Engaging divided society in the nation-building process : the case of government communication in Malaysia
16 Jul 2020-
TL;DR: Thematic analysis on all eleven national action plan (NAP) documents known as Malaysia Plan (1965-2016) was conducted to enable the pattern of similarities and differences in nation-building and government communication strategies to be identified over time as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This thesis explores how government engages with a divided society in the context of nation-building. The widely used yet loosely understood concept of ‘engagement’ in the context of government communication is the focus of this thesis. By using Malaysia as the case study, this research investigates how citizens are communicatively constructed in the context of Malaysia’s post-independence nation-building process. This study is significant because research on citizen engagement in Malaysia’s nation-building is limited and studies focusing on the concept of engagement in deeply divided societies are also scarce.Thematic analysis on all eleven national action plan (NAP) documents known as Malaysia Plan (1965-2016) was conducted to enable the pattern of similarities and differences in nation-building and government communication strategies to be identified over time. Semi-structured elite interviews with the elite actors in Malaysia’s federal government were conducted to understand the government’s articulation and operationalisation of engagement in the context of nation-building process.The key findings from the NAPs reveal that the nation-building in Malaysia takes in a form of national identity project. Adopting an elite instrumentalist approach, national unity becomes the focal communicative strategy in the construction of the national identity. The elite interviews on the other hand demonstrate that government actors tend to describe engagement using the notion of dialogic communication. While acknowledging the advancement in communication technologies, government actors emphasise that the face-to-face engagement initiatives with the citizens are of central importance in the nation-building process.This thesis contributes to the studies of government strategic communication in the context of a deeply divided society that has been characterised as "plural society" that is in a state of “stable tension” (Shamsul, 2009). It helps to develop a richer understanding and knowledge of Malaysia’s nation-building process and approach as a modern postcolonial nation.
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TL;DR: Fukuyama as discussed by the authors argued that weak or failed states are close to the root of many of the world's most serious problems, from poverty and AIDS to drug trafficking and terrorism, and that building up, rather than limiting or cutting back the state, should be at the top of our agenda.
Abstract: State-building—the creation of new governmental institutions and the strengthening of existing ones—is a crucial issue for the world community today. Weak or failed states are close to the root of many of the world’s most serious problems, from poverty and AIDS to drug trafficking and terrorism. While we know a lot about state-building, there is a great deal that we do not know, particularly about how to transfer strong institutions to developing countries. We know how to transfer resources, people, and technology across cultural borders. But well-functioning public institutions require certain habits of mind, and operate in complex ways that resist being moved. We need to focus a great deal more thought, attention, and research on this area. The idea that building up, rather than limiting or cutting back the state, should be at the top of our agenda may strike some as odd or even perverse. After all, the dominant trend in world politics for the past generation has been the critique of “big government” and the attempt to move activities from the state sector to private markets or to civil society. Yet particularly in the developing world, weak, incompetent, or nonexistent government has been and continues to be a source of severe difficulties. For example, the AIDS epidemic in Africa has infected more than 25 million people and will take a staggering toll of lives. AIDS can be treated, as it has been in the developed world, with anti-retroviral drugs. There has been a strong push to provide foreign assistance for AIDS Francis Fukuyama is Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and the author of The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order (1999). Excerpted from the book, State-Building: A New Agenda, by Francis Fukuyama, published May 2004 by Cornell University Press. Copyright © 2004 by Francis Fukuyama.
293 citations
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TL;DR: The authors argue that modern race relations in Peninsular Malaysia, in the sense of impenetrable group boundaries, were a byproduct of British colonialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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07 Dec 2007
TL;DR: In this article, Critical Thinking and Interdisciplinary Perspectives Public Relations Defining the Discipline and the Practice Reputation, Image and Impression Management Risk, Issues and Ethics Public Affairs and the Public Sphere Media Perspectives Critique, Effects and Evaluation Health Communication and Social Marketing Public Relations and Management Organizational Communication Understanding and Researching Organizations Public Relations in 'Promotional Culture' and 'in Everyday Life' Public relations in a Globalized World Key Thinkers and Thought in Public Relations
Abstract: Introduction Critical Thinking and Interdisciplinary Perspectives Public Relations Defining the Discipline and the Practice Reputation, Image and Impression Management Risk, Issues and Ethics Public Affairs and the Public Sphere Media Perspectives Critique, Effects and Evaluation Health Communication and Social Marketing Public Relations and Management Organizational Communication Understanding and Researching Organizations Public Relations in 'Promotional Culture' and 'in Everyday Life' Public Relations in a Globalized World Key Thinkers and Thought in Public Relations
229 citations