The Crisis of Israel's Democracy, 1948-2025: Origins, Developments, and Consequences

by Ilan Peleg, Ruth Amir

Overview

The Crisis of Israel's Democracy, 1948 - 2025: Origins, Developments, and Consequences focuses on Israeli democracy, its deep historical origins, development over seven decades, long-term consequences, and possible resolutions. While most commentaries on Israel's crisis focus on the proposals for judicial reform by the Netanyahu government, this study focuses on what it identifies as the fundamental problems of the Israeli regime-its ethnonational (rather than liberal-democratic) form, its lack of a written constitution undermines the country's deeply divided society, the greatly dysfunctional relations between the secular majority and the sizeable Orthodox minority, and above all the seemingly permanent occupation of the Palestinian-inhabited West Bank. Peleg and Amir offer a broad perspective on these causes, covering the historical failures of the country's founders, an analysis of Israel's constitutional order and regime type, commentary on sociopolitical cleavages and the dominant social psychology of Israelis, and analysis of the charismatic populism of longtime Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The volume concludes with analyzing future scenarios and possible solutions for Israel's democratic crisis. The Crisis of Israel's Democracy offers the most comprehensive analysis of Israel's democratic backsliding to date, comparing it to similar worldwide processes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666977127
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/21/2025
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ilan Peleg is professor at Lafayette College, where he chaired the Department of Government and Law, the International Affairs Program, and the Jewish Studies Program.
Ruth Amir chairs the department of multidisciplinary social sciences at Max Stern Yezreel Vally College.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Only Democracy in the Middle East? The Theoretical Debate over Israel's Regime Type
Chapter 2: The Historical Failures of the Founders
Chapter 3: Constitutional Analysis: The Critical Linkage between the Absence of a Constitution
Chapter 4: The Tribes of Israel: A Socio-Political Overview
Chapter 5: The Social Psychology of Israelis: The Victory of the Victimhood Narrative
Chapter 6: Charismatic Populism and Democratic Decline in Modern Israel: The Rise of Benjamin Netanyahu
Chapter 7: The Uncertain Future of Israel: Critical Issues and Possible Solutions

Editorial Reviews

The Crisis of Israel's Democracy, 1948-2025: Origins, Developments, and Consequences is a scholarly analysis of the flawed Israeli-Jewish democracy and its present constitutional crisis. Peleg and Amir highlight the importance of ending the occupation and adopting a full-fledged written constitution to bolster democratic norms in Israel. This is an important study that would benefit scholars, students, and everyone interested in democratic studies in general and in the special case of Israel in particular.” —Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Israel

“The Crisis of Israel's Democracy, 1948-2025: Origins, Developments, and Consequences is a landmark work in the study of modern Israel. Peleg and Amir put the well-documented recent decline of Israeli democracy, very persuasively, in the broader historical perspective of fateful earlier choices and the broader comparative context of global democratic backsliding, while providing a compelling portrait of the key role of Benjamin Netanyahu. Their comprehensive overview also offers definitive treatments of the impact of the post-1967 occupation, the problematic status of religious authority , and the scars of victimhood. This incisive analysis should be read by anyone with a personal or professional interest in Israel's current direction.” —Alan Dowty, Past President, Association for Israel Studies, Israel

“Dr. Ilan Peleg and Dr. Ruth Amir's The Crisis of Israel's Democracy, 1948-2025: Origins, Developments, and Consequences is a must read for any student, scholar, or policymaker interested in better understanding the crisis of Israeli democracy, and democratic backsliding more broadly. The book is a tour de force of interdisciplinarity, adroitly using a variety of lenses through which to understand the variety of cleavages and conflicts that fissure Israeli political culture. Topics range from Netanyahu's populist nationalism, to the social psychology of Israelis victimhood narrative, to the dysfunctional relations between the country's religious minority and secular majority, and the long-standing occupation of the West Bank and wars with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Dr. Peleg and Dr. Amir frame the book as “an invitation for conversation,” and it is a conversation that is urgently needed in israel, and indeed in many democracies in crises around the world.” —Yael Aronoff, Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel, Michigan State University, USA

“This book touches on the most pressing problem in Israel today: the crisis of Israel's regime. Yes – the proposed judicial overhaul, and yes – the rush of the Netanyahu government to aggrandize executive power – but not just that. The deeper, fundamental social, institutional, and ideational flaws of Israel's regime are expertly exposed by the authors, who demonstrate effectively that a “Third Zionist Revolution” is needed to steer Israel onto the right track. The Crisis of Israel's Democracy, 1948-2025: Origins, Developments, and Consequences will be of value to those who care about Israel and the Palestinians alike.” —Oded Haklai, Queens University, Canada

From the Publisher