Exploring the evolution of Public Relations in post-communist Romanian book publishing industry: a historical and sociological approach

There is little scholarly research on the history of public relations in post-communist Romania with few exceptions (Dolea, 2012; Rogojinaru, 2009, 2014). This study aims is to fill the gap and explore the historical reconstruction public relations’ development and role in the book publishing industry. This particular industry was chosen as it is considered emblematic for the effects of the Communist regime on a society: lowest book consumption in Europe with 1 book per capita per year (Barbu, 2015), almost half of the population has not read even a book during an entire year (Eurobarometer Cultural access and participation, 2013), while almost 40% of Romanian high school students have difficulties in reading and understanding a text for the first time (Programme for International Students Assessment, 2012). Building on social construction theory (Berger & Luckmann, 1966/2008) and, methodologically, on the historical sociology approach (L’Etang, 2004, 2014), this study explores the intertwined relations between different actors, practices and structures of public relations in an industry which aims to increase book consumption and reading habits. Moreover, it places these intertwined relationships within a historical context, tracing the evolutions of public relations in book publishing industry during a quarter of a century. This exploratory study shows how the industry itself witnessed a rebirth after decades of Communism, censorship and control. Consequently, public relations has followed a late and slow process of institutionalization and professionalization: the role of public relations has been largely technical, supporting marketing and sales through events management and editing press materials; it is after 2010 that the strategic, managerial role of public relations has started to be slowly understood, initially by (some) practitioners themselves, then by (some) directors of top publishing houses. Public relations is still in a legitimization phase aiming for recognition, professionalization and a greater role both within their organizations and within society. Moreover, if public relations practitioners would understand and assume a social role (focusing on public interest), they could influence, through public communication campaigns, public policies to address functional illiteracy; ultimately, these would be beneficial for both the book industry and their own organizations

Disruption and creativity in shaping a country image and identity through citizen diplomacy: The 2017 protests in Romania

In February 2017 Romania made headlines in major international media across the globe: during an entire month massive anti-corruption protests took place almost daily across the country. There were the largest protests since the fall of the communist regime in December 1989 and were triggered by a government’s decree to decriminalize abuse in office by officials if the sums were less than circa 45.000 euro. In reporting about the protests, the international media covered extensively aspects such as: (1) the civic nature of the protests (high rate of engagement among citizens in order to make their voice heard); (2) the use of social media for the organization of the protests (Facebook events, #rezist, etc); (3) the creative use of digital technologies during the protests (wall projections, mobile phone lights to recreate the national flag and the EU flag); (4) the creativity of the posters created by protesters (initially in Romanian, then in English in order to be understood by international audiences); (5) setting an example in Europe for how citizens stand up for democratic values, fight corruption and mobilize (Romania was considered the last country in the region to fight populism, while protests in France are legitimizing from the Romanian ones, etc). Main research question: Can protests be a form of citizen diplomacy, generating alternative discourses about the country image and identity? Methodology: Historical reconstitution & chronology of events; Exploratory corpus of data for January 18 - February 28, 2017 in the Facebook community “Coruptia ucide” (posts and events). Findings: Protests became a form of citizen diplomacy, indirectly, through a gradual process of social construction (stages intersect & influence each other) Conclusion: Protests gain international relevance due to appeal to universal democratic values. Protesters become aware of their symbolic soft power and strategically instrumentalize creativity and humour to gain international benevolence. They generate alternative discourses about Romania - creative country, the hope from East Europe. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of how non state actors are increasingly engaging in strategic campaigns of promoting their country and how social movements become opportunities for generating alternative discourses about a country and about its national identity

The Impact of Migration on the Construction of Romania's Country Image: Two Intersecting Public Problems

In Romania, the promotion of the country image has been a recurrent topic on the public agenda after the fall of Communism. Ever since, the governmental campaigns, initiatives or slogans meant to promote and communicate Romania to the world generated so many heated debates that the country’s image eventually became a public problem. After the country joined the European Union these debates about the country’s image started to be closely linked with the increased wave of Romanian migration towards Western Europe. Migrants have become both resource of positive visibility and image crisis for Romania due to their behaviours and actions in the destination countries. This chapter draws a longitudinal analysis of the gradual interconnected construction of Romania’s country image and migration as public problems: it identifies several stages (between 1990 and 2010) when the government played a key role and more recent developments (between 2010 and 2015), when various non-state actors seize the opportunity for increased visibility and instrumentalize the two public problems in brand communication campaigns. Thus, it is showed how the different stages in the construction of these public problems have reconfigured over time and, especially, the impact of migration on the construction of Romania's country image

