Abstract
An odd and simple-minded question, perhaps, given the ubiquity and centrality of nation-states in our world, but still worth asking, especially when first principles are on the table.“The state,” Max Weber lucidly said, “is an association that claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence, and cannot be defined in any other manner.”¹ It is the prerequisite for survival beyond the clan, both within society and beyond its territory. More than just the guarantor of survival, the state is, in its illiberal forms, the ensemble of legal instruments for political and socio-cultural practices through which the majority, or... Defining Israel; the Jewish State, Democracy, and the Law. Edited by Simon Rabinovitch. Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College Press, 2018