Military, State, and Society in Israel: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives

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 book encapsulates tensions in the relationships between the military, state, and society and stands at the core of contemporary debates between two fundamental approaches: the "armed forces and society" school and the "state-making and war" perspective.Israel is currently debating many of its fundamental assumptions: the ethnic character of nationhood and statehood; the role of the Jewish diaspora vis-a-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, andthe 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 t