Professionals Against Populism: The Peres Government and Democracy PDF
Preview Professionals Against Populism: The Peres Government and Democracy
PROFESSIONALS AGAINST POPULISM SUNY Series in Israeli Studies Russell Stone, editor PROFESSIONALS AGAINST POPULISM The Peres Government and Democracy Michael Keren State University of New York Press Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1995 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Cover photo: Prime Minister Shimon Peres and his media adviser, Uri Savir, in Beer-Sheva, April 2, 1985. Photo credit: Chananya Herrman; Government Press Office, State of Israel. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246 Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Nancy Farrell Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Keren, Michael. Professionals against populism: the Peres government and democracy / Michael Keren. p. cm. - (SUNY series in Israeli studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-2564-9 (pb acid-free). - ISBN 0-7914-2563-0 (ch acid -free) 1. Israel-Politics and government. 2. Peres, Shimon, 1923-. 3. Populism-Israel. 4. Democracy-Israel. 5. Technology and state-Israel. I. Title. II. Series. JQ1825.P32K47 1995 956.9405'4'092-dc20 95-11831 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii 1. Introduction 1 2. Knowledge and Democracy 17 3. Law and Security 29 4. In Quest of Moderation 51 5. The Social Contract 77 6. Conclusion 103 Appendices III Notes 115 Bibliography 133 Index 143 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In this study, I make occasional reference to the private papers of Shimon Peres, Israel's prime minister between 1984-1986. I would like to acknowledge the goodwill I received upon my request to access the papers stored in the Zahal Archives (ZA) in Israel, and thank Yossi Beilin, Haim Israeli, Zahava Ostfeld, and Shimon Peres for their assistance in this matter. I wrote this study during my stay as a Canada-Israel exchange scholar at the Department of Political Science, University of Calgary. I would like to thank all department members, especially its head, Roger Gibbins, for their inspiration and friendship. I would also like to thank Professors Ella Belfer of Bar-Ban Univer sity, Alan Dowty of the University of Notre Dame, Aharon Klieman of Tel Aviv University, Pnina Lahav of Boston University, Ian Lustick of the University of Pennsylvania, Joel Midgal of the University of Washington, Neil Nevitte of the University of Calgary, Leslie Pal of Carleton Univer sity, Neal Riemer of Drew University, Russell Stone of American Univer sity, and Yitzhak Zamir of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem for their useful comments in the course of this study. I am indebted to my students in my seminar on political leadership at Tel-Aviv University who were helpful in collecting materials and con ducting interviews on the Peres era. Material contained in chapters 3 and 5 of this study appeared, in different form, in two articles of mine: "Law, Security and Politics: an Israeli Case Study," International Journal of the Sociology of Law 21 (1993): 105-120 (Reprinted by permission of Academic Press); and "Econo mists and Economic Policy Making in Israel: The Politics of Expertise in the Stabilization Program," Policy Sciences 26 (1993): 331-346 (Reprinted by permission of Kluwer Academic Publishers). Finally, I would like to thank the Founders' Endowment, affiliated with Israel's General Federation of Labor, for its financial support. vii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION In the early 1980s, Israel was in deep crisis. The economy was in trouble with a triple digit inflation, a large deficit, and no prospects for economic growth. Tensions between ethnic and religious groups had risen and political language escalated. The delicate pluralistic structure of Israeli society was in danger. "Pluralism" implies structured dialogue between social groups while deep social cleavages and life under hyperinflation, in which individuals are worried over their diminishing savings, lead to disregard for any form of dialogue. There were many sig nals of cracks in the pluralistic structure: the rise of a racist political party, a hand grenade thrown into a crowd of demonstrators, and the sur facing of an underground movement. As one observer had noted, "the moral bonds of society were loosened."l Populist trends surfaced in Israeli society. "Populism" refers to the replacement of structured dialogue between social groups by direct con tact between the masses and political leaders who embody "the will of the people."2 Populist movements were those in Russia and the Americas that stressed the notion of direct, emotional contact between leaders and followers.3 Although no populist movement existed in Israel, many observ ers in the early 1980s were concerned about "public square politics," i.e., the passionate and emotional appeals by populist leaders to enchanted crowds.4 The populist trend was mainly associated with Menachem Begin, leader of the right-wing Likud party and Israel's prime minister between 1977 and 1983. Possessed by unusual rhetorical skills, he literally en chanted masses in public squares, especially during a heated election cam paign in 1981, and served as father-figure to many. Begin's power base depended largely on a wide anti-establishment sentiment he generated among Jews of Asian and African origin who were critical of the Labor party that dominated Israeli politics until 1977. They blamed it for the 1
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