Political instability in Israel over the last decades – Causes and consequences

This article reviews the deterioration of government stability in Israel since the late 1990s and in the last three years in particular and examines the causes and consequences of this reality. The findings indicate several factors that have been contributing to government instability in Israel beginning from the late 1990s. One is the considerable heterogeneity typical of Israeli society, which encourages the establishment of many sectoral parties based on faith, country of origin, or some common interest. The second is related to cultural changes that derive from embracing a utilitarian worldview which has begun to spread throughout Israeli society and to leave its mark on the citizens’ voting patterns, and the third is related to the many possible options for dissolving the Knesset. These factors, together and separately, have led to an inability to form a stable government that has sufficient electoral power to lead long-term policy processes. Instead, government stability is eroding increasingly, politicians are developing a reasoning that is based on narrow interests and neglecting the values and ideologies for which they were chosen. All this in order to preserve their political survival, which has become their top goal, instead of promoting wide public interests.

本文梳理了自20世纪90年代末以来，尤其是近三年来以色列政府稳定性的衰退态势，并剖析了这一现状的成因与影响。研究结果显示，自20世纪90年代末起，多重因素共同推高了以色列的政府不稳定风险：其一为以色列社会典型的高度异质性，这种异质性催生了大量基于宗教信仰、原籍背景或共同利益组建的派系政党；其二源于功利主义世界观在以色列社会的普及所引发的文化变迁，该思潮已渗透至以色列社会全域，并深刻影响了公民的投票行为模式；其三则与以色列议会（Knesset）存在多种解散途径直接相关。上述因素无论单独作用还是协同影响，均导致以色列无法组建具备足够选举支撑力、可推进长期政策进程的稳定政府。与之相对的是，政府稳定性正持续恶化，政客们愈发倾向于基于狭隘私利构建执政逻辑，全然背弃其参选时所秉持的价值与意识形态，此类行为皆为维护自身政治存续——这已成为他们的首要目标——而非致力于增进广泛的公共利益。