Soldiers in legitimate politics: the Israeli case

Abstract

Why do officers enter politics after retiring from service, and how do they choose which political party to join? This thesis addresses these questions by looking at the Israeli case. Israel is an atypical case in this regard due to the large ratio of retired generals entering politics compared to other advanced industrialised countries. The answers to these questions are explored through a two-pronged method. First, an historical institutionalist perspective is employed, by looking at the institutional evolution of the Israeli state to see what practices were entrenched as institutions. Second, a pool of 84 generals from various positions was collected and coded by their dates of service and entry into politics, as well as which parties they were in. This was combined by data from the Manifesto Project on the 24 different political parties they entered. As a result of this analysis, it was found that retired generals prefer, overwhelmingly, secularist parties. A plurality just short of a majority prefers left-wing, Labour Zionist parties, while the remaining portion is almost equally divided between centrist/liberal parties and right-wing parties. With the data at hand, it is concluded that the generals prioritise security issues, though economic issues may also play a crucial role. Overall, the findings indicate that retired Israeli generals enter politics to preserve the IDF’s privileged space in Israeli society and economy, under the sense that the IDF’s position is necessary for Israel’s long-term prosperity. In doing so, this thesis aims to contribute to the field of civil-military relations and more specifically, applying theories of motivation for entering politics to the Israeli case.