Challenging accounts: Public relations and a tale of two revolutions

Abstract: This article provides a brief account of public relations, and of those who use its practices, in the Zionist revolution that led to the formation of the state of Israel. In relating that narrative to aspects of the American Revolution, it explores similarities and differences with a threefold aim: (1) to describe the distinctiveness of Israeli public relations development, informed by, but not determined by, U.S. accounts; (2) to clarify how different national origins continue to impact on the contemporary profession; and (3) to encourage others to put forward their accounts of their specific histories, and their specific historical actors. In Kuhn''s classic account of paradigm revolutions in science, the impetus frequently comes from activities on the margins that conflict with core assumptions. The article''s specific account of the formation of Israel, and its intertwining with public relations, adds to the recent growing movement to construct accounts of other national public relations histories. In contributing to this movement, it also points to how the American experience can be reconfigured as part, albeit a massive part, of a profession that is developing differently in different parts of the world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]