Israeli Politics

Résumé du document

From a European point of view, the Israeli political system considers the Fourth Republic in France the worst period. It was unable to resolve the Algerian insurrection because of the change of the government and the recent setbacks suffered in the attempts to build a viable coalition government in Belgium. The decision of the Knesset Constitution Committee, to start discussing a shift from straight proportional representation to a mixed system, in which a quarter of the Knesset is elected regionally, could imply a gradual move from the consensual democracy to the majority democracy. A consensus democracy may then be considered an ineffective way of governing Israel. While on one hand, a consensus democracy does not mean systematically political instability, on the other, we may wonder if this political system negatively affects the public policy making.

Extraits

[...] Israeli Politics 1. Thirty one coalition governments have been formed in the fifty nine years of Israel's statehood period. Does this phenomenon necessarily suggest political instability and ineffective public policy making? For an European point of view, the Israeli political system can remember the worst period of the Fourth Republic in France which was unable to resolve the Algerian insurrection because of the government turn over or the recent setbacks in order to build a viable coalition government in Belgium. [...]

[...] How deal with the particular interests? Consensus democracy embodies the idea that the exclusion of losing group or minorities from all decision-making is, in some basic sense, anti- democratic. The proportional representation guarantees a proliferation of parties and allows minority group such as the Ultra-Orthodox and the Arabs to gain direct representation in the Knesset in order to preserve their particular interests. The main problem with a coalition government, especially in Israel where the electoral threshold for entry into the Knesset is set at 2.5 since the end of 2007[2], is that the winner party of the election must find a compromise with smaller but necessary parties in order to build a coalition government. [...]

[...] The system prevents political instability. In 1958, the principle of proportionality was entrenched in the Basic law establishing the Knesset, which was made subject to amendment only by an absolute majority of Knesset members. Like most of the new States, Israel had the concern to represent all the democratic parties in the Knesset in order to strenghten the legitimacy of the new institutions. Contrary to other countries, Israel didn't move yet from a proportional representation system to a majoritarian representation system. [...]

[...] Bibliographie ASHER Arian, Politics in Israel, the Second Republic, second edition, Washington, CQ Press. DOWTY Alan, The Jewish State. A century later, University of California Press KIMMERLING Baruch, The Israeli State and society, boundaries and frontiers, NY, State University of New York Press. PERETZ Don and DORON Gideon, The government and politics of Israel, third edition, Westwiew Press. Haaretz, english version, Friday November 9th Before 1991, the threshold was set at the remarkably low level of then and now of the valid votes cast. [...]

[...] The political system is structured around two (or three) major parties. The stability of Ben Gourion's period doesn't correspond to the current political situation anymore. Nonetheless, the political system is not characterized by political instability since the same politicians (Perez, Rabin, Shamir, Sharon . ) lead the government or lead the more important ministries but with different partners. The same major parties lead the coalition: the Labor Party, the Likud or Kadima since its creation by Ariel Sharon. The only main difference is the partners of the coalition. [...]