Politics in Contemporary Israel

Описание: In this lecture, we think about key trends in contemporary Israeli party politics. We focus on: (i) the key argument in relation to Israel’s democratic character that it does have a party system and regular, peaceful transitions of power based on elections; (ii) the overall division of Israel’s electoral history into three periods, from the socialist Mapai era from 1948 until the 1970s, through the right-wing Likud dominance of the 1970s-90s, to a present system based on coalition governments; (iii) the decline in support for Mapai and Likud and rise of smaller parties which has precipitated this shift towards coalitions since the 1990s; (iv) the three main blocs in contemporary Israeli politics - a right-wing bloc led by Likud, the centre-left, and a Palestinian bloc; (v) the shift towards the far-right in Israeli politics in recent years, notably within the current Likud-led coalition government; (vi) the concomitant decline of the left in Israel.

--

This lecture is part of a larger course exploring the political structure of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, focusing on how Israel’s regime type should best be characterised: massolit.io/courses/israel-palestine-politics-and-regime-structure?source=yt

–

MASSOLIT works with university academics to produce short video lectures in the arts, sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is available to schools and colleges on an institutional license as well as via private subscription: massolit.io/?source=yt