scholarly journals Israeli Politics

Author(s):  
Gideon Rahat ◽  
Avi Shilon

Israel is a parliamentary democracy that was established in 1948. However, the foundations of its political system were laid before the state was established, in the framework of the Zionist movement and the Jewish community in Palestine, especially at the time of the British Mandate (1920–1948). Israel is a multi-cleavage society. The main rift is between Jews (about 75 percent of the population, as of 2019) and Arab/Palestinian citizens (about 20 percent). Prominent rifts also exist among the Jews: the religious–secular rift, the intra-Jewish communal rift (Ashkenazi-Mizrachi), the ideological rift (left-right), and the rift between new and veteran immigrants and the natives. Partly as a result of the highly proportional electoral system, these social rifts are translated into multiparty politics and coalition governments.

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-306
Author(s):  
Samo Kropivnik ◽  
Simona Kustec Lipicer

In exploring the first two decades of evolution of political programmes applied for the electoral processes in Slovenia, a young European multiparty parliamentary democracy with a proportional electoral system and multiparty government coalitions, the article contributes to a rich tradition of studying the programmes of political parties as relevant narrators of the development of democratic systems and suggests an answer to ‘why do parties write manifestos?’ The main findings include the distinct issue emphasis of parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties’ manifestos and convergence in issue emphasis over time among parliamentary parties who go on to form coalition governments. Regarding the ‘why’, these and other findings indicate that the manifestos considered here are intended more for post-election purposes – in particular, for the formation of alliances and negotiating and running a coalition government – than for attracting voters in the pre-election period. Party programmes are seen more as self-intended tools for political struggle than as promoters or control mechanisms for the further development of the democratic political system.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 370-382
Author(s):  
Emir Galilee

This article is based on over a decade of field research among Bedouin tribes of the Negev as well as historical and geographical research. Its central argument is that the main social, cultural, and geographical processes within the Negev Bedouin groups are impacted by three major forces: nomadism and the social structure; formal Islam; and the rise of the modern state. This argument is illustrated by the geographical concept of “mental maps”, and its various manifestations in Bedouin society. The article focuses on the historical developments of the twentieth century, which took place alongside the rise of the Zionist movement and the establishment of the State of Israel.


Hadassah ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 119-136
Author(s):  
Mira Katzburg-Yungman

This chapter deals with the development of Zionist ideology and politics after the establishment of the State of Israel. In the months and years after May 1948, the American Jewish community underwent a process of re-evaluating its relationship with the Jewish community in what was now the State of Israel. In the American Jewish arena in general, and the American Zionist arena in particular, the establishment of the state raised various issues regarding the relationship between the two Jewish communities. Some were practical, such as the division of roles between the Jewish Agency and the government of Israel. Others were more theoretical. For instance, there was concern about dual loyalty; there was the fundamental question of the role of the Zionist movement, now that its primary goal had been achieved; there were debates about who was a Zionist. Other dilemmas arose as time passed.


1999 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Ingo Von Münch

In September and October 1998 Professor von Münch was a visiting fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Public Law.  During an extremely busy visit, Professor von Münch gave a number of seminars on aspects of German Constitutional and Electoral Law.  These seminars, given by both a leading Constitutional and Electoral Law academic and a former deputy prime minister of the State of Hamburg and former member of the Bundesrat, or German Senate, were timely given the trials and tribulations of New Zealand's first MMP Coalition Government which had then just ended in the sacking of the minor party's leader as Deputy Prime Minister.  In contrast to much of the contemporary gloom at the perceived failed hope of MMP, Professor von Münch presented a hopeful view of both the electoral system that New Zealand had imported from Germany and of the possibilities of Coalition Government. The following is an enlarged text of a speech, delivered to the Public Law section of the New Zealand Ministry of Justice.


Author(s):  
N. M. MAMEDOVA

About four decades Iran has been under Islamic ruling, a unique  system of state governing combining both secular society rules and  religious principles. While the contradictions between the clergy and  the republicans’ institutions may remain their internal affair, at the  same time they may become evident. The electoral system is one of  the fundamental principles of the state governing in Iran. The  changes in the ratio of Islamic principles and republicans’ rules  (laying behind the political course), depends on the political forces getting the majority in the state governing bodies following the  elections. Often these changes result in the form of mass protest. Notwithstanding the adjustments to the Iran’s state governance have been made, the system fundamentally has been operating within the scope of principles proclaimed by Imam Khomeini. The research  article studies the Iran’s political system distinctions as well as its  evolution triggered by the situation inside the country and the  external factors, that both act in different directions in respect to the modernization processes.


