The Foundation for Constitutional Democracy

Not only corrupt politicians, but also the decadence of Israel’s parliamentary electoral system is responsible for Sharon’s Disengagement Plan, hence for the unspeakable tragedy that has befallen thousands of Jews in Gaza and northern Samaria.

Few people realize that the flaws inherent in Israel’s parliamentary system were evident at the founding of the state, as may be learned from David Ben-Gurion’s Memoirs. (more…)

Introduction

Making Votes Count is the title of a book by Gary Cox, a leading expert on electoral systems.[1] Here I shall try to simplify his mathematically oriented research by paraphrasing and reorganizing statements scattered throughout his study of 77 countries listed by Freedom House as having democratic elections (circa 1992).

Although Professor Cox does not put it this way, a country’s electoral system can be decisive for its character, for it may determine Who shall rule and for what Ends or purposes. Which means that the caliber of politicians and the goals and policies they pursue depend very much on the method by which they are elected. The method of election determines the relationship between citizens and office-holders, hence the extent to which a country approximates a representative democracy. As will be seen in a moment, an ostensibly democratic electoral system can enable the ruling political party or parties to ignore the concerns of most citizens between elections and thereby make a mockery of democracy. (more…)

Not a few commentators criticize the people of Israel for their apparent apathy. Why did they passively accept the Oslo or Israel-PLO Agreement of September 13, 1993. How can they tolerate the consequent murder of almost 1,000 Jews and the wounding and maiming of many thousands more?

The truth is that the people are not apathetic but powerless, and of course powerlessness generates apathy. The people simply have no political and no judicial means of redressing their grievances concerning Oslo and its deadly consequences. They are not only oppressed by Israel’s system of government, but deceived and distracted by the veneer of democracy—periodic multiparty elections.

Consider the Knesset. (more…)

Toward the end of 1997, the Netanyahu Government voted unanimously (with two abstentions from the National Religious Party) that there would be no further Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria until the Palestinian Authority (PA) fully complied with the terms of the Oslo Agreement. Moreover, a five month period was to elapse before any redeployment would be undertaken to test whether the PA was fulfilling its obligations.

On March 10, 1998, however, the Government adopted a four-staged plan in which “The second step will be the fulfillment by the Palestinians of their obligations while, at the same time and in parallel, Israel will carry out the redeployments.” This suggests that the PA need only cease violating its obligations incrementally! (more…)

Abba Eban is unhappy about the stalled “peace process” (“A Disastrous Process”, Jerusalem Post, July 10, 1998). He believes he speaks for the nation when he says Israel “is beginning to feel that its prime minister does not take the public interest seriously.” He blames not only Mr. Netanyahu for this “disastrous” state of affairs, but the electoral system that made Netanyahu Israel’s first nationally elected prime minister.

Mr. Eban writes: “The direct election of the prime minister has violated every principle of decent international order.” A remarkable non sequitur. (more…)

Hong Kong, or rather the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), has a total area of 422 square miles on which reside some 6.85 million people, including less than 20,000 British. (Incidentally, Hong Kong has a per capita income of almost $30,000, among the highest in the world.)

Hong Kong has a 60-member legislature. The legislature represents 5 Geographical Constituencies (more…)

Justice is the central theme of Plato’s greatest dialogue, the Republic. What has this dialogue to do with the Arab vote? Let us proceed step by step.

The key figure of The Republic is of course Socrates. Socrates was a poor man. Poor men tend to be partisans of democracy. Why? Because democracies usually equate justice with equality. As a consequence, democracies give the poor the same rights as the rich. Not that Socrates was a partisan of oligarchy. But he also saw that democratic equality is a boon to the ignorant and even to scoundrels. Socrates was a philosopher, a seeker of truth. Hence he was skeptical about democracy, whose egalitarianism made no distinction between the wise and the unwise, the virtuous and the vicious. Even disloyal individuals may vote in a democracy. Can this be truly just? (more…)

