Government and Politics in Israel:
Basic Overview
Dr. Maoz Rosenthal©
The Political Science Department
Binghamton University (SUNY)
Government and Politics in Israel
• PLS 389N- JUST 386B Fall 2011 (An
undergraduate intermediate level course)
• Professor: Dr. Maoz Rosenthal
• Email: mrosen@binghamton.edu
• Office: LNG 90
• Phone: 607-777-3260
• Class Meeting: MWF 8:30-9:30
• Class Location: SL 210
• Office Hours: M 10:00-12:00
Course Structure
Israel’s Public Opinion and Social
Cleavages
The challengers:
1. Israel is an ethnic democracy
(Smooha)
2. Israel is an ethnocracy (Peled,
Shafir, Yiftachel, Ghanem)
Political Players: Political parties
The course main question:
Is Israel a democracy?
Israel: Liberal contested
democracy (Dowty) becoming
minimal with an increasing crisis of
governance
Political Institutions: (non)
Constitution, Courts, Electoral
Method (and behavior), Parliament
What is the value of studying a
case of a distant and different
country? (Gerring)
Political Coalitions and Policy:
Israel’s Crisis of Governance
What do we need to do?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The final grade will be divided as follows:
15% Participation
20% Critical Reading 1
20% Critical Reading 2
20% Group Project
25% Final Exam
These are the dates of the assignments' submission:
September 30th Critical Reading Assignment No. 1
November 11th Critical Reading Assignment No. 2
December 2nd Group Project
Dates of submission are final and any delay in submission not
prearranged with me will yield a zero grade for the assignment.
Critical Reading
• Choose one of the research papers (NOT BOOK
CHAPTERS) studied by that point of the course in which
submission is due.
• Present its main research problem and the way it studies
that problem.
• If it is a quantitative empirical paper, present its research
question, concepts, measurement, hypotheses and
findings.
• If it is a qualitative paper present its main themes,
narrative, method of analysis and insights.
• If it is a theoretical deductive paper present its main
concepts, axioms and hypotheses.
Critical Reading
• Propose a critique of that paper with
respect to one of the following:
• Its theoretical assumptions to the problem
and question.
• The concepts it uses.
• The way it measures/interprets/analyzes
these concepts.
• The way the results of analysis are
interpreted.
Group Project
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
By October 15th five groups will submit a list of names of group members.
Make sure you belong to one of the groups beforehand, or else people will
be randomly assigned.
Each group will simulate the strategic setting of a party leadership with
accordance to the following division:
Group A- a Center party
Group B- A Center-Right party
Group C- A Center-Left party
Group D- An Extreme-Right party
Group E- An Extreme-Left party
Group Project
• By December 2nd each group will submit a strategic report, based on
the readings and lectures, for 'its' party stating:
• The potential voters' social composition and economic status.
• The potential voters' policy positions on all relevant policy
dimensions.
• The policy that should be declared by the party in its pre-electoral
platform.
• The way its potential voters should be mobilized on Election Day.
• The implications this strategy will have on the coalitions the party
can join to.
Participation
Active participation should be based on contribution to
class discussion on the basis of reading the relevant
reading items, and other related scholarly work you are
familiar with. In order to receive participation credit for a
meeting at the end of each lesson you should be able to
present at least one academic well-based discussion
point you contributed in the meeting. If I approve that
then I will sign it. If at the end of the semester you will
have 11-15 of those then you will have the full
participation grade. If you will have 10-6 then you will
have two-thirds of the grade and 5-1 then you will have a
third of the grade. Should you decide not to participate
that part of the grade is lost.
The Final Exam
• The final exam will be based on two essay questions.
Questions would be based on the following form:
• Some claim that electoral rules affect the level of
representation in political institutions and the way they
function.
• Present and explain three characteristics of electoral
systems that affect the level of representation in
parliament. Illustrate the characteristics' affect on
representation using the Israeli case.
• Present and explain two characteristics of electoral
systems that affect the way coalitions function in
multiparty parliaments. Illustrate the characteristics'
affect on coalitions using the Israeli case.
General Basic Facts
• Some facts (CIA world factbook and Central Bureau of
Statistics):
• Population: 7,695,000 (little less than New Jersey
little more than Massachusetts) Jewish 75.4%, Arabs
20.4% and 4.2% ‘others’
• Area- total: 20,770 sq km (slightly smaller than New
Jersey and almost half of the Netherlands ).
• GDP (per capita)-$28,170 (2007 est.), government
annual budget about- $53.63 billion (2007 est.)
• An OECD member with an observer country status at the
EU’s parliament.
Political Basic Premises
• Israel does not have a formal constitution.
• The constitutional system is based on a group of basic
laws (still not completed), regular laws, bureaucratic
decisions and court rulings, all developing incrementally.
• Basic cleavages that divide and define the political
system: Arab-Israeli conflict, State and Religion,
Ashkeanzi-Mizrachi controversy, Social-Economic.
• Increasingly overlapping cleavages: Arab-Israeli conflict
and State and Religion.
