Israel The Dynamics of Change and Continuity

Israeli historiography has long been subjected to a sustained assault by self-styled "new historians" vying to expose what they claim to be the distorted "Zionist narrative" of Israeli history and the Arab-Israeli conflict. They have cast Israel as the regional villain, bearing sole responsibility for the cycle of violence in the Middle east since 1946.
This text takes issue with these "revisionists." The author argues that they have ignored or misinterpreted much documentation in developing their analysis of Israel's history. There are numerous in-depth studies to illustrate the author's argument.

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.

Change and continuity - a framework for comparative analysis, David Levi-Faur, Gabriel Sheffer, David Vogel; courts as hegemonic institutions - the Israeli Supreme Court in a comparative perspective, Gad Barzilai; Israeli constitional politics - the fragility of impartiality, Menachem Hofnung; structural changes and leadership transformation, Gabriel Sheffer; interest politics in a comparative perspective - the (ir)regularity of the Israeli case, Yael Yishai; the social organization of the Israeli economy - a comparative analysis; Danial Maman; business in politics - globalization and the search for peace in South Africa and Israel/Palestine, Gershon Shafir; have globalization and liberalization "normalized" Israel's political economy? Michael Shalev; warfare, polity-formation and the Israeli national policy patterns, David Levi-Faur; consociationalism and ethnic democracy - Israeli Arabs in comparative perspective, Alan Dowty; from what "edah" are you? Israeli and American meanings of "race-ethnicity" in social policy practices, Dvora Yanow; changing places - Jerusalem's holy places in comparative perspective, Roger Friedland, Richard D. Hecht; imported problem definitions, legal culture and the local dynamics of Israeli abortion politics, Noga Morag-Levine; Israeli environmental policy in comparative perspective, David Vogel; the gender and pacifism hypothesis - opinion research from Israel and the Arab world, Mark Tessler, Jodi Nachtwey, Audra Grant; the promised land of the chosen people is not all that distinctive - on the value of comparison, Ira Sharkansky.

David Levi-Faur, Gabriel Sheffer, David Vogel