizational actors’ influence on, for instance, matters of public policy. The dissertation thus contains a suggestion for a heuristic analytical device drawing on a wide range of rhetorical concepts, combined with a sociological analysis of resources like economic capital, degree of institutionalization, knowledge, networks, and social standing. Historical reconstructions are made of the two cases. The research material is a sample of public relations material from the organizational actors, including brochures and advertisements, but also other texts, such as applications for building permits, and comments made to newspapers. Furthermore, qualitative interviews were conducted with representatives of the organizations involved. To assess the influence of the organizational actors, their rhetoric is compared to that found in parliamentary documents. In addition, analytical inferences are made between the actors’ rhetorical strategies, possession, and use of particular resources, and the outcomes of the conflicts. V Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. V Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. VII List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... XI List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... XI Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. XIII PART I — PROLOGUE .......................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 3 Postulates: Rhetoric and resources are important ................................................................. 4 The research question ............................................................................................................ 6 The cases ................................................................................................................................ 9 Public relations defined ........................................................................................................ 12 Public relations theory and contributions from this dissertation ......................................... 15 The Norwegian political context ......................................................................................... 17 Overview of the dissertation ................................................................................................ 27 PART II — THEORY AND METHODOLOGY .......................................... 29 2 Rhetoric: The tradition and the ancient concepts ................................... 31 Ways of defining rhetoric ..................................................................................................... 31 New rhetoric: Issues of scope and epistemology .................................................................. 32 Rhetoric and the environment ............................................................................................ 37 Classical rhetorical concepts: Means of persuasion ............................................................. 39 Classical rhetorical concepts: Topics ................................................................................... 46 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 51 3 Rhetoric: New rhetorical concepts ....................................................... 53 Contributions of Kenneth Burke ......................................................................................... 53 Rhetoric as identification ..................................................................................................... 55 The pentad .......................................................................................................................... 58 Contributions of Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca ........................................ 63 VII Types of premises ................................................................................................................ 66 Techniques of argumentation ............................................................................................. 69 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 73 4 Public relations, rhetoric, and resources .............................................. 75 Rhetorical theory of public relations ................................................................................... 75 Empirical studies of public relations and rhetoric ............................................................... 77 Meta-theoretical approaches ............................................................................................... 79 The “theory of practice” of Bourdieu ................................................................................. 84 Media sociology and a reworked typology of capital .......................................................... 88 Towards a heuristic framework ........................................................................................... 97 5 Methodology .................................................................................. 103 The case study approach ................................................................................................... 103 Construction of timelines .................................................................................................. 105 Selection of actors .............................................................................................................. 107 Selection of public relations material and pivotal texts ..................................................... 109 Selection of media material ............................................................................................... 111 Selection of parliamentary documents .............................................................................. 114 Investigating the resources of the organizations ................................................................ 116 Qualitative interviews ........................................................................................................ 117 Reliability and validity of the study ................................................................................... 119 PART III — CASE: THE ALTA HYDROELECTRIC POWER PROJECT ...... 123 6 Planning, protests, and permit applications, 1970–1977 ....................... 125 The NVE and hydroelectric power in Norway ................................................................. 125 The public relations of the NVE ....................................................................................... 130 The Alta project and the Máze (Masi) protests ................................................................. 132 FoEN protests continued planning .................................................................................... 133 FoEN booklet .................................................................................................................... 137 Local discontent, but the NVE files first application ......................................................... 145 Reactions: Demands for further investigations ................................................................. 149 The updated and revised application: “Strongly concentrated” ....................................... 150 VIII 7 Civil disobedience, hunger strike, and postponement, 1978–1979 .......... 155 First Alta White Paper ....................................................................................................... 155 The People’s Movement is set up ...................................................................................... 157 FoEN continues its campaign ............................................................................................ 161 New FoEN booklet ............................................................................................................ 162 The Storting supports the Alta project 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