David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy

David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy PDF Author: Nir Kedar
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253057450
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
In David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy, Nir Kedar offers a poignant study of the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Kedar provides an explication of the making of Israeli democracy in terms of its institutional-legal structures and social-cultural underpinnings. David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy connects the formal structures of democracy to the fundamental principles that they were constructed to serve—human freedom and dignity.

Israeli Democracy at the Crossroads

Israeli Democracy at the Crossroads PDF Author: Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134268831
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
In recent years, the discussion about Israel was dominated by post-Zionist, post-Israeli opinions. Important voices that represent large sectors of Israeli society were not heard. To somewhat change this situation, some of the best scholars in their respective fields participate in this ultimate collection of essays about Israeli society, its politics and schisms. The book aims to tackle timely concerns, like Israel’s fight against terror, its relationships with the Palestinians, the mutual relationships between the civic society and the army, the status of women in society, and separation between state and religion. Particular attention is given to probing the state of human rights, minority rights, and health rights. The volume also discusses the tensions between liberalism and socialism, between state and religion, and between immigration groups, most notably resulting from the immigration from the former Soviet Union.

The One-State Condition

The One-State Condition PDF Author: Ariella Azoulay
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804784337
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Book Description
Since the start of the occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, Israel's domination of the Palestinians has deprived an entire population of any political status or protection. But even decades on, most people speak of this rule—both in everyday political discussion and in legal and academic debates—as temporary, as a state of affairs incidental and external to the Israeli regime. In The One-State Condition, Ariella Azoulay and Adi Ophir directly challenge this belief. Looking closely at the history and contemporary formation of the ruling apparatus—the technologies and operations of the Israeli army, the General Security Services, and the legal system imposed in the Occupied Territories—Azoulay and Ophir outline the one-state condition of Israel/Palestine: the grounding principle of Israeli governance is the perpetuation of differential rule over populations of differing status. Israeli citizenship is shaped through the active denial of Palestinian citizenship and civil rights. Though many Israelis, on both political right and left, agree that the occupation constitutes a problem for Israeli democracy, few ultimately admit that Israel is no democracy or question the very structure of the Israeli regime itself. Too frequently ignored are the lasting effects of the deceptive denial of the events of 1948 and 1967, and the ways in which the resulting occupation has reinforced the sweeping militarization and recent racialization of Israeli society. Azoulay and Ophir show that acknowledgment of the one-state condition is not only a prerequisite for considering a one- or two-state solution; it is a prerequisite for advancing new ideas to move beyond the trap of this false dilemma.

Israel's Higher Law

Israel's Higher Law PDF Author: Steven V. Mazie
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739114858
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Book Description
In Israel's Higher Law, Steven V. Mazie sheds new light on the relationship between liberalism and religion through a detailed assessment of the Jewish state. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Israeli citizens, this compelling work scrutinizes the ways in which Israelis conceptualize and debate their polity's religion-state arrangement.

Israeli Democracy Under Stress

Israeli Democracy Under Stress PDF Author: Ehud Sprinzak
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Pub
ISBN: 9781555873806
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
This work examines the crisis of Israeli politics in the 1990s, exploring the increasing ungovernability of the Jewish state, its obsolete electoral system and cynical coalition politics, its overburdened judiciary, its stagnant economy, and related issues. The authors - while highly critical - present a comprehensive effort to provide a scholarly foundation for political reform in Israel.

Defining Israel

Defining Israel PDF Author: Simon Rabinovitch
Publisher: Hebrew Union College Press
ISBN: 0878201637
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Book Description
Defining Israel: The Jewish State, Democracy, and the Law is the first book in any language devoted to the controversial passage of Israel's nation-state law. Israel has no constitution, and though it calls itself the Jewish state there is no agreement among Israelis on how that fact should be reflected in the government's laws or by its courts. Since the 1990s a number of civil society groups and legislators have drafted constitutions and proposed Basic Laws with constitutional standing that would clarify what it means for Israel to be a "Jewish and democratic state." Are these bills liberal or chauvinist? Are they a defense of the Knesset or an attack on the independence of the courts? Is their intention democratic or anti-democratic? The fight over the nation-state law-whether to have one and what should be in it-toppled the 19th Knesset's governing coalition and, even after its passage on July 29, 2018, remains a point of contention among Israel's lawmakers and increasingly the Israeli public. Defining Israel brings together influential scholars, journalists, and politicians, observers and participants, opponents and proponents, Jews and Arabs, all debating the merits and meaning of Israel's nation-state law. Together with translations of each draft law, the final law, and other key documents, the essays and sources in Defining Israel are essential to understand the ongoing debate over what it means for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state.

National Security and Democracy in Israel

National Security and Democracy in Israel PDF Author: Avner Yaniv
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555873943
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
Contents.

Israel's Regime Untangled

Israel's Regime Untangled PDF Author: Gal Ariely
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108845258
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Book Description
An examination of the Israeli regime, looking at its diverse aspects in order to explore its democratic nature - or otherwise.

Building Democracy on Sand

Building Democracy on Sand PDF Author: Arye Carmon
Publisher: Hoover Press
ISBN: 0817923160
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
More than seven decades after the founding of Israel, the momentum to establish a Jewish state has led to remarkable achievements in the nation's “hardware”: stable structures in government, the military, and the economy. At the same time, the “operating system,” the guidelines that accommodate human diversity and enable coexistence, is still riddled with weaknesses. Arye Carmon diagnoses the critical vulnerabilities at the heart of Israeli democracy and the obstacles to forming a sustainable national consciousness. The author merges touching narratives about his own life in Israel with insightful ruminations on the Jewish diaspora and the arc of Israel's history, illuminating the conflicts between Jewish identities and between democratic values and the halacha—the collective body of Jewish religious laws.There is no consensus on the characteristics that define Israel as a state that is both Jewish and democratic. Rather, the struggle between a secular and a religious Jewish identity, amid voices promoting ethnocentric nationalism, threatens to sever the ties that strengthen democracy.This cultural fragility has far-reaching implications for Israeli institutions and deepens societal rifts. Israel lacks a constitution to bind its democracy and a bill of rights to safeguard the freedoms of its citizens, enable the inclusion of diverse outlooks and beliefs, and underpin the norms of its civil society.

Zionist Israel and the Question of Palestine

Zionist Israel and the Question of Palestine PDF Author: Tamar Amar-Dahl
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110495643
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 183

Book Description
After half a century of occupation and tremendous costs of the conflict, Israel is still struggling with the idea of a Palestinian state in what is often perceived as the Biblical Eretz Israel. Mapping Zionism, enemy images, peace and war policies, as well as democracy within the Jewish State, the present study offers original insights into Israel’s role in this conflict. By analyzing Israeli history, politics and security-oriented political culture as it has been evolving from 1948 on, this book reveals the ideological and political structures of a Zionist-oriented state and society. In doing so, it uncovers the abyss between the Zionist vision of Eretz Israel on the one hand and the aspiration to achieve normalization, peace and security on the other. In view of this conflict-laden bi-national reality, the Palestinian question is identified as the Achilles‘ heel of Jewish statehood in the Land of Israel. Thus, Zionist Israel and the Question of Palestine provides a fresh, innovative, critical and yet accessible perspective on one of the most controversial issues in contemporary history.