Publicity and the Canadian State

"This timely collection opens a much-needed debate about the role of communication, media, and public relations in government. Anyone who cares about Canadian politics - and especially those looking for alternatives to 'government by spin' - needs to read this book." -- Vincent Mosco, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Queen's University "Publicity and the Canadian State is a strong and valuable contribution to the literature that addresses a phenomenon that is increasingly crucial to the public and political sphere in Canada. Including both theoretical arguments and important empirical contextualization, this book offers broad lessons about the nature of publicity and the state, and communicates these lessons in a clear and accessible way." -- Paul Saurette, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa "An impressive collection by the leading thinkers on political communication, Publicity and the Canadian State, edited by Kirsten Kozolanka, will attract pundits, practitioners, and theorists alike who are seeking answers to the paradoxes of increasing publicity, but secrecy; education, but disengagement; hyper control, but wikileaks in Canadian democracy today. Kozolanka wants us all to be aware of the multiple persuasive traps and trappings of the contemporary publicity state. Readers will emerge sobered, but armed with alternative strategies and energized to take up the challenge of critical analysis 'post spin.' Authoritarian democracy in this era of the New Right is like Innis's Empire, without communication, kept afloat by a surfeit of PR but so devoid of meaning or connection for many that it can't be twittered away." -- Catherine Murray, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University

Bringing together contemporary Canadian analysis by scholars in a number of fields, this collection will be a welcome new resource for academics, public relations and policy professionals, and government communicators at all levels.

Publicity pervades our political and public culture, but little has been written that critically examines the basis of the modern Canadian “publicity state.” This collection is the first to focus on the central themes in the state’s relationship with publicity practices and the “permanent campaign,” the constant search by politicians and their strategists for popular consent. Central to this political popularity contest are publicity tools borrowed from private enterprise, turning political parties into sound bites and party members into consumers.

Publicity and the Canadian State is the first sustained study of the contemporary practices of political communication, focusing holistically on the tools of the publicity state and their ideological underpinnings: advertising, public opinion research, marketing, branding, image consulting, and media and information management, as well as related topics such as election law and finance, privacy, think-tank lobbying, and non-election communication campaigns.

Bringing together contemporary Canadian analysis by scholars in a number of fields, this collection will be a welcome new resource for academics, public relations and policy professionals, and government communicators at all levels.