Towards A New Portrait Of A New Israeli Soldier

No army in the Middle East has been as written about in English as has Israel's, yet this book actually says something new. Reuven Gal, former chief psychologist of the IDF, looks at the influences on the Israeli soldier and their impact on the IDF's performance. He is able to deal with issues such as motivation and camaraderie, leadership and heroism from a human viewpoint. . . . a detailed assembly of data such as this one is welcome, and the sociological-psychological jargon is kept at a minimum. This is neither hagiography nor psychobabble, and it contains a great deal of detail. Middle East Journal

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.

Benjamin Netanyahu's 1996 election victory marked a major turnaround in his fortunes, for only a few months earlier his political career had seemed finished. This book examines what his victory means both domestically and internationally.

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.

This book, a collection of essays in honor of Stuart Cohen, examines a variety of issues in civil-military relations (CMR) in Israel and abroad. Beyond honoring Cohen’s work, this collection makes a substantial contribution to the field for a number of reasons. First, it brings together prominent scholars from different disciplines in the field, from both Israel and abroad, sketching its boundaries. The chapters in the collection deal with a variety of issues, theoretical and empirical, including topics that are usually neglected in English works, such as the control the military in Israel has on building construction permits in the civilian sector and the relations between the security establishment and the judicial system. Other chapters offer new theoretical perspectives such as the context within which Israeli CMR should be examined, and a more general look at the focus of CMR. Second, it gives non-Hebrew speaking scholars and laypersons alike a better idea of what the main issues in the field of civil-military relations in Israel are today. This book will allow university professors and laypersons to access quality scholarship while still offering a broad spectrum of topics.

Examining Israeli foreign policy towards the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) between the 1967 war and the 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, this work focuses on the impact and process of globalisation on the Israeli state's politics, economy, society and culture.