Party Policy and Coalition Bargaining in Israel

Abstract

Israel has an extremely fragmented party system. As a result, every government formed since independence in 1948 has been a coalition. Academic observers of the Israeli political scene have made many attempts to explain the coalition system. Most views derive, at least in part, from Duverger’s notions on the relationship between proportional electoral systems and multipartism. (Duverger, 1964) The particular circumstances of Israel, however, require other factors to be taken into account, notably the nature of the political culture, the evolution of the party system during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine (1920–48) and the development of Zionism as a political movement in the early twentieth century (Arian, 1985; Bara, 1987; Luebbert, 1986; Nachmias, 1975; Paltiel, 1975; Seliktar, 1982).