The Handbook of Public Affairs

Citation

Mesure, H. (2006), "The Handbook of Public Affairs", Society and Business Review, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 192-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465680610669861

This book is about “public affairs” that is to say the relationships between organizations and public authorities whatever theirs levels (regional, national or international). Those relationships are griped from a management point of view and are not limiting to lobbying issues or practices. According the two authors – who are both members of the editorial team of the Journal of Public Affairs‐ this question of strategic management is on the top of the directions' agenda in a context of regulation, privatization and the development of translational government legislation. The authors set together some of the most recognized signatures of the field in order to propose a book that was designed for academics, students and practionners concerned by public affairs, institutional communication, strategic management or governances. The book is structured in four parts: the Environments of Public Affairs; Tools, Techniques and Organizing for Public Affairs; Cases Studies in Public Affairs and Scholarship and Theory Building in Public Affairs. Some common themes detach themselves throughout those four parts as: lobbying as an industry (according Porter's definition) or as a set of methods and tools; public affairs and corporate governance; public affairs as an issue that must be tackled with usual management notions or tools; the internationalisation of public affairs; the academicals institutionalisation of public affairs. As the introduction and the conclusion suggest it, the authors wrote a book that is a “defence and an illustration” of the public affairs as a major area of research in the western contemporary (business) world. Therefore, this book can be read as a successful attempt to structure public affairs as a legitimate and important discipline. In fact, it's mainly a book on public affairs within US, Canada or EU contexts. Except this restriction, this handbook is complete and relevant. More, it could become a basic book of the field. It will interest the practionners who are searching for good practices to benchmark and those – academics or students – who are looking for solid conceptual foundations about public affairs. At least, the reading of this book suggests that the public affairs could become one of the main questions of the Business and Society field.