Democratic Societies and Their Armed Forces: Israel in Comparative Context

Throughout the democratic world, armed forces are having to adapt to sweeping shifts in their domestic status. This book attempts to explore the possible implications of that situation for Israel - a state long considered a paradigmatic "nation in arms". Containing an edited selection of papers presented at an international BESA conference held in 1998, this book presents an overview of current transformations in societal-military relations in the western world. Within the context of that framework, it then explores their specific manifestations in Israel. The result is a comprehensive study of a process which, in Israel as elsewhere, already affects the very fabric of a vital sphere of public life.

Fabrizio Battistelli is professor of the sociology of organization at the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' and Secretary General of the Archivio Disarmo, an independent Italian research institute, specializing in international security and disarmament issues. Eyal Ben-Ari teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Bernard Boene is professor of sociology at the University of Toulouse in France, and director of social science research at the French Military Academy, St Cyr. Eliot Cohen is professor of strategic studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Stuart A. Cohen is a senior research associate at the BESA Center and professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Steven David is professor of international relations and Director of the International Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Efrat Elron teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at the School of Business Administration. Menachem Finkelstein was in 1999 appointed Judge-Advocate General of the IDF. John Gooch is professor of international history at the University of Leeds. Baruch Kimmerling is professor of political sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Charles Moskos is professor of sociology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he holds the Anderson Chair in the College of Arts and Sciences. Yoram Peri is a senior lecturer at the Department of Communications at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Boas Shamir teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Theodore Stroup Jr is currently Vice-President for Education at the Association United States Army. Martin Van Creveld is professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Leonard Wong teaches at the US Military Academy, West Point.