The Application of Rhetorical Arena Theory in International Public Relations Context: Evidence from Ethio-US Relation
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Date
2023-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Recently, Ethiopia has experienced several crises internally. Some of them also have a negative impact on Ethiopia's relations with other countries. The major goal of this study was to evaluate the applicability of RAT in MFA's foreign public relations strategies for handling tense situations, specifically in the context of US-Ethiopian relation. In this study, a qualitative research strategy was used to gather and analyze data from in-depth interviews with key informants chosen using purposive sample methods. The crisis event was evaluated in this way. The qualitative Three-dimensional Framework (Fairclough, 2010) approach was used to gather pertinent data, and the interview was thematically analyzed in conjunction with discourse analysis. The study goes into great detail about the ideas of international Public Relations, Crisis Management, and International Relation within the applicability of the RAT theoretical framework to analyze the effectiveness of strategic communication used by MFA in addressing the conflict in northern Ethiopia for international communities as the conflict negatively affects the international relation and specifically in managing the strained relation of Ethio-US as well. Despite the fact that Hogg and Doolan (1999) outlined the tasks of PR practitioners, a PR practitioner does research to discover problems, characterize them, and propose solutions to them. If something goes wrong, the practitioner is held accountable. The study discovered that MFA has little place to involve IPR practitioners in managing crises occurring through counseling and creating crisis communication plan. The expert prescriber researches and defines communication difficulties, design programming, and take responsibility for developing programs. As the four variables (context, genre, medium, and text) were insufficient to capture the MFA strategic communication used to manage the strained relationship between Ethiopia and the US, the research was modified to include a strategic communication plan as one variable on the RAT theoretical framework.
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Keywords
US-Ethiopian relation,Foreign Public Relations