Asia, Israel & Palestine, Sociology, Europe, Middle East 

The easy in this volume attempt to move beyond the question of Israel’s ‘uniqueness’ to examine the pace and direction of change of Israel’s political, social and economy institutions. Using the tools of comparative analysis, scholars from Israel, the United states and Europe describe the ways in which Israeli society is becoming more like other democratic industrialized societies and on what dimensions Israel culture and institutions are slowing or resisting such convergence. The easy falls into four categories: political institutions and organizations, political economy, ethnicity and religion, and public policy.
Taken as a whole, the contributions suggest that Israel is changing , even converging with the global community on some dimensions, but that the pace and direction of change is an uneven. In some areas, change is evolutionary or glacial, slowed by tradition and entrenched institutions.
The topics explored include the Israeli judicial system, changing in the political leadership style, the effects of economy globalization on Israel’s political economy, the changing structure of interest group politics, the relationship between the business sector and the government, the evolution and future of Israel’s ethnic divisions – both within the Jewish community and between the Jewish Arab communities- and an analysis of the attempts to Americanize Israeli abortion politics and Israeli environmental policy.
 

These essays examine changes in Israel's political, social and economic institutions, and describe how Israeli culture and institutions are resisting convergence. They are in four categories: political institutions and organizations; political economy; ethnicity and religion; and public policy. - from Amzon 

Contents

1. Change and continuity: A Framework for Comparative Analysis David Levi-Faur, Gabriel Sheffer and David Vogel………………………………..........................P. 1

2. Court has Hegemonic Institutions: The Israel supreme Court in a Comparative perspective Gad Brazilai…………………………………...........................................P. 15

3. Israel Constitutional politics: The fragility of impartiality
Menachem Hofnung……………………………………………………..................................P. 34

4. Structural Change and Leadership Transformation Gabriel Sheffer……...P. 55

5. Interest Politics in a Comparative perspective: The (Ir) regularity of the Israel Case Yael Yishai………………………………………………….........................................P. 73

6. The Social Organization of the Israel economy:
A Comparative Analysis Daniel Maman……………………………….........................P. 87

7. Business in politics: Globalization and the Search for Peace in South Africa and Israel/Palestine Gershon Shafir………………………………….................................P. 103

8. Have Globalization and the Liberalization Normalized Israel’s Political Economy? Michael Shalev…………………………………………..................................P. 121

9. Wrafare Polity-Formation and the Israel National
Policy Patterns David Levi-Faur…………………...............................................P. 156

10. Consociationalism and Ethnic Democracy: Israel Arabs in Comparative Perspective Alan Dowty……………………………………………….................................P. 169


11. From What Edah are You? Israeli and American Meanings of “Race Ethnicity” in Social Policy Practices Dvora Yanow…………………......................................P. 183

12. Changing Places: Jerusalem’s Holy Places in Comparative Perspective Roger Friedland and Richard D. Hecht……………………………….....................................P. 200

13. Imported Problems Definitions, Legal Culture and the Local Dynamics of Israel Abortion Politics Noga Morag-Levine…………………………...................................P. 226

14. Israeli Environmental Policy In Comparative Perspective
David Vogel............................................................................................P. 246

15. The Gender and Pacifism Hypothesis: Opinion Research from Israel and the Arab World Mark Tessler, Jodi Nachtwey And Audra Grant……….....................P. 265

16. The Promise Land of the Chosen People is Not All that Distinctive: On the Value of Comparison Ira Sharkansky…………………………………............................P. 293

17. INDEX…………………………………………………………………...................................P. 301