Ian Somerville
Biographic Data
| ID | 257370 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ian Somerville |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ian |
| FAMILY NAME | Somerville |
| SIGNATURE | SOMERVILLE I |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Leicester |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5315-3217 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 44 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Communicating Risk, Trust, and Resilience Among Diverse and Marginalised Populations
This thematic issue presents current empirical research focusing on theory and practice around the communication of risk, trust, and resilience in the context of societies characterised by diversity and/or inequality. A key goal of the editors was to include studies from the Global South as well as the Global North and thereby ensure a truly international collection of research studies, and we are delighted to be able to publish 10 high-quality r…
Covid-19, Community Resilience, and Marginalised Populations: Health Communication and Chinese Communities in the UK
The Covid-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to global public health, economies, and societies. In the UK, the impact of Covid-19 on the economy, healthcare systems, and individual well-being was also profound and multifaceted. While the pandemic had far-reaching consequences for the general population, its impact was not evenly distributed across society. It has been widely reported that the Covid-19 pandemic disproportionately affecte…
A slow-burning crisis: Executive relations and the normalisation of distrust in Northern Ireland's ‘cash for ash’ fiasco
This paper explores relationships between ministers, special advisers and civil servants through the lens of a high-profile government crisis in Northern Ireland (NI). Although political–administrative relationships are a mainstay of public administration research, we still have limited understanding of how these relationships feature and function within the ‘Westminster family’ of governance when operating within devolved institutions or post-co…
Combatting sectarianism from the ground up: The Northern Irish Green and White Army and the football carnival
This paper draws upon participant observation data conducted before and after all 10 qualifying matches for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship to explore the dynamics underpinning the Northern Irish Green and White Army (GAWA) football carnival. Supplemented by interviews with Northern Ireland fans themselves and informed by the dramaturgical perspectives of Erving Goffman, the paper contends that the anti-sectarian 'norms' of GAWA foot…
Researching the Complex, Hybrid, and Liminal Nature of Contemporary Promotional Cultures
This thematic issue invited submissions that address the challenges of researching the complex, hybrid, and liminal nature of promotional cultures and the published articles include studies which reflect on the structures, technologies, agents, representations, effects, and ethics of promotion. They are united by a central question: What strategies do we use to explore and attempt to understand the assemblages of technologies, texts, networks, an…
Can Sport Build Peace After Conflict? Public Attitudes in Transitional Northern Ireland
The growth of the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement has provoked considerable scholarly interrogation of the claimed social benefits of sport. However, little is known of public attitudes to the topic. This article reports research carried out in Northern Ireland regarding sport as a means of bringing divided communities together. Respondents viewed sport as effective in breaking down barriers, yet the demographic reach in terms of t…
The structuration of a sporting social system? Northern Ireland fans, Football for All and the creation of the Green and White Army
In terms of the extant literature to date on sport and fandom in the divided society of Northern Ireland, academic attention has focused almost exclusively on its apparently contentious nature. However, until now, there has been a dearth of actual empirical data to inform such analyses. This article is designed to help rectify this deficit by drawing upon interviews with Northern Ireland football supporters and Irish Football Association staff to…
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History examines how histories are used to explore how the past is constructed from the present, how the present is always historical, and how both past and present can power imagined futures. Divided into three distinct parts, the book uses historical inquiry as a springboard for engaging with interdisciplinary, critical and complex issues in the past and present. Part I examines the history …
Framing “the Public Interest”: Comparing Public Lobbying Campaigns in Four European States
How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The paper unpacks how businesses communicatively construct a link between their private interest and the p…
People have a knack of making you feel excluded if they catch on to your difference: Transgender experiences of exclusion in sport
While there is a growing literature in the field of gender, sexuality and sport, there is a dearth of research into the lived experiences of transgender people in sport. The present study addresses this research gap by exploring and analysing the accounts of transgender people in relation to their experiences of sport and physical activity. These are examined within the theoretical rubrics of social exclusion and minority stress theory. The findi…
Political Contest and Oppositional Voices in Postconflict Democracy: The Impact of Institutional Design on Government–Media Relations
This article investigates how political institutions affect government–media relationships. Most studies of media-politics focus on majoritarian parliamentary or presidential systems and on how party systems affect journalism. This tends to neglect important issues that pertain in more constitutionally complex democracies, such as the consociational institutions in postconflict societies. Taking the Northern Irish context as a strategic case stud…
Sport for peace in Northern Ireland? Civil society, change and constraint after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement
Using the case of Northern Ireland, this article examines how post-conflict transition impacts sports organisations which have traditionally underpinned societal division and what factors facilitate or restrain such organisations from fulfilling peacebuilding functions. The article identifies three peacebuilding functions of sport: in-group socialisation, promoting social cohesion and symbolically representing new identities. Then, after outlinin…
Democratic Communication and the Role of Special Advisers in Northern Ireland’s Consociational Government
