Israel’s Socio-Economic Planning and the Role of its Interest Groups

This paper is intended to describe some aspects of Israel’s socio-economic planning and the roles played by interest groups in its formulation and implementation. While there are limits to the use of Israel’s experience as a model for all less developed areas, it nevertheless contains worth-while lessons. An understanding of the nature of Israel’s institutional relationships, and of the manner in which the policies, procedures and practices pursued advance or hinder development, might be helpful in drawing some general conclusions, and may even serve as a guide in socio-economic policy formulation.