Ethnic Democracy in Israel: Party System Perspective and Democracy Backsliding Implications

Israel is a striking case, universally accepted as a democracy, yet does not neatly fit any of the main three types of democracy distinguished in the literature on comparative politics: liberal democracy, consociational democracy and multicultural democracy. Smooha (1997) applied the model of “ethnic democracy” to the case of Israel exposing the contradictions derived from the very nature of the state which is, as it is stated in the Declaration of Independence, Jewish and democratic. Ethnic democracy is a system in which this two apparently contradictory principles can operate simultaneously: the democratic and the ethnic principle. According to the founding political ideology, Zionism and democracy are compatible and Israel is equally committed to the fulfilment of both, granting civil and political rights to all citizens in the Jewish state. But, due to the Jewish-Zionist element embedded in the nature of the state itself, the extension of civil and political rights to individuals and some collective rights to minorities is combined with the institutionalization of the Jewish majority control, rendering the cleavage between this Jewish majority and the Arab minority the main point of friction and making the ethnic nature of Israeli democracy controversial. This gap is not due to a general violation of citizens’ rights, but to a lack of measures to improve the quality of Israel’s democracy by softening this ethnic divide; this asset spills over into the programs of Israel’s major parties and influences their strategy in the electoral arena and in the process of coalition building. This paper will focus on the attempt to delineate how and if this structural configuration is affecting Israeli party system. Indeed, even if the Israeli Arabs seem well-integrated into the mainstream of Israeli politics, on one hand their voting rate are strongly subjected to significant variations as a direct consequence of political occurrences (see for example elections in 2015 and in April 2019), while on the other their political network and parties are still not actual participants in coalition politics and in the decision-making process. Another crucial point that will be taken into consideration is the extent in which this process take part into fostering democracy backsliding in Israel, creating a cumulative effect with recent political events which are strongly challenging the endurance of democratic institutions and values in Israel. As reported by the Israeli Democracy Index 2019, even if the general public’s assessment (Jews and Arabs) of Israel’s overall situation is positive regarding the health of Israeli democracy (50% believe that the overall situation is good or very good), the 32% thinks that Israeli democracy is in grave danger. Moreover, when asked which is the most trusted Israeli institution by Jewish Israelis, at the bottom of the list were found the government and Knesset (30% each) and political parties (14%). This analysis will provide an insight about the party system perspective and dynamics in a political context where ethnic democracy seems a stable feature and where democratic institutions will be required to provide a solid ground to face future challenges.