Acceptance of democracy and public relations: Attitudes in a transitional country

• Democracy cannot be measured as a dichotomous variable, but as a continuum from authoritarian to full democracy.
• Transitional countries have political values that exist on a dynamic continuum and may differ from country to country.
• Observing and understanding the practice of public relations may help people in transitional countries understand how capitalist economic systems work.
• Young people in Croatia may not fully understand the principles of democratic governments.
• There is a desire to know more about how business works in a free market economy.

The study explores the relationship between acceptance of democracy and opinions about public communication used by the private sector in television newscasts in Croatia, a country transitioning to democracy. A survey administered to students at a large University in Zagreb found inconsistent responses to the items that measured acceptance of democracy, indicating that young Croatians in the study may still be in a political “gray zone” and may not have a full understanding of the precepts of democracy. However, there was a positive correlation between opinions about public relations media practices and acceptance of democracy. The study suggests that it is not enough to use a theoretical framework of global public relations that characterizes a country as a democracy or not, but rather to recognize that democratization is a process. Many people in transitional societies may be closer on the continuum to traditional communist points of view than to newer democratic views; such understanding can help provide a theoretical understanding of transitional public relations.