School of humanities and social science

This study employs a comparative quantitative content analysis to investigate the public relations strategies used by five leading Kenyan corporations in the telecommunications, banking, alcoholic beverages, and tobacco sectors on Twitter during January 2023. The research examines these corporations' public relations approaches, content types, and relationship-building strategies using Grunig and Hunt's (1984) four models of public relations, Dann's (2010) content categorization framework, and Childers and Grunig's (1999) relationship indicators. The findings reveal that the most predominant public relations style is the public information model, which emphasizes one-way communication of accurate information. With the exception of the alcoholic beverage company, which predominantly employs the status content style to communicate ongoing organizational activities, the other corporations rely on the news content style, focusing on the dissemination of timely information updates. The telecommunications company and the two banks prioritize the communal relationship style, emphasizing community, shared values, and trust. In contrast, the alcoholic beverage company and the tobacco company concentrate on trust-building, highlighting integrity and competence. This study addresses a gap in Kenyan research regarding the use of social media by organizations and provides practical insights into the effective use of Twitter for public relations purposes. By examining relevant theoretical models and indicators, this research enhances our understanding of public relations in the digital era.

Externally driven state-building is a complicated task that rarely fulfi ls the declared objectives of the international actors or the local state and society. This paper critiques the international dimension to state-building by examining USAID in Afghanistan and identifying the theoretical and practical explanations for its failure to aid democratic consolidation. Arguing that the Bush administration's democratisation efforts have had a negative impact on consolidating democracy, this paper identifies the democratic product of Afghanistan as characterised, at most, by having the formal institutions, routines and procedures of a democracy. I suggest that this merely 'formal' democratic product is too shortterm and fails to take fully into account the need to develop a political and social culture capable of supporting democratic institutions. In terms of the future of democracy promotion in US foreign policy, I suggest that a change of emphasis may be occurring in the Obama administration.

In this paper the writings of a number of anarchist thinkers are connected with the moral philosophies of Zygmunt Bauman, Emanuel Levinas and Stan Cohen to think critically about the role the state performs in the dehumanisation of marginalised groups.

Faith Spear is an independent criminologist, member of the Reclaim Justice Network steering group and vice-chair of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) YOI/HMP Hollesley Bay Prisons and Prisoners by Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer Lytton, published 100 years ago in March 1914, is a comprehensive and, at times, harrowing personal account of her four prison sentences as a militant suffragette. Though from a very privileged background, Constance Lytton had a strong desire to stand beside those who were fighting for women's equality whatever their class or status. Most famously, to avoid receiving special treatment and privileges as a result of her family connections, she took on the guise of 'Jane Warton' and in so doing personally experienced the horrors of prison, including force-feeding. Although her health suffered, her story is one which shows courage, determination and an undeniable dedication to equality and justice for women. After being arrested for being part of a deputation marching to Downing Street on 24 February 1909, Constance Lytton was sentenced to four weeks' imprisonment in Holloway Prison and in Prisons and Prisoners she provides extraordinarily rich descriptions of prison conditions, daily routine, fellow prisoners and prison wardresses. Although initially held in the hospital wing because of her poor health, following acts of resistance which, in effect, amounted to self-harm, she was allowed to join other prisoners in the main wings. She had a brilliant eye for detail and provided a number of vivid accounts of sometimes overlooked aspects of prison life. For example, she describes how her prison clothes, with broad arrows stamped over them, were often ill-fitting, stained, unironed and looking unwashed even after they had been to the laundry. Further, the poor design and cut of her prison shirt was not just uncomfortable but so bad it 'looked like the production of a maniac' whilst her prison shoes were too small and painful to walk in (Lytton 1914, p.80). The prison cells were small, bitterly cold and poorly ventilated, making it hard for prisoners to breathe, never mind stay warm. Beds were uncomfortable whilst pillows bs_bs_banner