Trouble in Utopia: The Overburdened Polity of Israel

by Dan Horowitz, Moshe Lissak

Overview

This book provides a thorough and detailed examination of Israeli institutions and how they function. It explains the decline in effectiveness of the government and the spread of cultural malaise in the Israel of the eighties. Horowitz and Lissak trace the integrative and disintegrative trends in Israel and show how a society that had laid the foundations for a cohesive Jewish nation-state became increasingly vulnerable to centrifugal forces.

The book not only reflects a broad and comprehensive approach, but also focuses on themes that cut across institutional structures, such as the weakening of social and political cohesion in an overburdened polity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781438407081
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Series:	SUNY series in Israeli Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	357
File size:	1 MB

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction: Israel as a Social Laboratory

2. Israel as a Multi-Cleavage Society

3. Ideology and Political Culture

4. Government and Politics: From a Dominant Center to a Dual Center

5. Democracy and National Security in a Protracted Conflict

6. Israel at Forty: Utopia Impaired

Appendixes

Notes

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Dan Horowitz is Professor of Political Science and Sociology and Moshe Lissak is Professor of Sociology. They are co-authors of Origins of the Israeli Polity, and each has written other books.

From the Publisher

A translation from the Hebrew manuscript which was completed in 1987. The authors' preface refers briefly to events of 1988. The work provides a detailed examination of Israeli institutions and how they function, explaining the decline in effectiveness of the government and the spread of cultural malaise in the Israel of the eighties. Paperback edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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