War
Narratives:
Framing Our Understanding of the War on Terror
with Kathe Callahan and Dorothy Olshfski,
in
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW , 66:4 (July/August
2006): 554-568.
Abstract:
Unlike past American wars, the current war on terror
has not been associated with a centrally proffered
narrative providing some guidance and orientation
for those administering government services under
state-of-war conditions. War is as much a cultural
endeavor as it is a military undertaking, and the
absence of a clear sensemaking narrative was detected
in this study of public administrators from three
agencies with varying proximity to the conflict.
Q-methodology was used to explore the way individuals
processed the war narratives put forth by the Bush
administration and reported in the media immediately
following the September 11 attacks. Though no distinct
state-of-war narratives were found among the public
administrators in this study, there are clear indications
that latent narratives reflecting local political
and organizational task environments have emerged.