Review article
https://doi.org/10.47960/2712-0457.2026.S2.8.201
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT: CHALLENGES OF THE POST-GLOBALIZATION ERA
Božo Skoko
; Algebra Bernays University, Zagreb, Croatia
*
Hrvoje Jakopović
; University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
In a period increasingly described as post-globalization, strategic communication in the international environment faces a fundamental change in the conditions in which it operates. While the era of accelerated globalization favored American models of standardization, universal paradigms (such as Grunig’s Excellence Theory), and relatively stable frameworks of international relations, today’s environment is marked by geopolitical fragmentation, the strengthening of multipolarity, the return of national priorities, technological sovereignty, and the algorithmic mediation of communication. In line with the arguments of Terry Flew (2018, 2020), who understands postglobalization as the end of the period of “peak globalisation” and the reaffirmation of the national within global processes, the paper critically reexamines the assumptions on which strategic communication was based in the globalization era. It analyzes the new challenges arising from post-globalization processes, particularly the shift from message management and relationship building to the management of complex international ecosystems in which state, corporate, and platform actors intertwine. The implications of digital transformation - including the algorithmic shaping of visibility, artificial intelligence, and the spread of disinformation—for international communication strategy are considered, as is the need to adapt the concepts of identity, image, reputation, and stakeholder engagement to conditions of geopolitical uncertainty. The aim of the paper is to contribute to reflection on the future of the strategic communication and public relations profession in the international context, pointing to the necessity of developing more resilient, contextually sensitive, and strategically integrated approaches that go beyond the inherited models of the globalization era.
Keywords
strategic communication; public relations; globalization; postglobalization; changes.
Hrčak ID:
353046
URI
Publication date:
1.11.2026.
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