• A contested liberal democracy: Ethnocracy? Ethnic
democracy? A ‘Stained’ liberal democracy’?
The Political System: Elections
• A multiparty parliamentary democracy.
• The country is a single electoral district which
elects (from the age of 18) pre-determined party
lists to the Knesset (parliament).
• Influence on party lists is determined by parties’
internal election methods.
• In order to enter the 120seats Knesset the party
lists need to pass a 2% threshold.
• Beyond the threshold lists receive seats based
on their votes’ share.
The Knesset in Action
• The Knesset is a 120 seats unicameral
parliament.
• The usual Plenary Meeting:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUodfl7
OHcM
• A committee meeting:
• http://www.youtube.com/user/KnessetForu
m?blend=24&ob=5
• A stormy meeting:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBErCB
F2grM
Some Figures
• Number of eligible voters to the 18th
Knesset: 5,278,985
• Number of voters: 3,373,490 (64%)
• Electoral threshold: 67,470 (2%)
• Votes per seat (mandate): 27,246
• Do people vote?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du0JLO
kAMws
Electoral turnout on national elections about
75% (fluctuates around that figure)
The Political System: Coalitions
• The Knesset elects the government.
• The government is formed by the leader of one
of the large factions who received an approval
by the state’s President ( a symbolic figure) to
negotiate other factions for forming a coalition.
• The President selects a PM:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHXEe8ymkz
s&feature=related
• Election Outcomes throughout the years:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKw_QJTEErI&f
eature=related
The Political System: Coalitions
• If the leader of the largest faction cannot
raise a coalition, permission is given to the
next faction with the highest likelihood to
raise a coalition.
• If these attempts fail the Knesset will go to
new elections.
The Political System: Coalitions
• The logic of coalition formation in multiparty parliaments is
based on ideological compromises vis-à-vis’ transferable
payoffs: membership and leadership of Knesset committees,
government portfolios and pre-commitments to budget specific
policies.
• Thus- those located at the middle need to make the least
compromises so as to enter the government.
• Those at the extremes will need high compensation for entry.
• Basically, as factions’ status inside the coalition is more
senior, the higher would be their payoffs.
• However, parties which have a credible threat power to switch
between coalitions can maximize their payoffs from the
bargaining process.
Coalitions and Parties
• Overall, parties which are more cohesive
as factions, can maneuver collectively and
receive higher payoffs (The German
Bundestag).
• Non cohesive parties dismantle and
cannot enforce coalitional agreements on
their members (Italian Parliament).
The Government
• After the coalition is formed it needs to
receive the Knesset’s approval (vote of
investiture) so as to start its reign.
• Once elected by the Knesset- as long as
the government does not lose the
confidence of 61 members of Knesset
(MK’s)- it can survive.
The Government
• From 2001 when a majority of 61 MK’s votes noconfidence against the government, it needs to
appoint one of its members as the potential head of
a new coalition (constructive vote of no-confidence).
• This starts the coalition formation process again.
• If the process fails new elections are called.
• If the Prime Minister resigns (or is declared as unfit
to rule due to illness etc.) this also initiates the same
process.
Some Figures
• Number of governments in Israel’s 63 years:
32.
• Number of PM’s: 12
• Average number of government portfolios: 20
• Number of Knessets: 18
• Average number of factions at the Knesset’s
term beginning: 12 (minimum 9 maximum: 15)
• Average number of factions at the term’s end:
16 (minimum: 11 maximum: 24)
32 Governments and
18 Parliaments in 63 Years
Policy Making
• The Prime Minister leads the policy
making processes in the government.
• These processes are based on the
coalition formation policy guidelines.
• Thus, they should be based on a process
of deliberation and consensus where the
PM is first among equals.
• As elections are near they are based on
conflict and dispute.
• Since elections are frequently near…
Policy Making
• Policy making is restricted by the government’s
budget (decided by government and Knesset
and enforced by the Treasury), Knesset’s
approval, bureaucratic implementation and
judicial review.
• There is an increasing influence of civil society
on policy making processes but the main locus
of power is in the hands of the government
(some say the treasury).
• In academic parlance: too many and powerful
veto players, too weak and few agenda setters.
A Comparative Perspective
• US Presidential system: full division of
powers, complete term in office (unless
the very rare impeachment), bargaining
between the White House and Congress
(two chambers), two large (and weak)
parties.
• Westminster model: A decisive PM leading
her party and government, two strong
parties, one effective chamber, no need
for inter-party coalitions, regional firstpass-the-post elections.
A Comparative Perspective
• Semi-Presidential systems (France):
President elected directly, PM by the
parliament; unless cohabitation the
president is decisive, regional first-passthe-post elections, few dominant parties.
• Germany: PM elected by a few strong
parties’ parliament, high electoral
threshold, constructive vote of noconfidence.
Conclusion
• The political system in
Israel is highly
representative, highly
unstable, offers many
obstacles in policy
making and allows
governments only to
survive somehow.
• Not a problem when no
crisis is on hand but in
Israel…