Abstract
This course places the Israel politics and government in the subfield of comparative politics.
Accordingly, students are guided to analyze the salient characteristics of the Israeli policy —
constitutional government without a constitution, the religion-state relationship, the control system of the
Arab minority, the political role of the "non-political" army, the consociationalism between Orthodox and
secular elites, and the impact of the occupied territories on Israel's democracy.
Upon completion of the course, the students will have:
(1) gained insight into the organization and functioning of the Israel politics and how the country is
governed;
(2) upgraded skills in analyzing functioning of various branches of government in light of the
characteristics of the Israeli polity;
(3) become more competent at interpreting official discourse from Israel, arguing publicly and writing
academic papers.