| The course will deal with the following issues: history and main characteristics of the political system and politics during the Yishuv (the Jewish Community in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel) period; politics and the development of the Israeli political system during three distinct periods from 1948 until the beginning of the 21st century; main characteristics of current Israeli political culture; the main institutional characteristics of the current Israeli political system – elections, parties, the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), the government, the bureaucracy, the courts, local government, and the Israeli security network; the main changes that have occurred in 2006; civil society and politics; is Israel an ethnic-democracy?; the major threats and challenges facing the Israeli political system and politics at the present crossroads. |
