Ehud Sprinzak Research Articles

From Extremism to Terrorism: The Radicalisation of the Far Right in Italy and West Germany

Since the 1960s in Italy and Germany the notion has prevailed that ‘the state’ has given support to right-wing terrorism. This article challenges such views by examining the internal dynamics of right-wing terrorism in both countries with reference to Ehud Sprinzak's theory of ‘split delegitimisation’. To explain the different scale of Italian and West German terrorism one must analyse personnel continuities, the nature of the perceived ‘communist threat’, as well as the national political culture. Thus, without neglecting state support for the far right, this article emphasises how the internal dynamics of terrorist groups respond to political and social frameworks. Only if we acknowledge that right-wing terrorist groups possess their own agency can we fully understand their development. This is even more urgent in a time when – once again – the far right is on the rise in Europe.

State Legitimacy and Terrorism

Studies that focus on the causes of terrorism often overlook the issue of legitimacy. Ehud Sprinzak first spoke about the relationship between legitimacy and terrorism to explain why mobilized groups transition from political opposition movements to terrorism. This study advances upon this analysis by assessing the relationship between a state's legitimacy and the occurrence of domestic terrorism. The data suggest that legitimacy is a robust predictor of terrorism and merits further investigation as a causal variable.

The Disintegration of the British Empire and the Nationalist Cases of India and Israel: A Comparative AnalysisAllon Gal is Professor Emeritus of Modern Jewish History, and Co-Chairperson of the English-Speaking Countries Programme, Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Isaac Lubelsky teaches Modern Indian History at Tel Aviv University, Israel. This article is partly based on a paper presented by Professor Gal at the

The states of India and Israel gained independence in August 1947 and May 1948 respectively. Both pre-state communities were under British rule before independence, India for some two hundred years...

Trial and Error: Electoral Reform through Bypass and its Repeal

‘The second republic’ is how Asher Arian defined Israel's government in the 1990s, referring to the ‘new issues, new constitutional rules, new leadership’ that emerged at the beginning of that era....

Vigilantes on the High Seas?: The Sea Shepherds and Political Violence

Defining terrorism and explaining how it occurs remains a contentious issue. This article attempts to generate new understandings on these topics by applying the work of Ehud Sprinzak's delegitimatization model to the Sea Shepherds. Evidence presented in the article suggests that the Sea Shepherd's present level of political violence passed through gradual phases. In this respect, it is possible to suggest that Sprinzak's model has applicability for maritime organizations, as well as terrestrial based groups. However, we also note that on the one hand, it may be possible to argue that in some respects the Sea Shepherds may constitute either a “blind spot” in the literature on terrorism and political violence, because its actions could in some circumstances be considered activism, militant direct action, piracy, vigilantism, terrorism, or eco-defense, which makes it very difficult to classify. On the other hand, that both the Sea Shepherds and the whalers may both engage in illegal activities, but are not prosecuted, may indicate that states and the international community may have neither the will nor the means to enforce laws against them. Therefore, they may be turning a blind eye to their actions. Throughout the article we maintain that the Sea Shepherds constitute an example of a gray area phenomenon. Despite the ambiguity surrounding their legal status and academic interpretations of their actions, the results of nearly three decades of the organization's activities, including its 2007 campaign to disrupt Japanese Antarctic Whaling, suggest that the Sea Shepherds may be best categorized as a vigilante group, because they claim they are seeking to enforce a legal status quo because of states' and the international community's inabilities or unwillingness to do so.

The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

Introduction: the writing was on the wall Yoram Peri Part I. The Road to Rabin Square: 1. The assassination: causes, meaning, outcomes Yoram Peri 2. One more political murder by Jews Nachman Ben-Yehuda 3. Israel's radical right and the countdown to the Rabin assassination Ehud Sprinzak 4. Self-destructive processes in Israeli politics Israel Orbach Part II. The Public Reaction: 5. 'Let us search our path': religious Zionism after the assassination Aviezer Ravitzky 6. An illusion of belonging: reactions of the Arab population to Rabin's assassination Majid Al-Haj 7. The media and the Rabin myth: reconstruction of the Israeli collective identity Yoram Peri Part III. The Grief and the Mourning: 8. The many voices of Israeli youth: multiple interpretations of Rabin's assassination Tamar Rapoport 9. Rabin's burial ground: revisiting the Zionist myth Haim Hazan 10. The cultural and social construction of mourning patterns Eliezer Witztum and Ruth Malkinson 11. Rhetoric on the roads of Israel: the assassination and political bumper stickers Linda-Renee Bloch 12. The past in our present: the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and John F. Kennedy Barbie Zelizer Part IV. The Ongoing Crisis of Legitimacy: 13. The latitude of acceptance: Israelis' attitudes toward political protest before and after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin Tamar Hermann and Ephraim Yuchtman-Yaar 14. At the last moment Gadi Yatziv 15. Rabin: between commemoration and denial Yoram Peri Index.

