ABSTRACT
Public affairs focuses on media relations and involves engaging both foreign and domestic audiences 'with the goal of furthering US foreign policy and national security interests as well as broadening understanding of American values'. This chapter discusses the increased use of critical-cultural and rhetorical perspectives within the domain of applied strategic communication research. It argues that themes related to security ought to become more central to the overall agenda of strategic communication research. The chapter then defines key concepts and tensions in order to map the terrain of US strategic communication research and practice. In the context of US strategic communication, a critical-cultural perspective maintains that policy and practice can in no way be isolated from the dominant social, economic, and political order. The chapter also describes what critical-cultural and rhetorical communication scholarship entails. Finally, it establishes the need for a new research agenda that emphasizes critical-cultural and rhetorical perspectives.
