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Tells the story behind the rise of national-conservative populism in Israel across multiple arenas, including the judiciary, foreign affairs, and the media, and the cultural battle over Israeli identity, all of which are rooted in the struggle over Israeli democracy.
This book deciphers the riddle of the Netayahu era, offering the first in-depth, ideological analysis of a transformative two decades of right-wing rule. It exposes the structural changes enacted by Israel's longest-serving leader across pivotal domains, including civic education, national culture, constitutional law, public service, news media, and foreign policy. The Netanyahu era embodies a journey from a Jewish and democratic Israel into a neoliberal, religious and polarized Judeocracy. Politically, Benjamin "the wizard" Netanyahu consolidated the right wing under the "National Camp" while effectively constructing a religious bloc spearheaded by the settlers and religio-nationalists. Thus, he initiated a counter-Zionist turn, marginalizing secular nationalism in favor of religious populism. His Likud party, historically liberal and national, became neoliberal and later antiliberal under his rule. This paradigm shift facilitated a systemic regime transformation: from ethno-liberal democracy to a national-conservative, populist autocracy under Netanyahu's sixth government. Netanyahu did not just follow the authoritarian protocol—he invented much of it during his rule, setting the stage for other populist leaders seeking to transform democracy from within. Under his leadership, ideological imperatives were institutionalized into permanent structural changes, altering the fabric of Israeli democracy.
"This is an outstanding assessment of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's years in power. Talshir is very knowledgeable about the ideas propelling constitutions, institutional policy, and philosophical issues of democratic liberty, rights, and due process. But what makes this study unusual is her command of the everyday political struggles and uncompromising ideological feuds among a range of stakeholders within a theoretical framework. The combination of informed and intelligent scholarship give this work a clear edge in the field of recent Israel studies." — Michael Freeden, University of Oxford
Gayil Talshir is the head of the Social and Education Leadership Program and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of The Political Ideology of Green Parties: From the Politics of Nature to Redefining the Nature of Politics and coeditor, with Mathew Humphre and Michael Freeden, of Taking Ideology Seriously: 21st Century Reconfigurations.
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1. Jewish and/or Democratic? Changing the Constitutional Design
1. Infiltra(i)tors: Enemies of the Jewish People?
2. State of Which Nation? The Basic Law and the Anti-Constitutional Revolution
3. The Anti-Court-yard Constitutionalists: Think-to-Do Tanks, Zionising Law, and Education
Part 2. Governability: Divide and Rule
4. The Janus Face of Loyalty: Popular Culture: We Fund; We Control
5. The Fat Man Doesn't Sing: The Politicization of the Civil Service
6. "Overriding" the Supreme Court: Blank Check Without Balance?
Part 3. Complex Ideology: Neoliberalism vs. Neoconservatism
7. Double Agents: Good Arabs, Bad Arabs and the Economic Miracle
8. (No) Peace and Prosperity: The Trump-Netanyahu New New Middle East
9. Putting the Watch Dogs on Leash: From Neoliberal Reform to Media under Control
Conclusion: Judocracy: Ideological Outlook, Structural Changes and the Netanyahu
Legacy
Notes
Bibliography
Index