Book Reviews

Middle East PolicyVolume 7, Issue 3 p. 176-200 Book Reviews First published: 16 October 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4967.2000.tb00173.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article: REVIEW ESSAY: Israeli National Security: A New Conceptualization The Sword and the Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defense Force, by Martin Van Creveld. Knives, Tanks and Missles: Israel's Security Revolution, by Eliot A. Cohen, Michael Eisenstadt and A.J. Bacevich. Israel and the Bomb, by Avner Cohen. Rabin and Israel's National Security, by Efraim Inbar. National Security: The Israeli Experience, by Yisrael Tal Brother Against Brother: Violence and Extremism in Israeli Politics from Altalena to the Rabin Assassination, by Ehud Sprinzak. The Transformation of Palestinian Politics: From Revolution to State-Building, by Barry Rubin. Separate and Unequal: The Inside Story of Israeli Rule in East Jerusalem, by Amir S. Chesin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed. Islamic Politics in Palestine, by Beverly Milton-Edwards. Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege, by Amira Hass. New York: The Israeli-Syrian Peace Talks: 1991-96 and Beyond, by Helena Cobban. Bring Down the Walls. Lebanon's Post-War Challenge, by Carole H. Dagher. Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia, by Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac. Volume7, Issue3June 2000Pages 176-200 RelatedInformation

Right wing violence in North America

This article offers a typology of radical right wing movements which emphasizes their roles in what may be termed an oppositional community. The examination stresses both their interdependence through the application of Colin Campbell's theory of the cultic milieu and the movements’ isolation from the American cultural mainstream, a graphic picture of which is provided via Martin Marty's mapping theory. Secondarily, the article offers some suggestions for the further refinement of Ehud Sprinzak's theory of split delegitimization.

Background to a Massacre: The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right. . Ehud Sprinzak.

Background to a Massacre: The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right. . Ehud Sprinzak.

Whither Israel?: the domestic challenges

The nature of Israeli politics and society, Joel Peters. Part I - Challenges and reform: Zionism into its second century - a stock-taking, Mordechai Bar-On the problem of systematic reform, Yizhak Klein the Israeli economy in the 1990s - breakout or breakdown, Pinchas Landau. Part II- The Israeli political system: the Isreali political system - a profile, Itzhak Galnoor the Israeli left, Emanuel Gutman the Isdraeli right, Ehud Sprinzak strategies of mobilsation among the Arabs in Israel, Majid Al-Haj. Part III - Issues in Israeli society: Jewish ethnicty in Israel, Sammy Smooha the ultra-orthodox and Israeli society, Menachem Freidman the place of women in Israeli society, Juliet J. Pope civil-military relations. Questions for the future, Keith Kyle Appendix A - the elction result of 23rd June 1992 Appendix B - the current Israeli government.

The Global Imperative

Essay| January 01 1994 The Global Imperative: Building a Democratic World Order Larry Diamond Larry Diamond Larry Diamond is a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and coeditor of the Journal of Democracy. He recently edited Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries and, with Ehud Sprinzak, Israeli Democracy under Stress (both Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1993), and also The Global Resurgence of Democracy and Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, both with Marc F. Plattner (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992 and 1993). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Current History (1994) 93 (579): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1994.93.579.1 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Larry Diamond; The Global Imperative: Building a Democratic World Order. Current History 1 January 1994; 93 (579): 1–7. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1994.93.579.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCurrent History Search This content is only available via PDF. © 1994 by The Regents of the University of California1994 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Whither Israel? The Domestic Challenges

The nature of Israeli politics and society, Joel Peters. Part I - Challenges and reform: Zionism into its second century - a stock-taking, Mordechai Bar-On the problem of systematic reform, Yizhak Klein the Israeli economy in the 1990s - breakout or breakdown, Pinchas Landau. Part II- The Israeli political system: the Isreali political system - a profile, Itzhak Galnoor the Israeli left, Emanuel Gutman the Isdraeli right, Ehud Sprinzak strategies of mobilsation among the Arabs in Israel, Majid Al-Haj. Part III - Issues in Israeli society: Jewish ethnicty in Israel, Sammy Smooha the ultra-orthodox and Israeli society, Menachem Freidman the place of women in Israeli society, Juliet J. Pope civil-military relations. Questions for the future, Keith Kyle Appendix A - the elction result of 23rd June 1992 Appendix B - the current Israeli government.

