ABSTRACT
A major problem for new states is the implacable hostility of other states. For the Armenians the hatred of the Turks and dislike of the Russians were a major hindrance in creating a state for generations. For the Kurds the hostility of four major Middle Eastern states (Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria) helped prevent the emergence of an independent Kurdistan. For Lebanese Christians, the hostility of the Muslim world ultimately destroyed their state. For Israel, the hostility of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Tsarist Russia, the British Empire (1937-49), the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and the bulk of the Arab world was a massive problem for the creation and flourishing of Israel. While it can have some positive effects (promoting internal cohesion and immigration to Israel), its negative effects are serious. Michael Oren has observed that, after generations of powerlessness, the Jews had to confront “immense forces” arrayed against Israel that posed “existential challenges” to its very creation and existence.1 Joel Migdal, who was more sanguine about the impact of foreign threats on Israel, has written:
Outside enemies, of course, can have the most devastating impact on the ability of leaders to achieve their goals of state predominance within a given territory. In the worst of circumstances, they can militarily defeat the state and its leaders and demand the most drastic sorts of changes. Even in less severe circumstances, they can cripple the state’s domestic control through war economic sanctions and more. They can also aid directly those internal groups that are struggling with the state for social control.2
