ABSTRACT
Introduction Israel is a parliamentary democracy that has been ruled, since its establishment in 1948, by multi-party coalition governments. Party leaders – prominent among them David Ben-Gurion, leader of the Mapai Party, who is seen as the founding father of the state of Israel – were central actors in Zionist and Israeli politics from the pre-state period. Party leaders were, and still are, almost always automatically regarded as the parties’ candidates for the highest executive positions: the prime ministership for the leaders of the largest parties and senior ministerial positions for the smaller ones. Six of Israel’s 12 prime ministers took office immediately following an intra-party procedure, with no general election held between the party’s decision and their inauguration (Kenig 2009c: 63). This emphasises the importance of leadership selection as a practice that has political consequences beyond the intra-party arena. While party leaders these days may not be perceived as the ‘giant’ leaders of earlier periods, their role in Israeli politics is nevertheless central, especially due to the processes of presidentialisation (Hazan 2005) and centralised personalisation (Balmas et al. 2012). In this chapter we examine the five largest parties in the Israeli Knesset (parliament), as at 2012. These include the centre-left Labour and the centre-right Likud, veteran parties whose origins can be easily traced back to the pre-state period. The Labour Party was established in 1968 as a unification of three socialist parties. Labour (and its predecessor, Mapai) was the dominant party in the pre-state period and also led all coalition governments between 1949 and 1977. Later, the party took part in three unity governments (1984-90) and recaptured the leading position in the governments of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres (1992-6) and Ehud Barak (1999-2001). In the last decade, it has served as a junior coalition partner in several cabinets. Despite its decline it is still regarded as a main government contender. Labour’s traditional arch-rival was Likud (and its predecessor, Herut). Herut – the main component of Likud – was established on the basis of the Irgun (Etzel) pre-state militia. It later established an alliance with the Liberal Party (1965) and was a junior partner in the national unity governments of 1967-70. In 1973 these two parties formed the Likud parties’ alliance with additional parties
and in 1988 they finally unified into a single party. Likud first won an election in 1977 and since then has been in power more often than any other party. As of 2012, it is the ruling party in a coalition with smaller religious and right-wing ultra-nationalistic parties. The other three parties are much younger. Kadima is the only one, other than Labour and Likud, which ever led the coalition. Former Likud leader and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon broke away from the party he led to establish this party in late 2005 – as a result of disagreements concerning his plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip – and it quickly attracted MKs (members of the Knesset) from Likud and other parties, including Labour. Despite its youth, Kadima led the government for three years (2006-9) and enjoyed the largest electoral support in two general elections (2006, 2009). The ultra-orthodox Shas was established in 1984 in reaction to the discrimination of Oriental Jews (Jews who immigrated from Asia and Africa) within Israel in general and the ultra-orthodox community in particular. The extreme (or radical) right party, Yisrael Beitenu, was established in 1999 as a party of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, but has since tried to break through to other electorates. This chapter identifies a process of democratisation in three of the parties (Likud, Kadima and Labour) and the absence of signs for any change in the other two, rather authoritarian, parties (Shas and Yisrael Beitenu). The selection of a leader in the democratised parties, through party primaries, is more participatory, transparent and open, but also much more costly and prone to manipulation. Leadership primaries in Israel attract more candidates in comparison to selection events that use more exclusive selectorates, but the contest is slightly less competitive. Most of the candidates and leaders are middle-aged men with prior legislative experience. The average tenure of the Israeli party leaders is six years, though there are significant differences in this aspect among the parties.
