Politics of Yisrael
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
Politics in Yisrael are dominated by Zionist political parties on the political right, center, and left, although there are a few non-Zionist political factions represented.
Yisrael is a federal presidential constitutional monarchy, and its politics are reflected at the national level through the Presidency and the Royal Knesset and their elections, including various major and minor political parties, formal and informal political factions and interest groups, the media, and ideologically (and informally) through the Royal courts. On the District and local level, organs of national parties as well as regional and minor local parties and factions predominate the political scene, with a stronger focus on local "bread and butter" issues that may often diverge from national partisan perspectives.
At the end of the 2010s and entering the 2020s, Yisraeli politics has been roiled by a centrist revolt, which has fractured the left as well as a separate, parallel conservative and royalist backlash to a previously-weakened monarchy, leading to a political reordering of the 2.5-party system after the 2020 presidential and Knesset elections.
Political climate
Introduction
Among global politics, Yisrael has a strong right-wing political and ideological orientation, influenced by its religious culture, traditional society, political history, and national interests in foreign affairs.
The Royal Constitution codifies Yisrael as a halachic state, meaning the Kingdom is ruled by religious law as elaborated in the Talmud and Code of Jewish Law. Thus, certain ideologies such as atheism and secularism are illegal, and ideologies derived from such thought (communism, socialism, Warnerism, etc.) are also by definition banned, as per the 1925 Sanhedrin case Popular Left Front of Yisrael v. Government of Yisrael.
From this, the center of political and religious gravity is center-right-to-right as compared to the Western Belisarian states. Thus, "left" in Yisrael maybe mildly "center-left" in a country such as Arthurista, and "far-right" in Yisrael would be comparable to other hard- and extreme-right groups in religious countries such as Sydalon or Ascalzar.
Political parties, factions, and blocs are formed from a variety of religious, ethnic, ideological, social, and personality-driven concerns and issues, and the widespread ethno-religious self-segregation and political polarization has created a de jure multi-party system but a de facto 2.5 party system where the political right is led by the Conservatives and the political left by the Con-Libs but they are not powerful enough to win outright majorities, and must build coalitions with second-tier minor parties with concentrated and durable political bases. This is cemented further by the use of a first-past-the-post voting system and single-member districts, which tend towards two-party systems.
Party systems
The FPTP electoral system established in the 1920 Constitution and the reformist/royalist divide in the last years of the absolute monarchy era that morphed into a stable left/right political spectrum after the Constitution's adoption created a rather stable party system in Yisrael that lasts until the present.
First Party System (1921-1941)
Although ideological factions existed under the late absolute monarchy era (1715-1919), parties did not emerge until the 1920 Constitution in the aftermath of the Constitutional Liberal victory in the 1919 Revolution that ended the absolute monarchy and introduced a constitutional monarchy in its stead.
The constitutionalist and liberal forces behind the new political order quickly organized themselves into the Constitutional Liberal Party while the royalists and conservatives formed the Royalist Conservative Party. For the early-to-mid 1920s, these two parties were the sole political entities contesting elections; by the late 1920s, other factions including far-right ultranationalists, labor activists and leftists, and centrists, started forming second- and third-tier minor political organizations.
The disastrous Third West Scipian War with Sydalon and the military coup in its immediate aftermath in 1941 begun the Autocracy regime and one-party rule, and the existing political order collapsed.
Second Party System (1952-1974)
In the aftermath of the fall of the Autocracy in the Year of Blood (1950-51) and the weakening of the monarchy's powers in the 1952 Royal Reform Acts, a restored constitutional order saw the revival of the Conservative-Con Lib two-party system, but this time, the liberal and secular forces were ascendant from the 1951 civil war and the Con-Libs ruled consistently throughout this period, with the Royalist Conservatives struggling to challenge them successfully.
The Fourth West Scipian War in the mid-1960s gave the weakened right a chance at political power, and they led the wartime government. However, in the war's conclusion, the Con-Libs and their left-wing minor party allies retook control in the late 1960s.
The five-year meandering peace process to strike the Yarden Accords with Sydalon weakened the left, and the right and far-right made gains in the early 1970s. At the time of its signing in 1974, the Yarden Accords proven too controversial and its backlash broke the center-left political hegemony and empowered the right. Scholars mark 1974 as the end of the post-1951 liberal- and Chiloni-oriented political order.
Third Party System (1974-2019)
Political scholars and historians in Yisrael note that late modern and contemporary Yisraeli politics are a direct realignment towards the right and towards renewed religiosity in the post-Yarden Yisraeli society of the 1970s and 1980s, leading to a succession of three-term Conservative-led governments followed by a scattering of single-term, very moderate Con-Lib presidencies in the 1990s and 2000s.
Domestic politics focused on dismantling the modest welfare state and instituting a number of tax cuts, privatizations, and deregulation, as well as vigilantly watching Sydalon post-Yarden. Internationally, there was a focus on opening up export markets in Ochran and Malaio, using existing Yisraeli economic interests in Onekawa-Nukanoa to more easily enter these emerging markets.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Greenbaum and Hillel administrations faced widely-publicized corruption scandals leading to both presidents' resignation in disgrace and succession by their vice-presidents. The successor to the Con-Lib Hillel, the youthful Ariel Halevi, was the only independent to serve as president since the presidency was established.
The beginning of the 3rd party system saw a plethora of minor political parties be created, but by the late 1980s and early 1990s, the right, left, and center settled in with 1-2 parties each in a stable alignment of first-tier parties (Blues and Golds) and second-tier parties (centrists, leftists, and far-rights).
