Politics and Government in Israel: The Maturation of a Modern State

by Gregory Mahler

This balanced and comprehensive text explores Israeli government and politics from both institutional and behavioral perspectives. After briefly discussing Israel’s history and the early development of the state, Gregory Mahler then examines the social, religious, economic, cultural, and military contexts within which Israeli politics takes place. He makes special note of Israel’s geopolitical situation of sharing borders with, and being proximate to, several hostile Arab nations. The book explains the operation of political institutions and behavior in Israeli domestic politics, including the constitutional system and ideology, parliamentary government, the prime minister and the Knesset, political parties and interest groups, the electoral process and voting behavior, and the machinery of government. Mahler also considers Israel’s foreign policy setting and apparatus, the Palestinians and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the particularly sensitive questions of Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement movement, and the Middle East peace process overall. This clear and concise text provides an invaluable starting point for all readers needing a cogent introduction to Israel today.

Genres: Israel, Politics, Middle East

760 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 16, 2004

Reviews

[Liam]

Good overview of Israeli politics but a tad dry and repetitive. Written like a textbook.

[J]

Not bad...I mostly skimmed the last three chapters as they were more of a history lesson than anything else but still picked up a few good tidbits. It seemed very slightly biased in favor of Israel but not nearly as bad as some other books I've read on the topic.