June 2025

With diversity in geographic backgrounds and ideological outlooks, the Zionists practiced democracy to sustain their fledgling movement. From the establishment of the World Zionist Organization in 1897 to the present, Zionist and Israeli politicians regularly quit political identities, only for them to re-emerge later in practice. Decisions in national organizations like the Jewish National Fund, the Jewish Agency, the Histadrut and political parties were sometimes made in autocratic settings but almost always included consultation, debate and dissent. The 120-member parliament has reflected a breadth of political opinion, always with a high percentage of the body politic participating in elections. And Israel has systematically scrutinized the behavior of its politicians and the actions of its leaders in times of conflict and controversy.

CIE has compiled the following list of books and articles, including some available on our website, to guide understanding of Israeli democracy.

Books

Arian, Alan, and Michal Shamir. The Elections in Israel, 1996. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.

Arian, Alan, and Michal Shamir. The Elections in Israel, 2003. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2005.

Baker, Alan (ed.). Israel’s Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy (8 articles). Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and World Jewish Congress, 2011.

David, Joseph E. (ed.). The State of Israel: Between Judaism and Democracy. Jerusalem: Israel Democracy Institute, 2003.

Elon, Amos. The Israelis: Founders and Sons. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.

Garfinkle, Adam M. Politics and Society in Modern Israel: Myths and Realities. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997.

Horowitz, Dan, and Moshe Lissak. Origins of the Israeli Polity: Palestine Under the Mandate. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.

Kretzmer, David. The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories. State University of New York Press, 2002.

Mahler, Gregory S. Politics and Government in Israel: The Maturation of a Modern State. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011.

Medding, Peter Y. The Founding of Israeli Democracy, 1948-1967. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Peretz, Don, and Gideon Doron. The Government and Politics of Israel. New York: Routledge, 2018.

Schejter, Amit M. Muting Israeli Democracy: How Media and Cultural Policy Undermine Free Expression. University of Illinois Press, 2009.

Shamir, Michal, and Gideon Rahat. The Elections in Israel, 2015. London: Taylor and Francis, 2017.

Sofer, Sasson. Zionism and the Foundations of Israeli Diplomacy. Cambridge: 1998.

Weinblum, Sharon. Security and Defensive Democracy in Israel: A Critical Approach to Political Discourse. London: Routledge, 2015.

Yishai, Yael. Land of Paradoxes: Interest Politics in Israel. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991.

Articles

Akirav, Osnat, “Candidate Selection and a Crowded Parliament: The Israeli Knesset 1988-2006,” Journal of Legislative Studies, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2010): 96-120.

Avnon, Dan, “The Israeli Basic Laws’ (Potentially) Fatal Flaw,” Israel Law Review, 32, 4 (1998): 535-566.

Avineri, Shlomo, “Democracy in Israel: Past, Present and Future,” 85 minutes, Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, UCLA, January 2021.

Bareli, Avi, “Hierarchy, Representation, and Inclusion in a Reflective Democratic Culture: Conflicting Perspectives in Israel’s Nascent Years,” Israel Studies, 22, 1 (2017): 139-164.

Ben Meir, Yehuda, “Israel: The 2015 Elections,” INSS Insight, 678, March 29, 2015.

Chazan, Naomi, “The Knesset,” Israel Affairs, 11, 2 (2005): 392-416.

Dowty, Alan, “Is Israel Democratic? Substance and Semantics in the ‘Ethnic Democracy’ Debate,” Israel Studies, 4, 2 (1999): 1-15.

Dowty, Alan, “Jewish Political Traditions and Contemporary Israeli Politics,” Jewish Political Studies Review, 1990.

Elazar, Daniel, “Communal Democracy and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish Political Tradition,” Jewish Political Thought, 1993.

Elazar, Daniel, “The Jews’ Rediscovery of the Political and Its Implications,” Jewish Political Thought, 1996.

Fishman, Joel, “The Jewish Nation-State Bill: Is There a Contradiction Between Judaism and Democracy?” Jewish Political Studies Review, 26, 1 (2014): 6-13.

Gitler, Inbal Ben-Asher, “Visualizing Democracy, Difference, and Judaism in Israeli Posters, 1948-1978,” Israel Studies, 22, 3 (2017): 48-76.

Goldberg, Giora, “The Growing Militarization of the Israeli Political System,” Israel Affairs, 12, 3 (2006): 377-394.

Hazan, Reuven Y., “Executive-Legislative Relations in an Era of Accelerated Reform: Reshaping Government in Israel,” Legislative Studies Quarterly, XXII (August 3, 1997): 329-350.

Herman, Tamar (et al.), “The Israeli Democracy Index 2015: Main Findings,” Israel Democracy Institute, 2015.

Horowitz, Dan, “The Israeli Concept of National Security,” in National Security & Democracy in Israel, Avner Yaniv (ed.), Reinner Publishers (1994): 11-54.

Kalman, Wendy, “The Israeli Government’s Proposed Judicial Overhaul: Events and Published Items,” Center for Israel Education, April 1, 2023.

Kedar, Nir, “The Rule of Law in Israel,” Israel Studies, 23, 3 (2018): 164-171.

Krebs, Shiri, “‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’: Secrecy, Security, and Oversight of Targeted Killing Operations,” Policy Paper 9E, Israel Democracy Institute, August 2015.

Lissak, Moshe, “Civilian Components in the National Security Doctrine,” in National Security & Democracy in Israel, Avner Yaniv (ed.), Reinner Publishers (1994): 55-80.

Magen, Amichai ,“Israel’s Summer of Discontent,” Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, September 13, 2023.

Maoz, Zeev, and Anat Shayer, “The Cognitive Structure of Peace and War Argumentation: Israeli Prime Ministers Versus the Knesset,” Political Psychology, 8, 4 (1987): 575-604.

Mordechay, Nadiv, and Yaniv Roznai, “A Jewish and (Declining) Democratic State? Constitutional Retrogression in Israel,” Maryland Law Review, Vol. 77, No. 1 (2017): 244-271.

Peled, Yoav, “The Evolution of Israeli Citizenship: An Overview,” Citizenship Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3 (2008): 335-345.

Rubinstein, Aryeh, “Religious Party Politics in Israel,” Midstream (January 1976): 27-41.

Sasson, Theodore, “Review Essay Israeli Attitudes on Civil Rights, Democracy and Arab-Jewish Relations,” Israel Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer 2018): 217-225.

Shamir, Michal, “Political Intolerance Among Masses and Elites in Israel: A Reevaluation of the Elitist Theory of Democracy,” The Journal of Politics, Vol. 53, No. 4 (1991): 1018-1043.

Stein, Kenneth, “Origins of Israeli Democracy: Jewish Political Culture and Pre-State Practice,” Center for Israel Education, March 2021.

Wattad, Mohammed Saif-Alden, “Israel at 70: The Rule of Law and the Judiciary,” Israel Studies, Vol. 23, No. 3 (2018): 172-179.

Yaniv, Avner, “An Imperfect Democracy,” in National Security & Democracy in Israel, Avner Yaniv (ed.), Reinner Publishers (1994): 227-231.