Public Affairs Management: A Guide to Professional Practice

Public Affairs Management is a groundbreaking guide to effective, evidence-informed public affairs practice in a variety of organisational contexts, including leadership, politics, communications, public relations, activism, and other decision-making.

Readers will learn to draw together ideas and processes covering public policy development, political science research, stakeholder engagement, risk assessment, public affairs management, ethical communications, and activist campaigning. Situated within a globalised context, the book will equip readers with the theoretical knowledge that underpins effective and ethical professional public affairs practice, empowering them to research, develop, and evaluate impactful strategies as well as engage nonmarket stakeholders. In doing so, it aims to provide the conceptual grounding and reflexive frameworks needed to critically examine the role of public affairs practitioners. Organised into five interconnected parts, the book’s structure will enable readers to navigate its metamodern discussion of public affairs at the macro (political environments), meso (organisational contexts), and micro (practitioner performance) levels and effectively utilise it as a reference text. Across the text, a wealth of pedagogical features such as real-world application, signposts for further reading, practitioner reflections, original conceptual models and practical tools will help to engage readers, build competencies, provoke thinking, and encourage sustainable professional development.

Valuable as essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of public affairs, corporate communications, public relations, business and management, policy and politics, this book will also be indispensable for practitioners in the field.

Online support material for educators includes key slides as well as an instructor’s guide to teaching original models and frameworks.

Sarah Bowman is Assistant Professor at Northumbria University, UK, with a PhD in the knowledge and capabilities for public affairs practice and is a former public affairs practitioner.

Heather Yaxley is the founder of Applause Consultancy and holds a PhD in contemporary career strategies. She is a published author and historian, with a rich background in education, sustainable professional development, and strategic communications leadership.