ABSTRACT

This book provides an integrated analysis of the complex nature of citizenship in Israel. Contributions from leading social and political theorists explore different aspects of citizenship through the demands and struggles of minority groups to provide a comprehensive picture of the dynamics of Israeli citizenship and the dilemmas that emerge at the collective and individual levels.

Considering the many complex layers of membership in the state of Israel including gender, ethnicity and religion, the book identifies and explores processes of inclusion and exclusion that are general issues in any modern polity with a highly diverse civil society. While the focus is unambiguously on modern Israel, the interpretations of citizenship are relevant to many other modern societies that face similar contradictory tendencies in membership. As such, the book will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, political sociology and law.

chapter 1|22 pages

Introduction

Contemporary dilemmas of Israeli citizenship

chapter 4|24 pages

Dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in the Israeli welfare state

State-building and political economy 1

chapter 6|24 pages

Citizenship, identity, and ethnic mobilization in Israel

The Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow – between universalism and particularism

chapter 7|23 pages

Fundamentalist citizenships 1

The Haredi challenge

chapter 8|22 pages

NGOization of the Israeli feminist movement

Depoliticizing or redefining political spaces?

chapter 9|23 pages

Parading pridefully into the mainstream

Gay and lesbian immersion in the civil core

chapter 10|19 pages

Inward turns

Citizenship, solidarity and exclusion

chapter 11|36 pages

Civic associations, empowerment and democratization

Arab civil society in Israel