Jewish Fundamentalism in Comparative Perspective: Religion, Ideology, and the Crisis of Modernity

In recent decades, religious fundamentalism has played an increasingly significant role in Western and Middle Eastern politics and culture. In this volume, an international group of scholars from fields such as religious studies, sociology, political science, history, and anthropology explore diverse dimensions of religious fundamentalism and relate it to a range of cultural and political issues. Although the focus is on fundamentalism in its Jewish guise, the methodological and comparative emphases make it valuable to specialists in a variety of fields. Among the issues examined are: the characteristics that link fundamentalist movements within various religious traditions; the study of fundamentalist motifs as they appear specifically in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (and whether or not this is a useful approach); the relationship between religion and modernity; the impact of fundamentalism on the Arab-Israeli conflict; and the interaction of modern Jewish fundamentalist movements with traditional Judaism. The book also provides important insights into the emergence of religious fundamentalism as a powerful social and political force in Jewish life, particularly in Israel. Contributing to the volume are: Gerald Cromer (Bar-Ilan Univ.), Menachem Friedman (Bar-Ilan Univ.), Susan Harding (Univ. of California, Santa Cruz), James Davison Hunter (Univ. of Virginia), Aaron Kirschenbaum (Tel Aviv University), Hava Larazus-Yafeh (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem), Ian Lustick (Univ. of Pennsylvania), Alan Mittleman (Muhlenberg College), James Piscatori (Univ. College of Wales), Elie Rekhess (Tel Aviv Univ.), Laurence J. Silberstein (Lehigh Univ.), and Ehud Sprinzak (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem).

Israeli Democracy under Stress: Ehud Sprinzak and Larry Diamond, editors

Israeli Democracy under Stress: Ehud Sprinzak and Larry Diamond, editors

The Political Cultures of Israel's Radical Right: Commentary on Ehud Sprinzak's The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right∗

(1993). The Political Cultures of Israel's Radical Right: Commentary on Ehud Sprinzak's The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right. Terrorism and Political Violence: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 132-159.

Origins of terrorism: psychologies, ideologies, theologies, states of mind

Contents: Foreword Walter Laqueur Preface Walter Reich Introduction Walter Reich Part I. Strategy or psychology?: Origins of terrorist behavior 1 The logic of terrorism: Terrorist behavior as a product of strategic choice Martha Crenshaw 2 Terrorist psycho-logic: Terrorist behavior as a product of psychological forces Jerrold M. Post Part II. Varieties of terrorism: Ideological and religious motivations 3 Ideology and rebellion: Terrorism in West Germany Konrad Kellen 4 Ideology and repentance: Terrorism in Italy Franco Ferracuti 5 The psychopolitical formation of extreme left terrorism in a democracy: The case of the Weathermen Ehud Sprinzak 6 Terrorism in democracies: Its social and political bases Ted Robert Gurr 7 Sacred terror: A contemporary example from Islam David C. Rapoport 8 The moral logic of Hizballah Martin Kramer Part III. States of mind: How do terrorists think? Which psychological mechanisms enable them to do what they do? 9 Mechanisms of moral disengagement Albert Bandura 10 The readiness to kill and die: Suicidal terrorism in the Middle East Ariel Merari Part IV. Responding to terrorism: Decision making and the pressures on leadership 11 Hostage taking, the presidency, and stress Margaret G. Hermann Charles F. Hermann 12 Taking vows: The domestication of policy-making in hostage incidents Gary Sick Part V. The psychology of terrorism: What can we know? What must we learn? 13 Questions to be answered, research to be done, knowledge to be applied Martha Crenshaw 14 Understanding terrorist behavior: The limits and opportunities of psychological inquiry Walter Reich About the editor and contributors Index

Israeli national security policy: political actors and perspectives

Israeli National Security Policy: Issues and Actors by Bernard Reich The Foreign Policy of the Labor Party by Gershon R. Kieval The Foreign Policy of Herut and the Likud by Ilan Peleg The Ethnic Factor in Israel's Foreign Policy by Maurice M. Roumani The Religious Parties and Israel's Foreign Policy by Stewart Reiser Extremist Inputsinto Israel's Foreign Policy: The Case of Gush Emunim by Ehud Sprinzak Tehiya as a Permanent Nationalist Phenomenon by Aaron D. Rosenbaum Israeli Public Opinion on Peace Issues by Gloria H. Falk Coping with Turbulence: The First Two Years of the National Unity Government under Peres by Marver H. Bernstein Selected Bibliography by Joseph Helman Index