Külügyi Szemle - A Teleki László Intézet Külpolitikai Tanulmányok Központja folyóirata - 2003 (2. évfolyam)
2003 / 1. szám - KÖZEL-KELET - Gazdik Gyula: Az izraeli pártrendszer fejlődésének főbb jellemzői
Résumé The evolution of the Israeli party system The Israelis believe that their country is the only democracy in the Middle East. However, such a comparison can only be formal because we should also take it account that the countries we are talking about have different traditions, which influence the mode of practising power besides the political culture. A rather polarized party system came into being in Israel after the foundation of the country in 1948 in unique historical circumstances. This party system was based on the stabilizing role of the left of center Labour Party, and its predecessor, the Labourers' Party. It was only since the 1970s that the right of center Likud, which embodies the revisionist thought, has been able to play a similar role. A necessary collateral of the system has been coalition government since the beginning. There have been 29 cabinets in 15 parliamentary cycles, and six of them were national unity governments. We may put the competing political forces into four groups with some simplification: left wing, right wing-liberal, religious, and ethnic and other alternative organizations. There have been smaller or larger shifts in these groupings in the past decades. Both of the traditional Zionist political groupings became weaker in the 1990s, but the negative consequences hit the Labour Party harder that the Likud. This is in connection with the failure of the Oslo process, the deterioration of the security situation, the changes within Israeli society, the decline of the political weight of the Askhenaz middle class, which constitutes a substantial social basis, and the increase of the value of the groupings based on religious and ethnic identity. As regards the Likud, this was a transitory tendency, and with winning the elections in 2003, this gouping has become the main integrationist force of the political structure. The strengthening of the Likud is related to the fact that because of the security situation the party has been able to win the support of the voters in the center, and it has also managed to win, or re-win, voters from groups right of it. Moreover, it was also an important factor that the Likud has become more open to "Neo-Zionism", which has become stronger after the beginning of the second Intifada. Its representatives believe that a new cohesive force should be created in the extremely fragmented Israeli society with the help of religious and nationalist values. Les car act crist icjues de l'evolution du Systeme des partis en Israel Les Israeliens condidérent leur pays comme la seule democratic en Proche-Orient. Cependant, une telle comparaison implique une certaine relativité car il s'agit de sociétés ayant des traditions differentes ce qui influence non seulement la culture politique mais aussi le mode de l'exercice du pouvoir. En 1948, aprés la fondation de l'Etat qui s'était déroulé dans des conditions historiques particuliéres est né un 2002. tavasz 31
