Suchergebnisse

A thriving, yet small, liberal component in Israeli society has frequently taken issue with the constraints imposed by religious orthodoxy, largely with limited success. However, Guy Ben-Porat suggests, in recent years, in part because of demographic changes and in part because of the influence of an increasingly consumer-oriented society, dramatic changes have occurred in secularization of significant parts of public and private lives. Even though these fissures often have more to do with lifestyle choices and economics than with political or religious ideology, the demands and choices of a secular public and a burgeoning religious presence in the government are becoming ever more difficult to reconcile. The evidence, which the author has accrued from numerous interviews and a detailed survey, is nowhere more telling than in areas that demand religious sanction such as marriage, burial, the sale of pork, and the operation of businesses on the Sabbath

This volume examines the gap between agreements and actual peace. It offers different explanations for the successes and failures of the three processes - in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Israel-Palestine - and provides historical and comparative perspectives on the failure of the Middle East peace process

The resolution of long-term and protracted conflicts requires peace builders to address the underlying structural, relational, and cultural roots of the conflict. But, operating within a two-level game of domestic and international crosspressures, policymakers may opt for shortcuts
that would circumvent the major issues in contention and postpone engagement with the root causes of conflict. Analyzing the operation of Israeli policymakers, this paper identifies two policy paradigms employed in the Palestinian peace process: the neo-liberal reliance on market economy and
the realist position of partition, by agreement or unilaterally. While these paradigms seem to mirror-image each other, it is argued here that both attempted to circumvent the major issues of peace and neglected the structural causes of conflict.

The open and strong support of Israeli businessmen and business organizations for the peace process between 1992 and 1996 highlights the emergence of a business community ready for political involvement and provided support, even if temporarily, to the idea of the "New Middle East" and for the proposed linkages between globalization, peace and economic growth. Several studies have engaged with the involvement and support of Israeli businesspeople in the peace process (Nitzan and Bichler 1996; Shafir and Peled 2000a) and provided a convincing explanation both for the motivations of Israeli businesspeople in the era of globalization to promote peace and for their influence on policymakers in the context of what can be described as emerging neo-liberal hegemony. But, as this work argues, while the business community was able to influence the economic agenda its influence on the peace process, despite its support, was rather limited. The derailment of the peace process some three years after its initiation until its almost final collapse in 2000 raise important theoretical-conceptual questions on the linkage between business and The open and strong support of Israeli businessmen and business organizations for the peace process between 1992 and 1996 highlights the emergence of a business community ready for political involvement and provided support, even if temporarily, for the idea of the "New Middle East" and for the proposed linkages between globalization, peace and economic growth. Several studies have engaged with the involvement and support of Israeli business people in the peace process (Nitzan and Bichler 1996; Shafir and Peled 2000a) and provided a convincing explanation both for the motivations of Israeli businesspeople in the era of globalization to promote peace and for their influence on policymakers in the context of what can be described as emerging neo-liberal hegemony. But, as this work argues, while the business community was able to influence the economic agenda, its influence on the peace process, despite its support, was rather limited. The derailment of the peace process some three years after its initiation until its almost final collapse in 2000 raise important theoretical-conceptual questions on the linkage between business and politics as well as empirical questions on the actual ability of the business community to influence the peace process.

The support that businessmen and business organisations displayed for the peace processes in Israel and Northern Ireland was open and vocal, underscoring the supposed linkage between globalisation, peace and economic growth, and the supposed leadership role of business. The purpose of this study is to examine the motivations of the business communities in Israel and Northern Ireland in becoming involved in the peace processes, their organisation to promote peace, decision-making processes at critical junctures, and their actual impact on the political outcomes. Study of the business communities demonstrates that their empowerment enabled them to exert political influence but fell short of hegemony that would enable them to set the wider political agenda. The impact of both business communities, for different reasons, was therefore limited.