This article examines the role of ministerial special advisers (SpAds) in Northern Ireland’s government communication. Using data gathered from elite interviews with SpAds, government information officers, and political journalists, we argue that the role of the SpAd is influenced by the post-conflict political culture in Northern Ireland and the consociational structure of government. The article suggests that current theorizing of the role of S…
Argumentation and fallacy in newspaper op / ed coverage of the prelude to the invasion of Iraq
This study examines how the pre-war debate of the U.S. decision to invade Iraq was discursively constructed in pro- and anti-war newspaper op/ed argumentation. Drawing on insights from argumentation theory, and using these within a framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, we explore fallacious arguments within the ‘justification discourse’ used in the pro-war opinion/editorials (op/eds). We argue that the type of arguments marshalled by the pro-…
People have a knack of making you feel excluded if they catch on to your difference: Transgender experiences of exclusion in sport
While there is a growing literature in the field of gender, sexuality and sport, there is a dearth of research into the lived experiences of transgender people in sport. The present study addresses this research gap by exploring and analysing the accounts of transgender people in relation to their experiences of sport and physical activity. These are examined within the theoretical rubrics of social exclusion and minority stress theory. The findi…
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History examines how histories are used to explore how the past is constructed from the present, how the present is always historical, and how both past and present can power imagined futures. Divided into three distinct parts, the book uses historical inquiry as a springboard for engaging with interdisciplinary, critical and complex issues in the past and present. Part I examines the history …
Can Sport Build Peace After Conflict? Public Attitudes in Transitional Northern Ireland
The growth of the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement has provoked considerable scholarly interrogation of the claimed social benefits of sport. However, little is known of public attitudes to the topic. This article reports research carried out in Northern Ireland regarding sport as a means of bringing divided communities together. Respondents viewed sport as effective in breaking down barriers, yet the demographic reach in terms of t…
Democratic Communication and the Role of Special Advisers in Northern Ireland’s Consociational Government
This article examines the role of ministerial special advisers (SpAds) in Northern Ireland’s government communication. Using data gathered from elite interviews with SpAds, government information officers, and political journalists, we argue that the role of the SpAd is influenced by the post-conflict political culture in Northern Ireland and the consociational structure of government. The article suggests that current theorizing of the role of S…
The structuration of a sporting social system? Northern Ireland fans, Football for All and the creation of the Green and White Army
In terms of the extant literature to date on sport and fandom in the divided society of Northern Ireland, academic attention has focused almost exclusively on its apparently contentious nature. However, until now, there has been a dearth of actual empirical data to inform such analyses. This article is designed to help rectify this deficit by drawing upon interviews with Northern Ireland football supporters and Irish Football Association staff to…
Sport for peace in Northern Ireland? Civil society, change and constraint after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement
Using the case of Northern Ireland, this article examines how post-conflict transition impacts sports organisations which have traditionally underpinned societal division and what factors facilitate or restrain such organisations from fulfilling peacebuilding functions. The article identifies three peacebuilding functions of sport: in-group socialisation, promoting social cohesion and symbolically representing new identities. Then, after outlinin…
A slow-burning crisis: Executive relations and the normalisation of distrust in Northern Ireland's ‘cash for ash’ fiasco
This paper explores relationships between ministers, special advisers and civil servants through the lens of a high-profile government crisis in Northern Ireland (NI). Although political–administrative relationships are a mainstay of public administration research, we still have limited understanding of how these relationships feature and function within the ‘Westminster family’ of governance when operating within devolved institutions or post-co…
Combatting sectarianism from the ground up: The Northern Irish Green and White Army and the football carnival
This paper draws upon participant observation data conducted before and after all 10 qualifying matches for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship to explore the dynamics underpinning the Northern Irish Green and White Army (GAWA) football carnival. Supplemented by interviews with Northern Ireland fans themselves and informed by the dramaturgical perspectives of Erving Goffman, the paper contends that the anti-sectarian 'norms' of GAWA foot…
Political Contest and Oppositional Voices in Postconflict Democracy: The Impact of Institutional Design on Government–Media Relations
This article investigates how political institutions affect government–media relationships. Most studies of media-politics focus on majoritarian parliamentary or presidential systems and on how party systems affect journalism. This tends to neglect important issues that pertain in more constitutionally complex democracies, such as the consociational institutions in postconflict societies. Taking the Northern Irish context as a strategic case stud…
Argumentation and fallacy in newspaper op / ed coverage of the prelude to the invasion of Iraq
This study examines how the pre-war debate of the U.S. decision to invade Iraq was discursively constructed in pro- and anti-war newspaper op/ed argumentation. Drawing on insights from argumentation theory, and using these within a framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, we explore fallacious arguments within the ‘justification discourse’ used in the pro-war opinion/editorials (op/eds). We argue that the type of arguments marshalled by the pro-…
Democratic Communication and the Role of Special Advisers in Northern Ireland’s Consociational Government
