The Crises of the Israeli Democracy

Since the breakdown of Netanyahu's fourth cabinet in 2018, Israel has been experiencing the most severe political crisis in its history, including five elections in 3.5 years. The coalition crisis led to several others, including the government's recent attempt to reform, or weaken, the judicial branch and undermine the rule of law. This in turn, resulted in Israel's transition from a liberal democracy to a weakened electoral democracy (as indicated in the 2024 report by the Varieties of Democracy Institute). In this research topic, we ask for contributions that offer different analytical views on the crises of Israeli democracy. We seek contributions that reflect and focus on the crises of Israeli democracy, including but not limited to, the rise of populism, polarization, party politics, political disinformation, and democratic backsliding.

This Research Topic aims to explore the causes and consequences of the Israeli democratic crisis either as a case study or as part of a cross-national comparative research. Theoretically informed, case-specific and comparative research is needed to understand the overall dynamics of recent crises in Israel. In today's fragile democratic ecosystem, exploring the dynamic processes between elites and institutions such as the judiciary, legislature, party systems, civil society, media, and non-governmental organizations is crucial. This might also include examining the extent to which these entities are responsive to public opinion and voters. Given the myriad processes that characterize democratic decline, we are interested in the following aspects and their interactions:

• Party Competition and Ideological Shifts: Exploring changes in party competition, coalition formations, and ideological convergence/polarization before, during, and after the crisis of the Israeli Democracy.


• Elite-Public Dynamics: Exploring the interplay between elite actors and the public in Israel with respect to elections, government formation, rule of law, resisting backsliding and preserving democratic norms.


• Role of Media in the crisis of the Israeli democracy: Investigating how media channels influence and engage with the public and elites as a cause or a consequence of the Israeli democratic crisis.


• Ideology vs. Economic Interests at the Elite Level: Examining how ideology and economic interests among ruling elites drive the democratic crisis, reflecting broader ideological transformations or economic motivations.


• Affective Polarization and Political Violence: Studying how the Israeli is associated with current trends of affective polarization or political violence.

Keywords: Israel, democratic backsliding, populism, affective polarization, ideology, coalitions, religious fundamentalism, disinformation, conflict, constitutional crisis, public opinion, party politics

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.