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Academic Year 2003/2004

Nationalism, Democracy & War: Israel in Comparative Perspective
GOVT 305 SP

This course aims to make students familiar with the nature of Israeli democracy.
The course will be divided into historical and contemporary parts. The historical part examines ideological premises upon which the state was found and analyzes strategies of state and nation building employed by the state¿s ¿founding fathers¿ between 1920¿s and 1967. The contemporary part analyzes the main features of the contemporary Israeli polity (i.e. from 1967 to present). In particular, it explores such issues as the nature of the political system; political parties and movements; changes in electoral behavior, political culture, and political economy; the political role of the judiciary and religion; the impact of the Arab-Israeli conflict (including Intifada) on Israeli politics and society; and the interrelations between the state of Israel and its Arab minority.

MAJOR READINGS

Asher Arian, POLITICS IN ISRAEL: THE SECOND GENERATION
Arthur Hetzberg, ed., THE ZIONIST IDEA
Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak, TROUBLE IN UTOPIA
Avner Yaniv, ed., NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEMOCRACY IN ISRAEL
Peter Medding, THE FOUNDING OF ISRAELI DEMOCRACY
Ehud Sprinzak, THE ASCENDANCE OF ISRAEL'S RADICAL RIGHT

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Each participant will be required a) to attend regularly, read the required reading, and actively participate in class discussions; b) submit two written reports (up to fives pages long) on the books in the supplementary reading list, accompanied by an oral presentation of the report at the session which deals with the subject of the book; c) to submit a final paper related to the topic covered by the course (15-20 pages long). The topic of the paper must be approved by the instructor. The course grad e is based on class participation (10 percent), two book reviews and their presentation (30 percent) and the final paper (60 percent).

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS GOVT    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Brudny,Yitzhak M.   
Times: ..T.R.. 10:30AM-11:50AM;     Location: PAC421
Reserved Seats:    (Total Limit: 20)
SR. major: 6   Jr. major: 6
SR. non-major: 2   Jr. non-major: 4   SO: 2   FR: X

Special Attributes:
Curricular Renewal:    Writing
Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004

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