| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Civil society in Israel has emerged not only as the key victim of the democratic recession currently engulfing the country, but also as the main source of its democratic promise. There is a direct correlation between the intensified efforts of neo-nationalist groups to curtail civil society and its increased centrality as the locus of the ongoing struggle for the assurance of a just, egalitarian and pluralistic Israel.
This essay briefly surveys the emergence of civil society in Israel and its characteristics; it then analyzes recent attacks on civil society organizations and consequent shifts in its structure and activities. On this basis it discusses some of the implications of Israel's present democratic crisis and seeks to reassess the outlook for democratic durability in the country. The main contention of this analysis is that there is a close connection between the vibrancy of Israeli civil society and its democratic resilience. Today, Israel's reactivated civic sector stands as the last bastion between an ultra-nationalist takeover and democratic survival.
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