A Jewish National Agenda
Professor Paul Eidelberg

A. Parliamentary Electoral Reform

As indicated in the previous article, statesmanship requires (1) well-educated statesmen, (2) a well-disposed people, and (3) well-designed political institutions. It will be obvious that of these prerequisites, indeed, of all the various elements of political life, the easiest to change are election rules. (more…)

MANY Israelis, including academics, believe that such is the smallness of this country, both in population and geographical area, that multi-district or constituency elections are inappropriate. They are wedded to the existing parliamentary system whereby the entire country constitutes a single electoral district in which parties compete and win Knesset seats on the basis of Proportional Representation (PR). This, they believe, enables distinct groups, be they ideological, ethnic, religious, or otherwise to be represented by correspondingly distinct parties in the Knesset regardless of whether the individuals composing these groups are dispersed throughout the country. They contend, moreover, that representation of geographical districts leads to disproportionate representation of diverse groups as well as gerrymandering. Let us distinguish facts from fictions. (more…)

Making Votes Count - They Don’t in Israel
Professor Paul Eidelberg

Introduction

Making Votes Count is the title of a book by Gary Cox, a leading expert on electoral systems.[1] Here I shall try to simplify his mathematically oriented research by paraphrasing and reorganizing statements scattered throughout his study of 77 countries listed by Freedom House as having democratic elections (circa 1992). (more…)

Rabbi Meir Kahane z’l was the most intellectually honest as well as the most courageous member of Israel’s Knesset. But it is a gross oversimplification to say he was “right,” as his followers have dogmatically proclaimed since the latest Arab uprising.

First of all, Kahane’s calling for the expulsion of Arabs not only resulted in his being unjustly maligned as a racist and a fascist. What is more, his name was used by the Left to delegitimize anyone who opposed the suicidal policy of “territory for peace.” This silenced many who otherwise sympathized with Kahane’s cause. (more…)

Seven years ago an article appeared in the November issue of The Atlantic Monthly that contains an unintended lesson for Israel.

Mexico, we learn, is by far the leading supplier of immigrants to the United States. Between 1970 and 1996, some five million Mexicans entered the United States to stay. George J. Borjas, a professor of public policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy’s School of Government (and a Cuban émigré) presented a worrisome picture in that Atlantic Monthly article.

He notes that Mexican immigration is concentrated in the Southwest, particularly in California and Texas. “Hispanics, including Central and South Americans but predominantly Mexicans, today compose 28% of the population of Texas and 31% of the population of California.” [As of 2000, the figures were 32% for Texas and 32.4% for California.] More than a million Texans and more than three million Californians were born in Mexico.”

Borjas concludes: (more…)

By Prof. Paul Eidelberg

Leaving metaphysical causes aside, among the factors leading Israel to the
abyss, the two most basic and seemingly contradictory ones are (1) the
democratic (or “demophrenic”) mentality of its political (and intellectual)
elites, and (2) the undemocratic nature of its political institutions.

The democratic mind is prone to indiscriminate egalitarianism or moral
equivalence. This is why loyal and disloyal citizens of Israel enjoy
political equality. This equality enabled the Labor Party to form, with the
support of five Arab Knesset Members, a government in 1992, and,
subsequently, to foist the Oslo or Israel-PLO Agreement on the Jewish
people. (more…)

III - Electoral Thresholds
Professor Paul Eidelberg July 5, 1999.

Electoral thresholds, like age qualifications for voting or for holding office, are not entirely arbitrary. We know that a 3% electoral threshold for the Knesset would have no significant affect on the number of parties in the Knesset. Had a 3% threshold been operative in the May 1996 elections, it would have eliminated three parties, except that the parties endangered by such a threshold would have formed joint lists. A 4% threshold would have eliminated two other parties, but they too would have combined with one or another party.

After one or two elections, a 5% threshold would produce a Knesset with no more than five parties or party coalitions. Since these coalitions would have to campaign on a common platform, this would tend to enlarge their political horizons and minimize extremism. With no more than five parties in the Knesset—improving its deliberations—the Cabinet would consist of two or three parties. This would facilitate more coherent and resolute national policies and thus contribute to national unity and national security. (more…)