The Idea of Democracy in Israel: Theoretical Explorations

In: Contemporary review of the Middle East, Band 11, Heft 1, S. 96-115

Abstract

The standard meaning of democracy—a system of governance by the people, for the people, and of the people—has become a debatable narrative. The hesitation to enlarge the scope of democracy to all its beneficiaries or citizens is a major reason for several arguments on democracy. Israel, being a country in the Middle East wherein democracy has not yet been accepted as a mechanism of governance, makes an interesting case to be explored. Its history of democracy and dynamics is unique and has received much theoretical attention. The quintessence of the new argumentations on democracy is "will to democracy" on the part of all citizens in the sense that the will of the people constitutes a decisive factor in making democracy a system for everyone in inclusive form or unmaking democracy as a system for everyone in exclusive form as witnessed in most of the liberal democracies. One can observe that Israel as a society has the will to make the political system inclusive, given its treatment of various Jewish groups who came from different backgrounds and became part of a larger cultural and political society. This has to be and can be extended to the minority, which has the same emotional affiliation to geography and history.