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Year:: 2022
Contributor:: Harris, Zachary (creator); Tannenwald, Nina (thesis advisor); Berman, Nathaniel (reader); Brown University. Political Science (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Nationalism; Constitutional law; Israel; constitution; Middle East--Palestine; Jewish history; Arab-Israeli conflict; Comparative law; Comparative law--Legal research; Legislative histories; Zionism
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26300/55vz-1g16

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Abstract:: In the early hours of Thursday, July 19th, 2018, the Israeli Knesset narrowly passed “Basic Law: Israel – The National State of the Jewish People” (hereafter: The Nation-State Law). The Law encompasses eleven short articles delineating the meaning and value of Israel’s Jewish identity. As the latest statement on Israel’s Jewish identity, the Law provides an invaluable opportunity to reflect on the past, present, and future of Israeli politics. Furthermore, its connections to international debates over the role of ethnic identity in modern democracy suggest that the Law might provide a useful point of comparison for these critical global issues. The Law’s domestic and international significance inspires this thesis’s central research questions: Why did the Nation-State Law come about? What are its implications for Israeli democracy? I argue that while the Law is best understood as the result of a complex multi-causal process, right-wing frustrations toward the High Court’s perceived liberal bias and interventionist tendencies can be identified as a particularly salient motivating factor. Concerns over the domestic and international delegitimization of Israel’s Jewish identity were an important secondary motivation. I also argue that the Law has been mostly ineffectual in both the legal and sociopolitical realms. The High Court has interpreted the Law as mostly declarative and thus inapplicable to most tangible policy questions. While the Law inspired substantial domestic and international condemnation, it failed to catalyze meaningful shifts in political behaviors or attitudes.
Notes:: Senior thesis (AB)--Brown University, 2022; Concentration: Political Science

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Harris, Zachary, "Constitutionalizing Ethnic Identity in Modern Democracy: The Case of the Israeli Nation-State Law" (2022). Political Science Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.26300/55vz-1g16

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Political Science Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Political Science department.
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Constitutionalizing Ethnic Identity in Modern Democracy: The Case of the Israeli Nation-State Law