Global Public Sector and Political Communication

Abstract

Public and political organizations exist to maintain societies in more or less democratic settings. Both political and public sector organizations have traditionally been blamed for several ills in society including inefficiency, bureaucracy, serving their own needs above others’ and corruption. Though each public sector and political organization is a product of its own time and environment, there seem to be certain global trends that challenge them: rapid change, use of social media, citizen diversity, and novel forms of citizen activism for example question the more traditional means of communication. How public entities and politicians communicate with citizens and publics is of strategic importance: there is a global need to change from one-way information provision toward ongoing dialogue.

This chapter looks at public sector and political communication globally. Despite their central task in society, partly due to the complex setting, short-term election cycles, diverse stakeholders, and slightly negative sector reputation, many communication efforts of public and political organizations fail. Though communication alone cannot solve the many sector-related challenges, this chapter analyzes public and political communication and reflects how public and political organizations could better utilize communication to improve their functions.