An Empirical Analysis of the Popular Votes for Right-Wing Parties (original) (raw)

The Demise of the Left Parties in Israel: From Party Identification to a Negative Partisanship

Przegląd Politologiczny, 2023

The left parties are the oldest political institutions in Israel. They were founded before the establishment of the State and were the dominant political force in its first decades. However, since the 1990s, there has been a consistent decline in their power, to the point where, in the last Knesset elections held in 2022, the left parties barely passed the threshold. This article explains the decline of the left parties and attempts to answer where the voters went. A combination of several local and global events that occurred in recent years caused the left parties to distance themselves from the narrative of Zionist Socialism characterizing them and to adopt a new narrative, which less inspires identification of Jewish voters. The article's main argument is that the voters did not disappear but only changed their political behavior from a state of party identification and voting for the left parties to a state of political opposition and voting against the rightist parties. To illustrate the pattern of behavior, voting data for the Knesset in two communities with different demographic characteristics are presented: Kibbutz Mizra, a socialist commune identified with left voters, and Beit-Shean, a town that is a stronghold of rightist voters. The conclusion is that the way for the left parties to return to dominance is through reintegrating the Jewish identity with the values of justice and equality.

Voting for extreme right parties in Israel: Evidence from the 2009 elections

In recent years, extreme right parties have received considerable electoral support in Europe. Accordingly, many scholars have examined the factors attracting voters in many Western democracies to extreme right parties. In this study, we sought to determine what factors are responsible for the support of extreme right parties in Israel. Using Israel National Election Studies micro-data for the 2009 elections, we found evidence that political dissatisfaction and security issues significantly contribute to support for extreme right parties. In contrast to other countries where economic issues are more salient, our results suggest that economic views do not significantly explain one's support for extreme right parties.

The Peculiar Victory of The National Camp in the 2013 Israeli Election

Israel Affairs, 2015

This article argues that attempts to characterize the outcome of the elections to the 19th Knesset as a defeat of the Israeli right are misleading. By using a three-dimensional analysis of the ideological makeup of the Knesset, based on the ideological manifestos of the parties, the socio-demographic profiles of Knesset members and analyses of election results utilizing electoral data and socio-demographic data obtained from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the article claims that the 19th Knesset is no less rightleaning than its predecessor. Hence, contrary to some commentators in both the media and academia, the 2013 elections represent a true landmark for the settlers. For the first time since the movement appeared in the 1970s, it managed to obtain a solid base in the Knesset.

The Transformation of Israel's Extreme Right

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2001

The extreme right in Israel was traditionally defined by its hawkish views on the occupied territories and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The decline of this political camp in the 1999 national elections brought many to the conclusion that the Israeli extreme right had died. The main argument of this article is that the king is deadlong live the king. Despite the popular belief that the extreme right in Israel is on the decline, the second wave of right-wing extremism is already here in a stronger and more prevalent form. By accepting a broader definition of the extreme right, it can be concluded that twenty percent of Israeli parliament members represent ideas similar to those of the European extreme right, especially antidemocracy and xenophobia.

The Transformation of the Israeli Extreme Right

2001

The extreme right in Israel was traditionally defined by its hawkish views on the occupied territories and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The decline of this political camp in the 1999 national elections brought many to the conclusion that the Israeli extreme right had died. The main argument of this article is that the king is dead - long live the king. Despite the popular belief that the extreme right in Israel is on the decline, the second wave of right-wing extremism is already here in a stronger and more prevalent form. By accepting a broader definition of the extreme right, it can be concluded that twenty percent of Israeli parliament members represent ideas similar to those of the European extreme right, especially antidemocracy and xenophobia.

The Israeli electoral state of mind

Quaderni dell'Osservatorio elettorale. QOE - IJES, 2018

The 2015 Israeli general elections provide rare intellectual stimuli to trace and characterize some of the larger sociopolitical stances in Israeli society. Since Israeli politics has undergone many changes over the last decades, a focus on electoral moment unpacks the issues and general perception regarding geopolitics (i.e. the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) and the domestic health of the country (i.e. sociopolitical reforms and policy-developments). This paper aims at analyzing the three main dimensions, which were emphasized during the electoral campaign and the turnout, while it connects them with what we may refer to as the Israeli political "state of mind".