While this period saw the right in power at the beginning, the triangulating Con-Libs towards the middle of this period brought about a majority of governments, albeit more centrist than their predecessors in the 1960s and 1970s. For example, between 1988 and 2012, the Con-Libs governed all but 5.5 years in control of the executive branch - and a year and a half of that was an "independent" presidency that was by and large staffed by Con-Libs and aligned with the them legislatively. Towards the end of the party system, the Conservatives retook another three-term government under Feldman and Katz (overlapping with the next party system).
This political order persisted until the end of the 2010s.
Fourth Party System (2019-present)
The nearly-century-long political order - a 2.5 system of a Con Lib-led left and a Conservative-led right - was abruptly disrupted and potentially reordered in November 2019 barely two months before the 2020 elections. A number of little-noticed events since the early 2000s led up to a split in the Con-Libs, with Reuven Goldschmidt forming his own center-left party, the Alternative for Yisrael, from an increasingly-leftist Constitutional Liberal Party under 2020 nominee Yosef Kaduri.
The center-right Action Yisrael, itself uncomfortable remaining in the Conservative-led Right Bloc under 2020 Conservative nominee Yitzchok Katz, a leading Neoconservative, ended its political alliance with the right and joined forces with the AfY, creating the United Center Bloc.
Within weeks, Goldschmidt overtook Kaduri as Katz's chief opponent for president, and nipped at his heels for the rest of the campaign. However, the death of King Yaakov II and the succession of his heir, the newly-revealed reactionary Hezekiah III scrambled the election in its last days, leading to Katz's win in an Electoral College landslide.
The 2020 election saw the Conservatives and their chief allies the Torah Achdus party strengthen their majority, but their other allies the Northern League suffered significant losses. The Constitutional Liberal Party lost over half of its Knesset seats and won a mere one District and its Electoral College Votes - its worse showing in history. It has been relegated to third party status after a century of being the leading party of the left. The United Center Bloc gained sizable seats, seizing a multitude of formerly Con-Lib strongholds in the suburbs to become the chief opposition to the ascendant Right.
While the beginning of the new party system has been characterized by centrist and conservative backlashes, scholars are divided whether the United Center parties will endure, or whether the Con-Libs will rally and reorganize themselves with a return to major-party status at the next election. Some of these questions were put to rest with the dissolution of the Constitutional Liberals in April 2021, with the party's successors forming rival parties, the National Liberals and the Party of the Left.
Zionist orientation
Zionist parties
- Royalist Conservative Party - Neo-Zionism
- Northern League - Neo-Zionism
- Alternative for Yisrael - Revisionist and Liberal Zionism
- Action Yisrael - Revisionist Zionism
- National Liberal Party - Liberal Zionism
Non-Zionist parties
- Torah Achdus (see Non-Zionist Religious Right)
- Party of the Left - officially "Non-Zionist" but has a faction of Liberal Zionists
Political parties and elections
Recent elections
2020
In the 2020 presidential and Knesset elections, the political right and its coalition saw swing and base voters move towards them in the last days of the election due to the controversial on-air implicit endorsement by the newly enthroned King Hezekiah III. Amid this, the ongoing Centrist Revolt by the newly formed United Center Bloc overtook the Con Lib-led Left Bloc as the leading opposition to the Right. The election resulted in a smashing victory for the Right, significant gains for a newly unified and coherent Center, and an across-the-board collapse by the Con-Libs and near wipeout of their left-wing allies the Alliance of Greens, Seculars, and Workers.
| Party | Seats | +/- | National Vote (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royalist Conservative Party | 64 |  5
|
24.4 | |
| Torah Achdus | 19 | 3
|
14.5 | |
| League for New Judea | 2 |  3
|
5.4 | |
| Alternative for Yisrael | 251 | 151
|
19.8 | |
| Action Yisrael | 17 | 5
|
11.3 | |
| Constitutional Liberal Party | 14 | 181
|
21.2 | |
| Alliance of Greens, Seculars, and Workers | 1 | 7
|
2.4 |
Notes
1. The AfY was created on November 7th, 2019, from the Con-Libs, taking 10 of its Members of Knesset. The Con-Lib caucus fell from 42 to 32 going into the 2020 elections.
2018
In the 2018 midterm elections, the center-left and left-wing parties generally saw an across-the-board upsurge against the ruling right-wing Blue-Maroon coalition from the 47th Knesset (2016-18). The Con-Libs flipped multiple swing seats from the Conservatives and Northern League, while themselves losing several urban left-wing seats to the Alliance. The center/center-right Action Yisrael flipped several Conservative and League seats, significantly increasing its political bloc to the largest since the party's creation. The ruling right was forced to make several politically moderate concessions by adding the AY to its coalition to retain a majority. Due to the addition of the Grays to the ruling bloc, the religious bloc ruled out joining the governing coalition but agreed to a supply and confidence agreement in return for a supermajority to pass several constitutional amendments through the Knesset.
| Party | Seats | +/- | National Vote (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royalist Conservative Party | 59 | 5
|
34.7 | |
| Action Yisrael | 12 | 5
|
13.4 | |
| League for New Judea | 5 | 6
|
10.8 | |
| Torah Achdus | 16 | 2
|
12.6 | |
| Constitutional Liberal Party | 42 | 3
|
23.9 | |
| Alliance of Greens, Seculars, and Workers | 8 | 5
|
4.9 |