Moreana ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (Number 187- (1-2) ◽  
pp. 151-182
Author(s):  
Maarten M.K. Vermeir

In this study, we propose a new understanding, according to the principles of ‘humanistic interpretation’, of a fundamental layer of meaning in Utopia. In the work of Thomas More, major references can be found to the particular genesis and a crucial purpose of Utopia. Desiderius Erasmus arranged the acquaintance of Thomas More with Peter Giles, a key figure in the development of Erasmus as political thinker. More and Giles together in Antwerp (Giles’s home town), both jurists and humanists, would lay the foundation of Utopia. With this arranged contact, Erasmus handed over to More the knowledge of a particular political system - the earliest form of ‘parliamentary democracy’ in Early modern Europe - embedded in the political culture of the Duchy of Brabant and its constitution, named the ‘Joyous Entry’. We argue that Erasmus, through the indispensable politicalliterary skills of More in Utopia, intended to promote this political system as a new, political philosophy: applicable to all nations in the Respublica Christiana of Christian humanism. With reference to this genesis of Utopia in the text itself and its prefatory letters, we come to a clear recognition of Desiderius Erasmus in the figure of Raphael Hythlodaeus, the sailor who had discovered the ‘isle of Utopia’ and discoursed, as reported by More, about its ‘exemplary’ institutions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-63
Author(s):  
Ruth Roded

Beginning in the early 1970s, Jewish and Muslim feminists, tackled “oral law”—Mishna and Talmud, in Judaism, and the parallel Hadith and Fiqh in Islam, and several analogous methodologies were devised. A parallel case study of maintenance and rebellion of wives —mezonoteha, moredet al ba?ala; nafaqa al-mar?a and nush?z—in classical Jewish and Islamic oral law demonstrates similarities in content and discourse. Differences between the two, however, were found in the application of oral law to daily life, as reflected in “responsa”—piskei halacha and fatwas. In modern times, as the state became more involved in regulating maintenance and disobedience, and Jewish law was backed for the first time in history by a state, state policy and implementation were influenced by the political system and socioeconomic circumstances of the country. Despite their similar origin in oral law, maintenance and rebellion have divergent relevance to modern Jews and Muslims.


Author(s):  
Daria Kozlova

This article discusses the general characteristics of the electoral system of Kazakhstan by the example of elections of the President of the Republic, the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan and deputies of the Mazhilis. The features of dividing this system into majority and proportional are also disclosed. The article analyzes the features of the appointment and conduct of elections and the principles on which they are based. It is also shown how the active activity of the state in the field of legal education of young people and their familiarization with the electoral system affects the high participation rates of citizens in elections.


Author(s):  
Anatolii Petrovich Mykolaiets

It is noted that from the standpoint of sociology, “management — a function of organized systems of various nature — (technical, biological, social), which ensures the preservation of their structure, maintaining a certain state or transfer to another state, in accordance with the objective laws of the existence of this system, which implemented by a program or deliberately set aside”. Management is carried out through the influence of one subsystem-controlling, on the other-controlled, on the processes taking place in it with the help of information signals or administrative actions. It is proved that self-government allows all members of society or a separate association to fully express their will and interests, overcome alienation, effectively combat bureaucracy, and promote public self-realization of the individual. At the same time, wide direct participation in the management of insufficiently competent participants who are not responsible for their decisions, contradicts the social division of labor, reduces the effectiveness of management, complicates the rationalization of production. This can lead to the dominance of short-term interests over promising interests. Therefore, it is always important for society to find the optimal measure of a combination of self-management and professional management. It is determined that social representation acts, on the one hand, as the most important intermediary between the state and the population, the protection of social interests in a politically heterogeneous environment. On the other hand, it ensures the operation of a mechanism for correcting the political system, which makes it possible to correct previously adopted decisions in a legitimate way, without resorting to violence. It is proved that the system of social representation influences the most important political relations, promotes social integration, that is, the inclusion of various social groups and public associations in the political system. It is proposed to use the term “self-government” in relation to several levels of people’s association: the whole community — public self-government or self-government of the people, to individual regions or communities — local, to production management — production self-government. Traditionally, self-government is seen as an alternative to public administration. Ideology and practice of selfgovernment originate from the primitive, communal-tribal democracy. It is established that, in practice, centralization has become a “natural form of government”. In its pure form, centralization does not recognize the autonomy of places and even local life. It is characteristic of authoritarian regimes, but it is also widely used by democratic regimes, where they believe that political freedoms should be fixed only at the national level. It is determined that since the state has achieved certain sizes, it is impossible to abandon the admission of the existence of local authorities. Thus, deconcentration appears as one of the forms of centralization and as a cure for the excesses of the latter. Deconcentration assumes the presence of local bodies, which depend on the government functionally and in the order of subordination of their officials. The dependency of officials means that the leadership of local authorities is appointed by the central government and may be displaced.


Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Schupmann

Chapter 1 analyzes Schmitt’s assessment of democratic movements in Weimar and the gravity of their effects on the state and constitution. It emphasizes that the focus of Schmitt’s criticism of Weimar was mass democracy rather than liberalism. Schmitt warned that the combination of mass democracy, the interpenetration of state and society, and the emergence of total movements opposed to liberal democracy, namely the Nazis and the Communists, were destabilizing the Weimar state and constitution. Weimar, Schmitt argued, had been designed according to nineteenth century principles of legitimacy and understandings of the people. Under the pressure of mass democracy, the state was buckling and cannibalizing itself and its constitution. Despite this, Schmitt argued, Weimar jurists’ theoretical commitments left them largely unable to recognize the scope of what was occurring. Schmitt’s criticism of Weimar democracy was intended to raise awareness of how parliamentary democracy could be turned against the state and constitution.


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