Globalization and Public Relations in Postcolonial Nations: Chal ...

obsolete or anachronisms from Cold War-era economics. The world has changed much since the simmering tensions between democratic and communist nations were at their height, leading to a new worldscape in which political ideology has arguably less agency than economic status. That is why up to this point we have often used the phrase developing economies. Although that designation is loaded with Western ideology that does not reflect our stance, it signals the dominance of economics in globalization discourse. Our treatment links issues of globalization, public relations, and social justice by taking a hard look at political economy issues and reframing them in light of the postcolonial experience. When possible, we use terminology such as low income, middle income, and high income to categorize countries and ameliorate the Western ideology often associated with development discourse.

We are, moreover, concerned with a certain experience of postcolonialism. Technically, the United States could be considered a postcolonial nation. Because of its global economic and cultural influence, however, this book excludes nations such as the United States and focuses instead on nations such as Guinea-Bissau and India. We use postcolonialism as a means by which to highlight the unequal effects of globalization.

The Economies of Global Public Relations Practice

That orientation carries over into our approach to examining public relations practice in this book. Delineating how public relations practices are growing and developing from the ground up in postcolonial nations, we treat public relations not as an organizational function designed to achieve strategic objectives but as an organic process that engages people within the contexts of their lived experiences. Globalization has created structural constraints that regulate everyday life in those nations, such as poverty, development, and aid. We explore ways in which public relations, as a communicative and relationship-building process, can bridge the structural challenges of globalization (the political economy sphere)