Public relations has been growing in importance as an element of a company's or institution's communication whether internally, with other corporations or with society beyond their immediate environment. Encompassing issues of corporate responsibility, marketing the corporate image, crisis management, the effectiveness of communication, lobbying, the area covers many facets of the relationship between the institution and the public. This text focuses on the nature and scope of public relations studies, the origin and development of the field together with some of the tensions and dilemmas that have arisen. Analyzing such issues as political public relations, education, organizational diplomacy, rhetoric, image and identity, and the nature of communication, this study provides an interdisciplinary approach to the theories and concepts of public relations.