There have been many books on the place of war, security, or military service in Israeli society. The Military, State, and Society in Israel makes contributions to the debate-theoretical, empirical, and polemical-that are related to the Israeli case and to wider debates about the place of war and the military in contemporary industrialized societies. The Israeli case is important in the development of more macro approaches to the study of "things military" as war has played a central role in Israel's history and continues to do so. The book encapsulates in a very explicit manner tensions in the relationships between the military, state, and society and stands at the core of contemporary debates between two fundamental approaches to the study of the relations between the military society and the state: the "armed forces and society" school and the "state-making and war" perspective.Contemporary Israel is the site of debates about many of the fundamental assumptions that have undergirded the Jewish nation-state: the ethnic character of nationhood and statehood; the role of the Jewish diaspora vis-Ó-vis Israel; the legitimacy of Jewish "ethnic pluralism"; the meaning of the Holocaust; privatization of social life and the spread of consumerism; and weakening of the centralized state as the agent of social transformation affecting housing, language, health, technology, production, dress, and child-rearing. One important consequence of these internal conflicts and struggles has been a significant erosion in the almost sacred status once enjoyed by state institutions, and especially the military, among the majority of Jewish population."Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives," situates Israel in its wider theoretical and comparative context and shows how the study of Israel contributes to the theoretical understanding of contemporary changes in civil-military relations. "The Politics of Civil-Military Relations," concentrates on current changes in Israeli politics, the character of the conflict with the Palestinians, and the place of military in society. "The State and War-Making-Creating Citizens, Soldiers, and Men and Women," indicates how war and the military are not only instruments for state-making, but are also important factors in the formation of individual identities. "The Notion of 'National Security'-Institutions and Concepts," raises the basic question of whether the institutional mechanisms and the strategic conceptions crystallized during the first 50 years of Israel's existence are still relevant in a changing post-cold war world. "The Armed Forces as Organization, Continuity and Change," focuses on the lines of continuity and trends of change in several aspects of the Israeli Defense Forces' internal organizational structure.Studies based on Israeli cases, data, and scholarship have been central to the development of expertise in such fields as applied psychology and psychotherapy. This volume contributes to these areas of study, and will be of central importance to professionals interested in civil-military.
Daniel Maman is Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His fields of research include economic and organizational sociology, elites, civil-military relations, and networks analysis. Zeev Rosenhek is Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His fields of research include state-society relations, ethnicity and citizenship, and labor migration. Eyal Ben-Ari is Professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has carried out research on Japanese culture and society. He has also done research on the Israeli army, military leadership in the industrial democracies, and United Nations peace-keeping forces.
Preface Introduction: Military, State and Society in Israel: An Introductory Essay Part 1: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives 1. Western-Type Civil-Military Relations Revisited 2. From Wars of Independence to Democratic Peace: Comparing the Cases of Israel and the United States Part 2: The Politics of Civil-Military Relations 3. Civil-Military Relations in Israel in Crisis 4. From Military Role-Expansion to Difficulties in Peace-Making: The Israel Defense Forces 50 Years On 5. Dimensions of Tension between Religion and Military Service in Contemporary Israel Part 3: The State and War-Making—Creating Citizens, Soldiers and Men and Women 6. Paradoxes of Women’s Service in the Israel Defense Forces 7. Tests of Soldierhood, Trials of Manhood: Military Service and Male Ideals in Israel 8. The Meaning of War Through Veterans’ Eyes: A Phenomenological Analysis of Life Stories 9. Citizenship Regime, Identity and Peace Protest in Israel Part 4: The Notion of “National Security”—Institutions and Concepts 10. The Link between the Government and the IDF During Israel’s First 50 Years: The Shifting Role of the Defense Minister 11. A New Concept of National Security Applied on Israel Part 5: The Armed Forces as Organization—Continuity and Change 12. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF): A Conservative or an Adaptive Organization? 13. Organizational Complexity, Trust and Deceit in the Israeli Air Force. Epilogue: Uniqueness and Normalization in Military- Government Relations in Israel
