Political Transformations and Political Entrepreneurs: Israel in Comparative Perspective

230 Pages·2009·1.391 MB·English

by  Assaf Meydani (auth.)

Political Transformations and
Political Entrepreneurs
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Political Transformations and
Political Entrepreneurs
Israel in Comparative Perspective
Assaf Meydani
POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND POLITICAL ENTREPRENEURS
Copyright © Assaf Meydani, 2009.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61867-1
All rights reserved.
First published in 2009 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-38126-5 ISBN 978-0-230-10397-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230103979
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meydani, Assaf.
Political transformations and political entrepreneurs : Israel in
comparative perspective / Assaf Meydani.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-349-38126-5 (alk. paper)
1. Elections—Israel. 2. Election law—Israel. 3. Prime ministers—
Israel—Election. 4. Prime ministers—Election. 5. Pressure groups—
Israel. 6. Pressure groups. 7. Political stability—Israel. 8. Political
culture—Israel. 9. Israel—Politics and government. 10. Comparative
government—Case studies. I. Title.
JQ1830.A95M49 2009
324.9—dc22 2009010767
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: December 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my wife Marit and my daughters Romy and Alma with love and
appreciation
To my mother Lea, my father Ben-Zion, and my sisters Inbal and Reut,
thank you for always being there.
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C O N T E N T S
List of Figures and Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
One Introduction 1
Two Institutional Change as an Interaction between
Political and Social Players—The Role of
Political Entrepreneurs 11
2.1 Institutional Theory 12
2.2 A Procedural Model for Formal Institutional
Change Analysis 16
2.3 The Book’s Contributions to the Field 36
Three Political Entrepreneurs and Institutional
Change: The Case of Basic Law:
The Government (1992) 41
3.1 Introduction 41
3.1.1 Case Description 44
3.2 Public Awareness of Political Rule
Change as a Necessary Condition for
Initiation of Institutional Design Change 46
3.3 Political Entrepreneurs 54
3.4 The Players’ Dependence on Structural and
Cultural Limitations 60
3.5 Level 1: Entrepreneurs—Group—Public 61
viii Contents
3.6 L evel 2: Entrepreneurs—Interest
Groups—Politicians 78
3.7 Level 3: Political Entrepreneurs and
Legislative Bodies 89
3.8 Summary 101
Four Political Entrepreneurs and Institutional Change:
Cancellation of the Direct Election of
the Prime Minister 105
4.1 Introduction 105
4.1.1 Case Study 106
4.2 The Public’s Sense of the Need to
Change Political Rules as a Necessary Condition
for Initiating Institutional Change 108
4.3 The Political Entrepreneurs 113
4.4 T he Players’ Activity with Regard to
Structural and Cultural Constraints 122
4.5 Level 1: Entrepreneurs—Group—Public 123
4.6 Level 2: Entrepreneurs—Interest
Groups—Politicians 132
4.7 Level 3: Political Entrepreneurs and
Legislative Bodies 136
4.8 Summary 142
Five C omparative Aspects of Institutional
Changes: the Cases of Argentina,
Italy and New Zealand 145
5.1 Introduction 145
5.2 The Feeling among the Public of a
Need for a Political Rule Change 148
5.2.1 A rgentina: The Judicial Reforms from
1994 and 1997 148
5.2.2 Italy: The 1993 Electoral Reform 153
Contents ix
5.2.3 New Zealand: The 1993 Electoral Reform 155
5.3 Political Entrepreneurs 157
5.3.1 Argentina—Political Entrepreneurship 158
5.3.2 Italy—Political Entrepreneurship 160
5.3.3 New Zealand—Political Entrepreneurship 161
5.4 Determination of the Character and
Design of a Basic Formal Institutional Change:
Players’ Activity as Determined via Structural
and Cultural Constraints 163
5.4.1 Argentina—Institutional Change Design 163
5.4.2 Italy—Institutional Change Design 166
5.4.3 New Zealand—Institutional Change Design 169
5.5 Summary 171
Six Summary and Conclusions 173
6.1 Preface 173
6.2 Institutional Changes in Israel 173
6.3 Institutional Changes—A Comparative Perspective 176
Notes 183
Bibliography 199
Index 213