Baruch Kimmerling

Patterns of militarism in Israel

Most of the subjects concerned with Israel, such as the location of the military and militaristic culture, are heavily distorted in comparison to other themes prevalant in the discourse and the debates in the social sciences, very much like the other issues linked with the Jewish-Arab conflict and Jewish-Arab relations (Kimmerling, 1992). Ideological and value loaded considerations blur the issue, making even the usage of the term ‘militarism’ in the canonical textbooks a taboo in Israel. The main purpose of this paper is three-fold: 1) to present a brief survey of the present state of the literature on so-called ‘civil-military relations’ in Israel, from which 2) a revision can be made of the overall impact of the Jewish-Arab conflict and the militarization of Israeli society. This will be followed by 3) a reformulation of the effect of militarization on the institutional and value spheres of the Israeli collectivity.

Sociology, Ideology, and Nation-Building: The Palestinians and Their Meaning in Israeli Sociology

The analyticframework that guides research and analysis is often value-laden and conforms to a-hegemonic culture or struggling counter-culture. I discussfive kinds offramework decisions: the sociopolitical boundaries of the collectivity under investigation, the historical periodization of the society, the terminology used to characterize sociological processes and phenomena, the way the research problem is posed, and the subjects deemed appropriate for investigation. In a case study of Israel, I show that the Palestinian minority and Jewish-Arab conflict were characterized by mainstream Israeli sociologists in accordance with dominant Zionist perspectives. Cultural commitments, perceived existential needs, and class, ethnic, and national interests, have shaped the way Israeli sociologists portray the basic features of Israeli society.

Some Social Implications of Military Service and the Reserves System in Israel

An uneasy relationship between the army and the society within which it operates is a situation characteristic of most contemporary, relatively developed countries. The major tensions crystallize around three foci: first, the incompatibility between the continuous decline in the centrality and salience of the national security issue and the increased allocation of human andmaterial resources to the military institutions. Second, the societal dilemma between an ideology which advocates the total segregation of the army from the other institutional spheres and the tendencies towards overt or latent role expansion of the military system. Third, the decline of military values and roles as a result of the impact of competing values. As a result of these tensions, the balanced exchange between the social system and the military sub-system tends to be disturbed. The military is often geared to maintaining a level of national security which requires a commitment of resources to this function exceeding the actual input of such resources. Consequently, the performance of the military is often impaired, and the government comes under pressure to increase military spending. Our paper deals with two democratic political systems which, to a considerable extent, avoided this kind of tension between the society at large and its military institutions. The comparison will be between Israel and Switzerland, with the emphasis on the former. The comparison will be made in reference to specific points relevant to the problems under study and will not be a general comparison of the two systems.

Exchanging Territories for Peace: A Macrosociological Approach

The Israeli public experienced much confusion during the removal of Israeli settlements from the Sinai Peninsula. The author discusses this confusion and its sources: problems and contradictions related to the societys concept of peace and its value, and the conflict between Israels desires for peace and recognition versus fears of reversing the settlement process and of losing Israels identity through integration with the Arab states. The evacuation proceeded as scheduled and without civil war, according to the author, because Egypts offer was highly desirable, because those opposing withdrawal were not as powerful as the government and military and were unable to attract a broad cross-section of the public, and because the government made a firm decision to negotiate with Egypt and offer territory for peace.

Voluntary Action and Location in the System: The Case of the Israeli Civilians During the 1973 War

The 1973 war created a situation in which the actor was given relative freedom in choosing and performing volunteering roles. After reviewing the conditions created by the war and the institutional handling of volunteering, it is hypothesized that the tendency to volunteer is connected with the location on the center-periphery continuum, with centrality providing both a predisposition to volunteer and the possession of the necessary connections and skills. Data were gathered through a questionnaire answered by 515 persons who were heads of households during the war. As expected, a significant connection was found between volunteering and socio-economic status (SES) variables connected with centrality as well as between volunteering and membership in voluntary organizations during routine time. No connection was found between the costs of war and volunteering to the actor and her or his family and the tendency to volunteer. The ways in which volunteers got their jobs were usually connected with personal initiative and with attributes of centrality. These findings are interpreted in terms of the centrality hypothesis.