This four-volume set looks at the evolution of ideas around that critical government and business strategic interface, Public Affairs, and how our understanding and conceptualisation of the discipline and topic area has changed as the subject has become rapidly grown and become more important over the past decade with globalisation. Through thematic exploration of the key conceptual and empirical articles to have come out of the field, public affairs is here understood as a discipline and professional practice, taking in: the organisation and structuring of the public affairs function, the characteristics and factors influencing the effectiveness of public affairs, the profile, characteristics and competencies of public affairs practitioners, the value of public affairs, what is understood about 'best practice' in the public affairs context, and its limitations, and the international perspective of public affairs. Skilfully edited and introduced by a leading voice in the field, this major work shines a spotlight on a subject which is increasingly gaining strategic significance across disciplines on the global stage.

Volume One: Introduction and definition
Volume Two: Strategy
Volume Three: Globalization
Volume Four: Critical Issues in Public Affairs