Israeli Politics in the 1990s - (Contributions in Political Science) by Bernard Reich & Gershon R Kieval (Hardcover)

About the Book

What are the key factors that have transformed the Israeli political center and how will they shape Israel's role in the Middle East in the 1990s? Well-known experts join the editors, Reich and Kieval, in giving a unique picture of current and future trends in Israeli politics, focusing on the movement of the Israeli body politic to the right-of-center and the growing hold of Likud. They define future prospects, taking into account foreign policy, economic, and demographic issues. Academics, policymakers, and journalists will find this volume indispensable to understanding the critical role that Israel will play in the Middle East in the next decade and how domestic politics in Israel will define that role.

This survey of political developments by eleven authorities is based on a study of the latest events, on long reflection, and on two conferences that brought together sixty of the most knowledgeable experts on the Middle East today, drawn from the academic world and from various U.S. government departments and agencies. This analysis of political trends assesses Likud's centrality in the governmental system, the role of religious and settler movements, the linkage of domestic politics to the question of Arab-Israeli peace and the future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and demographic, attitudinal, and other factors that affect political leadership and decisionmaking. The influx of Jewish immigration to Israel from the Soviet Union is viewed in terms of future implications as well. A detailed bibliography is provided.

Book Synopsis

What are the key factors that have transformed the Israeli political center and how will they shape Israel's role in the Middle East in the 1990s? Well-known experts join the editors, Reich and Kieval, in giving a unique picture of current and future trends in Israeli politics, focusing on the movement of the Israeli body politic to the right-of-center and the growing hold of Likud. They define future prospects, taking into account foreign policy, economic, and demographic issues. Academics, policymakers, and journalists will find this volume indispensable to understanding the critical role that Israel will play in the Middle East in the next decade and how domestic politics in Israel will define that role.

This survey of political developments by eleven authorities is based on a study of the latest events, on long reflection, and on two conferences that brought together sixty of the most knowledgeable experts on the Middle East today, drawn from the academic world and from various U.S. government departments and agencies. This analysis of political trends assesses Likud's centrality in the governmental system, the role of religious and settler movements, the linkage of domestic politics to the question of Arab-Israeli peace and the future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and demographic, attitudinal, and other factors that affect political leadership and decisionmaking. The influx of Jewish immigration to Israel from the Soviet Union is viewed in terms of future implications as well. A detailed bibliography is provided.

About the Author

BERNARD REICH is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. He has written extensively on Israel and the Middle East. Recent works include the highly acclaimed Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: A Biographical Dictionary (Greenwood Press, 1990), Israeli National Security Policy (Greenwood, 1988)
and Quest for Peace: U.S.-Israeli Relations and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (1977). He has also served as a consultant to the government and to business and has advised on political risk and other matters.

GERSHON R. KIEVAL is Adjunct Professor of Political Science at George Washington University. He has lived and done research at length in the Middle East. Kieval is the author of Party Politics in Israel and the Occupied Territories (Greenwood, 1983) and author and co-editor of Israeli National Security Policy (Greenwood, 1988) and Israel Faces the Future (Praeger, 1986).