1st Edition

Israel at the Polls 1999 Israel: the First Hundred Years, Volume III

Edited By Daniel J. Elazar, M. Ben Mollov Copyright 2002

    The 1999 Israeli elections focused on the character of the main political contenders for prime minister - Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. Along with Barak's victory, the Israeli public made important statements concerning the shape and direction of Israeli political culture with a hope of a centrist vision. Leading Israeli political scientists discuss the revival of the Israeli left and the increased strength of ethnic Sephardi, Russian and Arab electorates. They also examine the place of foreign policy, media, and other socio-economic factors on the outcome of the election.

    Introduction: Elections 1999 -- The Interplay between Character, Political Culture and Centrism/Daniel J. Elazar and M. Ben Mollov -- PART 1: THE PARTIES -- The Israeli Left in the 1999 Elections/Giora Goldberg -- The Downfall of the National Camp?/Ami Pedahzur -- The Shas Phenomenon and Religious Parties in the 1999 Elections/Etta Bick -- Israeli 'Russian' Parties and the New Immigrant Vote/Vladimir Khanin -- The Centre Party/Efraim Torgovnik -- The Arab Vote in the Israeli Elections: The Bid for Leadership/Hillel Frisch -- PART 2: FACTORYS AND PROCESS -- Foreign Policy in the 1999 Israeli Elections/Gerald M. Steinberg -- External Factors in Israel's 1999 Elections/Barry Rubin -- The Media Campaign: The Shift to Alternative Media/Eytan Gilboa and Yaron Katz -- La BeIl(e) Epoque? A Comparison of Party Platform and Television Propaganda Ideology in the 1999 Israeli Elections and/Atara Frenkel-Faran and Sam Lehman-WiIzig -- Polls, Opinions and Political Decisions -- An Information Theory View of Nachshon Margaliot the 1999 Elections/Dov Tc’eni and YaacovJ. Katz -- Economics and the 1999 Elections/Manfred Gerstenfeld -- Women in the 1999 Elections, Still a Glass Ceiling?/Yael Yishai -- Abstracts -- Index.

    Biography

    Daniel J. Elazar was Professor of Political Science at Temple University and Senator N. M. Paterson Professor of Intergovernmcntal Relations at Bar-han University. He was the Founder and President of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, and the initiator of the ‘Israel at the Polls’ series which has explored every Israeli Knesset election since 1 977. M. Ben Mollov is an Associate of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs and a Iecwrer in Political Science in the Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences at Bar-han University. Formerly he served as Co-ordinator of the Department of Political Science at Bar-han’s Regional College in Ashkelon. He also co-ordinates the Project for Arab—Jewish Dialogue under the auspices of Bar-han University’s Programme in Conflict Resolution.