The newest volume in the Elections in Israel series focuses on the twentieth Knesset elections held in March 2015 following the collapse of the third Netanyahu government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main opposition party, the Zionist Camp, ran a negative personalized election campaign, assuming that Israelis had grown tired of him. Netanyahu, however, achieved a surprising and dramatic victory by enhancing and radicalizing the same identity politics strategies that helped him win in 1996.

The Elections in Israel 2015 dissects these and other campaigns, from the perspective of the voters, the media and opinion polls, the political parties, and electoral competition. Several contributors delve into the Left and Arab fear mongering Likud campaign, which produced strategic identity voting. Other contributions analyze in-depth the Israeli party and electoral systems, highlighting the exceptional decline of the mainstream parties and the adoption of a higher electoral threshold. Providing a close analysis of electoral competition, legitimacy struggles, stability and change in the voting behavior of various groups, partisanship, personalization and political polarization, this volume is a crucial record of Israeli political history.

About the Author

Michal Shamir is the Alvin Z. Rubinstein Professor of Political Science at Tel-Aviv University. She has authored and edited several books and numerous articles on elections, public opinion and democratic culture, and directs the Israel National Election Studies (INES).

Gideon Rahat is the Gersten Family Chair in Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has published numerous studies on the politics of reform, democratic institutions, candidate and leadership selection and political personalization.

Book Information
ISBN 9781412865265
Author Michal Shamir
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Inc
Weight(grams) 690g