| Chapter 1: | The Role Of Public Relations In Global Issues |
|
|
social responsibility (CSR) driven from the ground up in partnership with private ventures. Likewise, we view some activist campaigns as exemplary of engaged public relation practices in terms of their methods and goals, whereas others step beyond the bounds of good practice—through trying to indoctrinate others into a particular ideology, through the use of violence, or by other means that we believe the ends do not justify.
Our purpose, then, is to critically examine how public relations is shaping globalization efforts and practices in countries that have historically been under Western control and to document when and how public relations practices, whether sponsored by government, corporate, not-for-profit, or other organizations, are contributing—or not—to a more just global society. Within the body of public relations knowledge, as Bardhan and Weaver (2011) have observed, “the phenomenon of globalization has not been addressed in all its complexity and remains undertheorized and unpoliticized in the field” (p. 1). In our earlier book, we engaged the theoretical issues, outlining a cultural-economic model of public relations practice to address the challenges of globalization (Curtin & Gaither, 2007). In this manuscript, we focus more on problematizing and politicizing globalization and public relation practice, although we return to the theoretical implications in the last chapter.
Experiencing Postcolonialism
Because the disparities of globalization affect countries unevenly, we are interested in looking at those that often bear the brunt of those differences—countries grouped under the broad heading of postcolonial nations. These countries gained independence from European colonial powers, many in the second half of the 20th century. All but five African nations, for example, gained their independence after 1957; in 2010 no fewer than 17 African nations marked 50 years of independence.