Proceedings: Conference on Corporate Communication 2012 Page 1

Crisis Communication and Terrorism
The Norway Attacks on 22 July 2011
Jesper Falkheimer
Campus Helsingborg
Lund University, Sweden
jesper.falkheimer@ch.lu.se
The purpose of the paper is to present a review on terrorism and strategic communication, and to
describe and analyze how the Norway attacks on 22 July 2011 – the bombing of the government
center in Oslo (killing eight persons) and the mass shooting on the island of Utöya (killing 69
persons) – were managed from a crisis communications perspective. The paper is based on a
qualitative interview study with national governmental actors in Norway and Sweden. The
analysis uses late modern social theory, viewing crises as “transboundary” (Boin & Rhinard,
2008). The paper integrates earlier research on terrorism and strategic communication. The
findings and implications are, among others, that: (1) training and improvisation are crucial; (2)
the concept of “transboundary” crisis is valid as an analytical framework, (3) co-ordination is the
main problem. The case study is part of a three-year research project funded by the Swedish Civil
Contingencies Agency.
Abstracts of <strong>Conference</strong> <strong>Proceedings</strong>: <strong>Conference</strong> on Corporate Communication 2012
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