This article examines the role of ministerial special advisers (SpAds) in Northern Ireland’s government communication. Using data gathered from elite interviews with SpAds, government information officers, and political journalists, we argue that the role of the SpAd is influenced by the post-conflict political culture in Northern Ireland and the consociational structure of government. The article suggests that current theorizing of the role of S…
Political Contest and Oppositional Voices in Postconflict Democracy: The Impact of Institutional Design on Government–Media Relations
This article investigates how political institutions affect government–media relationships. Most studies of media-politics focus on majoritarian parliamentary or presidential systems and on how party systems affect journalism. This tends to neglect important issues that pertain in more constitutionally complex democracies, such as the consociational institutions in postconflict societies. Taking the Northern Irish context as a strategic case stud…
Sport for peace in Northern Ireland? Civil society, change and constraint after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement
Using the case of Northern Ireland, this article examines how post-conflict transition impacts sports organisations which have traditionally underpinned societal division and what factors facilitate or restrain such organisations from fulfilling peacebuilding functions. The article identifies three peacebuilding functions of sport: in-group socialisation, promoting social cohesion and symbolically representing new identities. Then, after outlinin…
People have a knack of making you feel excluded if they catch on to your difference: Transgender experiences of exclusion in sport
While there is a growing literature in the field of gender, sexuality and sport, there is a dearth of research into the lived experiences of transgender people in sport. The present study addresses this research gap by exploring and analysing the accounts of transgender people in relation to their experiences of sport and physical activity. These are examined within the theoretical rubrics of social exclusion and minority stress theory. The findi…
Framing “the Public Interest”: Comparing Public Lobbying Campaigns in Four European States
How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The paper unpacks how businesses communicatively construct a link between their private interest and the p…
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History examines how histories are used to explore how the past is constructed from the present, how the present is always historical, and how both past and present can power imagined futures. Divided into three distinct parts, the book uses historical inquiry as a springboard for engaging with interdisciplinary, critical and complex issues in the past and present. Part I examines the history …
The structuration of a sporting social system? Northern Ireland fans, Football for All and the creation of the Green and White Army
In terms of the extant literature to date on sport and fandom in the divided society of Northern Ireland, academic attention has focused almost exclusively on its apparently contentious nature. However, until now, there has been a dearth of actual empirical data to inform such analyses. This article is designed to help rectify this deficit by drawing upon interviews with Northern Ireland football supporters and Irish Football Association staff to…
Researching the Complex, Hybrid, and Liminal Nature of Contemporary Promotional Cultures
This thematic issue invited submissions that address the challenges of researching the complex, hybrid, and liminal nature of promotional cultures and the published articles include studies which reflect on the structures, technologies, agents, representations, effects, and ethics of promotion. They are united by a central question: What strategies do we use to explore and attempt to understand the assemblages of technologies, texts, networks, an…
Can Sport Build Peace After Conflict? Public Attitudes in Transitional Northern Ireland
The growth of the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement has provoked considerable scholarly interrogation of the claimed social benefits of sport. However, little is known of public attitudes to the topic. This article reports research carried out in Northern Ireland regarding sport as a means of bringing divided communities together. Respondents viewed sport as effective in breaking down barriers, yet the demographic reach in terms of t…
A slow-burning crisis: Executive relations and the normalisation of distrust in Northern Ireland's ‘cash for ash’ fiasco
This paper explores relationships between ministers, special advisers and civil servants through the lens of a high-profile government crisis in Northern Ireland (NI). Although political–administrative relationships are a mainstay of public administration research, we still have limited understanding of how these relationships feature and function within the ‘Westminster family’ of governance when operating within devolved institutions or post-co…
Combatting sectarianism from the ground up: The Northern Irish Green and White Army and the football carnival
This paper draws upon participant observation data conducted before and after all 10 qualifying matches for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship to explore the dynamics underpinning the Northern Irish Green and White Army (GAWA) football carnival. Supplemented by interviews with Northern Ireland fans themselves and informed by the dramaturgical perspectives of Erving Goffman, the paper contends that the anti-sectarian 'norms' of GAWA foot…
Communicating Risk, Trust, and Resilience Among Diverse and Marginalised Populations
This thematic issue presents current empirical research focusing on theory and practice around the communication of risk, trust, and resilience in the context of societies characterised by diversity and/or inequality. A key goal of the editors was to include studies from the Global South as well as the Global North and thereby ensure a truly international collection of research studies, and we are delighted to be able to publish 10 high-quality r…
Covid-19, Community Resilience, and Marginalised Populations: Health Communication and Chinese Communities in the UK
The Covid-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to global public health, economies, and societies. In the UK, the impact of Covid-19 on the economy, healthcare systems, and individual well-being was also profound and multifaceted. While the pandemic had far-reaching consequences for the general population, its impact was not evenly distributed across society. It has been widely reported that the Covid-19 pandemic disproportionately affecte…
Political science (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Law (6 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts (5 works) · Government (linguistics (4 works) · Media studies (4 works) · Political economy (4 works)