Polarization and Consensus-Building in Israel: The Center Cannot Hold (Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics)

This edited volume examines the most pressing social and political issues confronting Israel from a multidisciplinary perspective, focusing on the breakdown of social solidarity and the inability to formulate consensus.

The contributors – encompassing political scientists, historians, communication researchers, sociologists, economists, and educators – focus on specific topics that serve as exemplary cases of various trends of consensus and polarization. These trends are examined in the context of ideological, religious, economic, national, and ethnic cleavages. In addition, this volume analyzes how political actors’ preference for “non-decision” on various issues has resulted in the maintenance of a status quo, with cleavages or conflicts being neither mitigated nor polarized. Together, this collection of articles paints a picture of Israel as a state racked by increasing polarization along ideological and religious lines. It is argued that this difficulty in determining a consensual definition of the state threatens to destroy social solidarity in Israel altogether, a climate in which “the center cannot hold.”

This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the major internal threats to Israel’s self-definition as a Jewish-democratic state and will also appeal to sociologists and political scientists interested in global polarization trends.

Elie Friedman is the Head of the Communication Division at the Multidisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Ashkelon Academic College, as well as an adjunct lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and a visiting lecturer at the University of Maryland. His interests include political discourse with an emphasis on conflict resolution and polarization processes.

Michal Neubauer-Shani is a senior lecturer at the Department of Politics and Governance, and the Multidisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Ashkelon Academic College. Her research focuses on Public Policy and State-Religion relations. She also addresses the issues of religious feminism and civics studies.

Paul Scham is the Director of the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies at the University of Maryland and Associate Research Professor of Israel Studies. From 2011 to 2021, he edited the Israel Studies Review and he has co-edited Shared Histories: A Palestinian–Israeli Dialogue (2005) and Shared Narratives (2011). His research interests include Israeli and Palestinian historical narratives, Hamas, Jordan, and the religious right in Israel.