Between neo-revisionist neoclassical realism and pragmatism. The foreign policy of the Likud party under Benjamin Netanyahu

Abstract

Neo-revisionism is a term proposed by Ilan Peleg and Paul Shaum for the philosophy originated by Menachem Begin in 1977 and kept by Yitzhak Shamir and Benjamin Netanyahu. It invokes Vladimir Jabotinski’s revisionism with a strong emphasis on state-centrism, bilateral alliances, power and territory. The foreign policy of the Likud leaders showed that a postulated ideological hard-line stand is far from political reality and is closer to a pragmatic interpretation of state’s surrounding. The author will try to examine the relation between ideology and pragmatism in the Likud’s policy. It will also be shown in the light of neoclassical realism – close to neo-revisionism – by the examples of power, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, non-state representatives but also in the light of pragmatism. The overview of the Likud’s policy is divided between ideologised aspects of securing the self-interest of the state, Israeli raison d'état, acting against Arab states’ ambitions and securing the territory as a strategic depth and between pragmatic decisions like Begin’s peace treaty with Egypt and returning the Sinai, Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal of the settlements from the Gaza Strip or the freezing of settlement by Benjamin Netanyahu.