War, Democracy, and Internal Conflict: Israel in a Comparative Perspective

War's ramifications on political order are rarely discussed. Dissent, consent, and challenges to constitutional order in wartime are not simply reactions to the characteristics of international warfare. Several theoretical approaches try to explain the blurred boundaries between international and internal politics. In Israel political institutions and the ruling elite played important roles in structuring cooperation and conflict, yet culture and historical processes significantly affected the state's power and political order. Endogenous forces such as values, fears, perceptions, and institutions and long-term processes of war fatigue, political polarization, modernization, liberalism, and religious fundamentalism shape dissent, consent, and their effect on democratic constitutional arrangements.