Israel's democracy at fifty: From resilience to residue?

Abstract

Israel possesses a strong democratic tradition, and one that predates the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. Universal suffrage, freely contested elections, freedom of the press, of assembly and association are hallmarks of a pluralism that proliferates throughout a political landscape that sets Israel apart from the more draconian systems of its Arab neighbours. Even so, the June 1967 war and the capture of the Occupied Territories marked a watershed in the democratic development of the Jewish state. Aside from the normative concerns over occupying another people's land, the recrudescence of religious‐inspired nationalism, as well as the extent to which Judaic piety should determine national identity, have radicalized cleavages over ethnicity and religion that have long informed Zionist discourse. In exploring these issues, this account concludes that present trends in Israel suggest a slow erosion of its democratic culture, not least because its very identity as a Jewish state, and therefore the legitimacy of what Israel can and should lay claim to be, has become a contested issue among Israelis themselves.