Public relations,passive aggression and critical social auditing: reflections on organisational inaction in stakeholder engagement

This article explores issues associated with organisational governance in the context of stakeholder engagement. It argues that both public relations (PR) research and practice have yet to address systematically the challenges inherent in this area, particularly how organisations exert power over stakeholders. Prompted by a consideration of the situational theory of power put forward by the sociologist Steven Lukes, it introduces the concept of passive aggression to PR practice. This is cited as an example of a wider phenomenon, which the author calls dark dialogue. The insights generated by these perspectives are used to highlight how theoretical approaches in the PR field that seek to understand and promote the role of dialogue in organisational‐stakeholder relations face an empirical challenge. This insight is then used to highlight the limitations of what has been traditionally termed as social auditing. It is suggested that PR and social auditing practice share the same blind spots when it comes to assessing how organisations exercise power and behave towards their stakeholders. The article goes on to advocate collaboration between PR professionals and academics to practically address these issues through a reconfigured social auditing process. It ends by suggesting that action research provides a methodological framework through which these theory‐practice interactions can be facilitated productively. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

检察机关量刑建议程序的基本构建

检察机关量刑建议程序,应从量刑建议的适用范围、制定、审批、提出,以及量刑建议监督与制约等方面来构建;量刑建议程序的完善,有利于检察机关更好地履行法律监督职能,有利于检察机关量刑建议改革的推进。     

Perception vs. Reality: Slovak Views of the Hungarian Minority in Slovakia

After Slovakia and the Czech lands separated in 1993, concerns arose regarding Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian, or Magyar, minority. There were concerns about the Slovak government's attitude toward its considerable Magyar population as well as worries about the Hungarian government's stance regarding Magyars in Slovakia and the Slovak-Hungarian border. Frequently over the past decade, the topic of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia has been manipulated by politicians. In both Slovakia and Hungary, Slovak and Hungarian politicians alike have tried to expose “injustices” or “excesses” for political gain. Indeed, the maneuvering of national politicians might lead one to perceive that the reality of contemporary Slovak-Magyar relations was tenuous and acrimonious. But politics aside, what does the average Slovak think of the Magyar minority and Magyar-Slovak relations generally? To what extent do the political debates encompass their actual concerns and deeply held views? In June 2002, I visited Slovakia and pursued these questions in a series of informal interviews with an ad hoc sample of natives, aged 28 to 78. Among them were bankers, administrators, educators, small business owners, doctors, tour guides, taxi drivers, accountants, and one retiree. My quest to find out what ordinary Slovak citizens think about Slovak-Hungarian relations explored both long-held perceptions and present-day thinking. Very often I discovered a marked divergence between perception and reality where the Hungarian minority was concerned. Slovakia is home to a variety of non-Slovak cultures and languages, including Czech, Ukrainian/Ruthenian, and Romany (gypsy). But the largest cultural and linguistic minority are the c. 600,000 Hungarians, who comprise 11% of the population overall and up to 87% in certain towns and villages in southern Slovakia. For example, a 1994 report by the British Helsinki Human Rights Group (BHHRG) lists the southwestern Slovak towns of Dunajska Streda and Komarno as 87.26% and 72.27% Hungarian, respectively.