Introduction

This introductory chapter presents the topic and approach of the whole book. It sketches the development of the European Left's thinking about Jews, antisemitism, Zionism, and Israel from Marx until the present. It then briefly identifies some shortcomings in previous literature and introduces the theoretical and methodical choices made in this book in order to explain the Norwegian Left's shifting beliefs about Zionism and Israel. It continues by explaining how the use of Norway as a case study can produce insights that may also be of relevance in other contexts. The subsequent section explains how ideas about Zionism and Israel were entangled with ideas about civilisation; how studying ideas about Zionism and Israel can also advance the study of ideas about civilisation; and how this contributes to the ‘Jewish Imperial Turn’ in historical scholarship. The final section briefly sketches out the structure of the book and the main argument of each subsequent chapter.