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.