This book advances knowledge about strategic communication with an aim to improve the practice of strategic communication in unprecedented times. It stimulates serious scholarly research on strategic communication and its management and execution during challenging times, such as the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The book is organized into three sections, with the first section presenting an overview of the main theoretical models of strategic communication from around the world when investigating its relationship in managing the global pandemic. The second section offers diverse perspectives on the role of strategic communication in challenging times, ranging from government communications, organizational leadership, leadership communication, to influencers on social networking platforms. The final section focuses on building frameworks that can be used to facilitate public health response plans through strategic communication before, during, and after pandemics and/or other acute risk issues or societal traumas.

By providing a range of strategic communication scholarship grounded in different academic disciplines and cultural and political contexts, this volume offers an international perspective for scholars and educators to understand the complexity of the topic itself. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Strategic Communication.