Israeli Politics in the 1990s: Key Domestic and Foreign Policy Factors

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What are the key factors that have transformed the Israeli political centre and how will they shape Israel's role in the Middle East in the 1990s Well-known experts join the editors, Reich and Kieval, in giving a picture of current and future trends in Israeli politics, focusing on the movement of the Israeli body politic to the right-of-centre and the growing hold of Likud. They define future prospects, taking into account foreign policy, economic and demographic issues. Academics, policymakers and journalists should find this volume valuable to understanding the critical role that Israel will play in the Middle East in the next decade and how domestic politics in Israel will define that role. This survey of political developments by 14 authorities is based on a study of recent events, on long reflection, and on two conferences that brought together 60 experts on the Middle East today, drawn from the academic world and from various US government departments and agencies. This analysis of political trends assesses Likud's centrality in the governmental system, the role of religious and settler movements, the linkage of domestic politics to the question of Arab-Israeli peace and the future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and demographic, attitudinal, and other factors that affect political leadership and decisionmaking. The influx of Jewish immigration to Israel from the Soviet Union is viewed in terms of future implications as well.

Author Bio

BERNARD REICH is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. He has written extensively on Israel and the Middle East. Recent works include the highly acclaimed Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: A Biographical Dictionary (Greenwood Press, 1990), Israeli National Security Policy (Greenwood, 1988) and Quest for Peace: U.S.-Israeli Relations and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (1977). He has also served as a consultant to the government and to business and has advised on political risk and other matters. GERSHON R. KIEVAL is Adjunct Professor of Political Science at George Washington University. He has lived and done research at length in the Middle East. Kieval is the author of Party Politics in Israel and the Occupied Territories (Greenwood, 1983) and author and co-editor of Israeli National Security Policy (Greenwood, 1988) and Israel Faces the Future (Praeger, 1986).