Approaches to the definition of the concept of “communication”, its essence and approaches of both foreign and domestic scientists are considered and analyzed. The role of communication in society and public policy in particular, its importance in public administration, their relationship is studied. Considerable attention is paid to the role of communication in public policy, as it shapes the publicity of any policy, makes it transparent, open and puts socially significant issues on the agenda for further discussion by the whole society with the participation of public authorities and local governments and public organizations and activists, trade unions, business, political movements and parties, etc. According to the author, public policy is inseparable from communication and communication mechanisms, which, in fact, make public policy public, it is important to consider communication and its role in public policy. In the process of communication in the field of public administration, a special place is occupied by the exchange of information between leaders and those they govern (or between the political system and the environment, the top and citizens). Its goal is to obtain the consent of the latter and decision-making, legitimation and public support, which is needed by all political systems, even totalitarian ones. There are different positions of the rulers and rulers in the political sphere, but common is the presence of communicative processes, because without them the existence of communication is impossible, especially in modern conditions and in countries where democracy, publicity and civil society. At the same time, further research is needed on the communicative component of public policy, in particular – from the standpoint of citizens and the media, civil society institutions. The development of communication issues in the plane of “power – society” is conditioned by the need to develop communicative processes in modern Ukraine on the basis of world experience and the peculiarities of the historical development of our state.