A. A. van Ruler - Böcker

Introduction Sriramesh, Van Ruler & Zerfass Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Betteke van Ruler & Ansgar Zerfass One could make a reasonable argument that public relations is an ancient practice (going back millennia) although it has been popularly perceived as a 20th century phenomenon. Scholarship in public relations, however, is more recent in origin with a history of less than four decades. During these formative years, the body of knowledge has expanded signi- cantly, which is laudable. However, there is potential for growth and improvement in many areas of the public relations literature. Over the decades, among other things, public re- tions scholarship has largely remained parochial to specific regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Latin America, German speaking Europe, etc. as evidenced in the bibliographic references of many essays in this volume itself where authors predo- nantly cite work from their own regions. This is often necessitated by linguistic differences with only English serving as the universal language that helps permeate knowledge through most regions. Pedagogical and methodological factors also have played a role in the regionalization of the body of knowledge. However, we believe that knowledge flo- ishes most when it is shared across different kinds of barriers. Globalization has made it essential for us to recognize this reality more than ever. This volume tries to bridge the gap and presents theories and concepts from researchers around the world.