Israel’s Democratic Origins and Its Pluralistic Political System

How did people long oppressed and terrorized as a scattered minority under democracies and autocracies develop and maintain a vibrant Jewish democracy? How do the movements for and against the 2023 judicial overhaul demonstrate that democracy in action?

This course is made up of four sections:

• Part I: Lessons Learned in State Building — How Jews as minorities in the Diaspora cleaved together as communities while interacting with non-Jewish populations and accommodated one another through innovation, adaptation and self-reliance, leading to religious pluralism without surrendering Jewish values and traditions.
• Part II: Defining Democracy — How Jews from many places formed the state, accommodating diverse definitions of Zionism and geographic backgrounds from autocracies to democracies to form a community preserving themselves in a national territory. How Israel’s Declaration of Independence incorporates the Jewish past, Zionism and the preservation of democracy with rights for all of its citizens.
• Part III: Democracy in Action and Israeli Civil Society — How Israel’s parliamentary system functions differently from the American presidential system and has produced a vital mix of nonprofit organizations meeting societal needs.
• Part IV: The Judicial Overhaul of 2023 — How Israelis protested and counterprotested over efforts to weaken the judiciary in comparison with the parliament and what the political and philosophical clashes say about the government’s operation without a written constitution.

What You’ll Learn

Upon completing this course, you will have a deep and clear understanding of how modern, vibrant, messy Israeli democracy is rooted in centuries of Diaspora experiences, including:

• Jews exercised survival skills, cooperation, self-governance and communal decision-making before having a state.
• Democratic decision-making evolved into acceptance of pluralistic views and equality of leadership roles regardless of gender.
• Israel’s Declaration of Independence is a democratic outline.
• Without a formal, written constitution, Israel is governed by Basic Laws.
• Proportional representation in a parliamentary system gives Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, more power than the courts and president.
• Judicial review shapes the democratic guardrails for the parliament.
• Nongovernmental organizations and wide civic engagement play vital roles in societal matters the government does not take on.

And much more.

Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour*

* Those who want to dive deeper into these and ancillary topics will find accompanying sources that can keep you learning for hours on end.

Comprehensive, Detailed Materials