This book brings together a set of thorough, authoritative chapters on parties, elections and cleavages that address theoretical aspects of these concepts with reference to Israel, and subject Israel to a comparative analysis. The book is comprised of three main sections. Part 1, “Theoretical Perspective,” includes chapters written by the most prominent international scholars in the field, who focus on some of the core concepts currently under debate. Part 2, “Religion and State,” presents chapters from major scholars throughout Israel who address a most volatile issue that has resurfaced, one that challenges “secular” societies in general, and Israel in particular, at the end of the twentieth century. Part 3, “Party System Change,” includes chapters from the top Israeli researchers on political parties and party systems who deal with both long- and short-term changes in the Israeli party system of the 1990s, while placing it in a comparative and historical perspective. What emerges from this book is an analysis, couched within comparative and theoretical perspectives, that sheds new light on the themes of parties, elections and cleavages in general, and on Israeli politics and society in particular.
This group of studies first appeared in a special issue of Israel Affairs, Vol. 6, #2, Winter 1999.
