The problem of political leadership in Israel

The problem of political leadership is one of the most urgent issues in the political science. The research of the political elite is crucialboth for the governments decision-making as well as for the prognostication of the most likely directions of the countrys development. Thereupon,the studies of the Israeli political leadership are very important for the foreign-policy cooperation between Russia and Israel (one of thepartners in the Middle East), as well as for the Israel's relationship with other countries of the region. It is also extremely important in the light ofthe Middle East conflict settlement. In the present article the stages of the leadership formation in Israel, as well as their periodisation, are outlinedand the review of each stage is given. The stages of the leadership formation in Israel seem to be as following: 1. the era of charismaticleaders (the end of the 19th c. - the beginning of 1980s); 2. the transitional period - the search for new generation leaders (the beginning of1980s - the end of 1990s); 3. the era of leaders-technocrats (since the beginning of the 21st century until now). The conditions, under which theState of Israel was founded and then developed, required some special abilities from the leaders. Particularly, the leaders authority in their politicalcareer was based on the battle experience of the leader, who leant upon his brothers in arms. With the development of the country and thechange of pace, the approach to the leading bodies formation needed to be revised. Some professional institutes represented by the councillorsemerged, while the activity of the biggest parties speeded towards the democratization of the inner-party life. An attempt to mark out youngnew leaders, new elite was another sign of the transitional period in the process of leadership formation in Israel. Gradually, the transition to thenew type of leadership, which was called rationally legal by M. Weber, occurred. The leaders-technocrats came to power at the same time thatthe public trust in authorities declined sharply. This loss of trust was the result of some political leaders deviation from their original politicalplatforms. The image of the authorities was severely damaged by a number of serious corruption scandals, as well as by the declining of thesecurity level in the country. Despite the fact that almost all western countries have shifted to the technocratic government, the same process inIsrael may end up with a disaster. The State of Israel was always in a need of strong politicians with outstanding leadership qualities, who wereable to unite the inhomogeneous society and lead the way. However, nowadays there is a lack of leaders, who enjoy the confidence and arecapable of ruling the country (or the political party) at the time of a never-ending conflict.

Keywords

Authors

References