The Second Republic: Politics in Israel (Comparative Politics & the International Political Economy,) [Paperback]

Asher Arian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997 | ISBN-10: 1566430526 | ISBN-13: 978-1566430524

This volume provides an introduction to Israeli politics. When the state of Israel celebrates its 50th anniversary in 1998, a decade of change will have transformed its politics, its economy and its people into a different country to that of its recent past. These changes have coincided with the opening of the third period of Israeli history, known as the second republic. This book explores the process of political evolution. The former parliamentary system of the government was replaced by separate and simultaneous election of the prime minister and the Knesset, a centralized economic system began to open up to a broad scope of diversity and choice and new waves of immigrants from various troubled parts of the world were absorbed into the society. The book offers analytical descriptions and extensive survey data to explain the complexities of Israeli political institutions, political behaviour and public policy and it chronicles the significant events of the nation's relatively brief experience of self-government. Also introduced in this book is the series of personalities who have dominated the domestic landscape. An overview acquaints the reader with the political culture of Israel and also suggests avenues of comparison to other countries in other parts of the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Chatham House Pub (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566430526
• ISBN-13: 978-1566430524
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,223,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of info, January 10, 2012

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rmarflir2013 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Second Republic: Politics in Israel (Comparative Politics & the International Political Economy,) (Paperback)

This book is very informative, but the structure of it makes it dense and hard to follow at times. There is a lot of important information in it, but it is presented in a way that is difficult, especially for those unfamiliar with Israeli politics, to follow.

3.0 out of 5 stars A guide to post-1977 Israeli politics, December 2, 2009

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Thomas Mitchell (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Second Republic: Politics in Israel (Comparative Politics & the International Political Economy,) (Paperback)

This is not an ideal text for undergraduate courses on Israeli politics or the Middle East as it assumes a lot of basic historical information on the part of American undergrads. It is better recommended for a graduate level course on those subjects or on comparative democratic systems. Asher Arian is a leading academic scholar of Israeli politics and does a good job of covering developments since 1977 when the Likud first came to power and the Israeli system began to become dealigned. But precisely because he is used to writing to an audience of his peers he fails to include basic historical information that American undergrads would need to make sense of Israeli politics--on Zionism, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and on early Israeli history.