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING REMUNERATION OF THE FACTOR OF PRODUCTION “ORE” - THE MINING RENT SYSTEM IN ROMANIA

The setting mechanism of the remuneration proper to the factors of production is not different from the merchandise price determination, in this case the type of the market pattern being. When the price of the production factors is determined it must be considered both the type of the market where the goods are sold (as output of the manufacture process) and the type of the market where the production factors are provided (engaged). Among the incomes determined by using the production factors mix, the rent represents a very important one. Due to its long term existence, the revenue of rent is one of the economical notion, which has the largest application and the most different signification. For a long time, the rent was attached to the use of the natural resources, especially to those of the earth. Nowadays the application area of this notion has been extended over some other factors of production. In Romania, on the ground of the mining branch development, there were not too many reason of the economic efficiency and the theoretical developments with reference to the costs generated by using the factors of production were ignored. The correct substantiation of the decisions with reference to the application of the national mineral potential can’t ignore the costs generated by the remuneration of the production factor in the mining revenue system

Increasing access to health workers in underserved areas: a conceptual framework for measuring results.

Many countries have developed strategies to attract and retain qualified health workers in underserved areas, but there is only scarce and weak evidence on their successes or failures. It is difficult to compare lessons and measure results from the few evaluations that are available. Evaluation faces several challenges, including the heterogeneity of the terminology, the complexity of the interventions, the difficulty of assessing the influence of contextual factors, the lack of baseline information, and the need for multi-method and multi-disciplinary approaches for monitoring and evaluation. Moreover, the social, political and economic context in which interventions are designed and implemented is rarely considered in monitoring and evaluating interventions for human resources for health. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that offers a model for monitoring and evaluation of retention interventions taking into account such challenges. The conceptual framework is based on a systems approach and aims to guide the thinking in evaluating an intervention to increase access to health workers in underserved areas, from its design phase through to its results. It also aims to guide the monitoring of interventions through the routine collection of a set of indicators, applicable to the specific context. It suggests that a comprehensive approach needs to be used for the design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review of the interventions. The framework is not intended to be prescriptive and can be applied flexibly to each country context. It promotes the use of a common understanding on how attraction and retention interventions work, using a systems perspective

The excavation at Limyra/Lycia 2016: preliminary report

Research focus “urbanistic studies in Limyra” With the approval of the scientific project “The Urbanistic Development of Limyra in the Hellenistic Period” for three years by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (P29027-G25), the research program on urbanism that had already been conducted for several years could be intensified in 2016. Particular focus should be given to the development of Limyra especially in the period under consideration, whereby the extent, the structures, and the urban image ..

A technical framework for costing health workforce retention schemes in remote and rural areas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increasing the availability of health workers in remote and rural areas through improved health workforce recruitment and retention is crucial to population health. However, information about the costs of such policy interventions often appears incomplete, fragmented or missing, despite its importance for the sound selection, planning, implementation and evaluation of these policies. This lack of a systematic approach to costing poses a serious challenge for strong health policy decisions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper proposes a framework for carrying out a costing analysis of interventions to increase the availability of health workers in rural and remote areas with the aim to help policy decision makers. It also underlines the importance of identifying key sources of financing and of assessing financial sustainability.</p> <p>The paper reviews the evidence on costing interventions to improve health workforce recruitment and retention in remote and rural areas, provides guidance to undertake a costing evaluation of such interventions and investigates the role and importance of costing to inform the broader assessment of how to improve health workforce planning and management.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We show that while the debate on the effectiveness of policies and strategies to improve health workforce retention is gaining impetus and attention, there is still a significant lack of knowledge and evidence about the associated costs. To address the concerns stemming from this situation, key elements of a framework to undertake a cost analysis are proposed and discussed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These key elements should help policy makers gain insight into the costs of policy interventions, to clearly identify and understand their financing sources and mechanisms, and to ensure their sustainability.</p