Public relations is one of the world’s fastest growing professions and areas of study, yet great differences exist globally in its practice and teaching. There is general agreement, however, that case studies of communications campaigns are one of the most effective teaching and learning techniques for both students and practitioners.
The first edition of this casebook was compiled in 1998 for use in a workshop on how to teach public relations directed by the editors for university professors in the Baltic States and Russia. A year later, and with some additional cases, The Institute for Public Relations published the book.
Much has happened in public relations in the ensuing five years. Both the academic discipline and professional practice have burgeoned in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former USSR. African nations have been both the originators and the focus of intense public relations efforts. Asian countries are showing high levels of sophistication in their use of public relations. And new universities in the Middle East are preparing their students for careers in public relations.
Yet, significant cultural, social, political and economic differences between countries remain and these differences shape the way public relations is practiced from country to country. In the Introduction to the first edition we said, “Public relations in one country is not necessarily public relations in another.” That is still true today.
Most of the published texts and readily available case studies in the field continue to rely heavily upon Western experience, largely from the United States. Professors, students and, we suspect, practitioners need examples and models with which they and their countries can identify. We also have found that Western practitioners need examples to help with the global nuances that often mean the difference between success and failure. For those reasons, we decided this casebook needed to be updated.
Download PDF: The Evolution of Public Relations: Case Studies From Countries in Transition Second Edition
