ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the societal factors which impact upon the capability of the Israel Defence Forces. The nature of a nation's social fabric may both weaken and enhance its military potential and performance. In order to explore the nexus, military and social developments during the early 1950s are selected as a case study of the reciprocal influences occurring between civil and military spheres. 'The doctrine of national security' presumes an ideational and principled basis for guiding national undertakings in different, and varied, areas. Its role is to assure national security in the short and long term by drawing on national potential. Military resilience derives from the capacity of a nation to realize its potential from all the power components that are available. The wave of immigration in the early 1950s doubled the population of Israel. Mass immigration included different social strata and varied ethnic and cultural elements.
