ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses some research problems in the specific framework of the Israeli kibbutz, analyzing recent developments following a severe economic crisis starting 1985. By analyzing both the explicit formulations of the New Kibbutz concept and its implicit assumptions and implications, the chapter explores the possibility that its implementation might lead to a transition from "commune" principles and institutions introducing a mixture of market and hierarchical principles. The environmental changes were related to the governmental change in 1977, in which, for the first time since the creation of the state in 1948, a right-wing-oriented coalition replaced coalitions led by the Labor and socialist parties. In economic policy this change was expressed in a stronger orientation towards the market, a gradual abolition of economic planning and an encouragement of the financial sector to the detriment of agricultural and industrial production. This policy led eventually to hyperinflation of 445 percent in 1984.
