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The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies: Citizenship, Rights, and Ethnic Conflicts in India and Israel
In this book, Harel-Shalev analyzes public policy and governmental features in procedurally democratic states that govern deeply divided societies. The book traces the political formula that enables such states to survive while sustaining a democratic process in the face of religious, ethnic, and national conflicts. It investigates citizenship discourses, analyzes the mechanisms political regimes use to give rights to minorities while simultaneously limiting their power, and illustrates how this unique political formula can be applied in two case studies of vastly different countries-Israel and India. The analogous conflicts in India and Israel that threaten the survival of democracy-the ethno-religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims in India and the ethno-national conflict between Jews and Arab-Palestinians in Israel-are analyzed in depth. In addition, the core cases of India and Israel, states in which democracy has survived for over sixty years, are compared with two additional countries where democracy was short-lived.
This issue is especially pertinent to the world today, as many young nations currently in the process of state building are coping with the challenges inherent in building democratic institutions in plural and polarized societies. The book explores the inherent tension between the conflicting logics of democracy, citizenship, and nation-state, and suggests enhanced tools for investigating societies in which this tension exists.
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The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies: Citizenship, Rights, and Ethnic Conflicts in India and Israel
In this book, Harel-Shalev analyzes public policy and governmental features in procedurally democratic states that govern deeply divided societies. The book traces the political formula that enables such states to survive while sustaining a democratic process in the face of religious, ethnic, and national conflicts. It investigates citizenship discourses, analyzes the mechanisms political regimes use to give rights to minorities while simultaneously limiting their power, and illustrates how this unique political formula can be applied in two case studies of vastly different countries-Israel and India. The analogous conflicts in India and Israel that threaten the survival of democracy-the ethno-religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims in India and the ethno-national conflict between Jews and Arab-Palestinians in Israel-are analyzed in depth. In addition, the core cases of India and Israel, states in which democracy has survived for over sixty years, are compared with two additional countries where democracy was short-lived.
This issue is especially pertinent to the world today, as many young nations currently in the process of state building are coping with the challenges inherent in building democratic institutions in plural and polarized societies. The book explores the inherent tension between the conflicting logics of democracy, citizenship, and nation-state, and suggests enhanced tools for investigating societies in which this tension exists.
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The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies: Citizenship, Rights, and Ethnic Conflicts in India and Israel

The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies: Citizenship, Rights, and Ethnic Conflicts in India and Israel

by Ayelet Harel-Shalev
The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies: Citizenship, Rights, and Ethnic Conflicts in India and Israel

The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies: Citizenship, Rights, and Ethnic Conflicts in India and Israel

by Ayelet Harel-Shalev

Overview

In this book, Harel-Shalev analyzes public policy and governmental features in procedurally democratic states that govern deeply divided societies. The book traces the political formula that enables such states to survive while sustaining a democratic process in the face of religious, ethnic, and national conflicts. It investigates citizenship discourses, analyzes the mechanisms political regimes use to give rights to minorities while simultaneously limiting their power, and illustrates how this unique political formula can be applied in two case studies of vastly different countries-Israel and India. The analogous conflicts in India and Israel that threaten the survival of democracy-the ethno-religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims in India and the ethno-national conflict between Jews and Arab-Palestinians in Israel-are analyzed in depth. In addition, the core cases of India and Israel, states in which democracy has survived for over sixty years, are compared with two additional countries where democracy was short-lived.
This issue is especially pertinent to the world today, as many young nations currently in the process of state building are coping with the challenges inherent in building democratic institutions in plural and polarized societies. The book explores the inherent tension between the conflicting logics of democracy, citizenship, and nation-state, and suggests enhanced tools for investigating societies in which this tension exists.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780739126844
Publisher: Lexington Books
Publication date: 08/04/2010
Series: Studies in Public Policy
Pages: 514
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Ayelet Harel-Shalev is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Part I A Conceptual Framework

1 Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies: Theoretical and Comparative Aspects 3

Part II Disaggregating Citizenship in Deeply Divided Societies - Empirical and Analytical Findings

2 The Formative Years-A Base to Majority-Minority Relations in Deeply Divided Societies 49

3 Public and Judicial Policy Toward the Minority Throughout Sixty Years of Independence 143

4 Placing the Comparison in a Broader Context-Democracies That Did Not Survive 379

Part III Comparative and Theoretical Findings

5 Conclusions-The Fate of Democracy In Deeply Divided Societies 399

Bibliography 455

Index 489

About the Author 499

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