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Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
15 Sep 2021, 20:53
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The issue of the democratic character of Israel is not only challenging from an academic perspective but also of high political relevance...According to the Freedom House index, which is commonly taken as a reference source for assessing political systems as democratic or undemocratic, Israel is a democracy. Although Israel’s score of 79 is well below that of the three best performers (Finland, Norway, and Sweden, with a score of 100), it is better rated on the basis of political rights and civil liberties than some other major democracies, for instance India and Brazil (whose score is 77 and 78, respectively) and is listed among the eighty-eight countries that Freedom House evaluated as free in 2018. Thus, the question arises as to what the arguments of those who reject that Israel is a democracy are.
... [T]here are authors who attempt to prove the non-existence of an Israeli democracy [like] Ilan Pappe, [who believes] “the litmus test of any democracy is the level of tolerance it is willing to extend towards the minorities living in it.” He concludes that, “in this respect, Israel falls far short of being a true democracy.” Pappe shows that the State of Israel systematically discriminates against one-fifth of its citizens, i.e. those Arab inhabitants of the British Mandate of Palestine and their descendants who were not expelled or did not flee during the 1947–49 Palestine War.
There is a sophisticated debate surrounding Sammy Smooha’s model of “ethnic democracy” and its application to Israel... Smooha explicates that Israel, albeit not qualifying as a liberal democracy, is still a democracy. Israel is not a liberal democracy as its Palestinian citizens do not enjoy equal rights. Rather, the state, which is “based on Jewish and Zionist hegemony and on structural subordination of the Arab minority” systematically discriminates against them. At the same time, Smooha outlines that Israel qualifies as a democratic state because Israeli Palestinians have full access to democratic political rights.
Alan Dowty resorts to a ‘thin’ definition of democracy as first developed by the Nestor of research on modern democracy, Robert Dahl who lists the following democracy prerequisites: Freedom to form and join organizations, freedom of expression, right to vote, eligibility for public office, right of political leaders to compete for support and right of political leaders to compete for votes, alternative sources of information, free and fair elections, and institutions for making government policies depend on votes and other expressions of preference.
As Palestinian Israelis are not excluded from this catalogue, Israel [...] qualifies as a democracy. However, in their critique on Smooha, As’ad Ghanem et al. apply a ‘thick’ concept of democracy, according to which equality (and consent) is an “essential characteristic of a democracy”. As it is uncontested that Palestinian Israelis are discriminated against by their state, it is unsurprising that, on the basis of this definition of democracy, they conclude that Israel is not a democracy.
The academic discourse on thick versus thin concepts of democracy reflects that, in the end, the term democracy refers to an ideal that can hardly match with reality to its fullest degree... If the criteria of equality as proposed by Ghanem et al. are applied to the fullest degree, hardly any political system would qualify as a fully-fledged democracy, because most, if not all, political systems discriminate to a certain degree against some social groups...
1. The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements
a) Democratic countries have impossible ideals.
b) A thin democracy is a practical compromise.
c) Political systems are incapable of being fair to all their social groups.
d) Full-fledged democracies seldom offer equality to all social groups
2. Which of the following best summarises the argument offered by As’ad Ghanem et al. on the idea of democracy?
a) A country that doesn’t provide equality and consent is only a thin democracy.
b) A country is not a thick democracy unless it provides equality and consent to all its minorities.
c) A country is not a democracy if its minorities are discriminated against by the state.
d) A country is not a liberal democracy unless it gives its minorities full access to democratic political rights.
a) A country that doesn’t provide equality and consent is only a thin democracy.
b) A country is not a thick democracy unless it provides equality and consent to all its minorities.
c) A country is not a democracy if its minorities are discriminated against by the state.
d) A country is not a liberal democracy unless it gives its minorities full access to democratic political rights.
3. A ‘thin’ definition of democracy would probably include all the following EXCEPT
a) the right to compete for a public office and ask for support.
b) the right to voice opinions.
c) equal rights for all voters.
d) an opportunity to frame government policies.
a) the right to compete for a public office and ask for support.
b) the right to voice opinions.
c) equal rights for all voters.
d) an opportunity to frame government policies.
4. Sammy Smooha’s stand on Israel is that it is
a) a liberal democracy because Israeli Palestinians have democratic political rights.
b) a democratic state because a majority of the Israelis have full access to democratic political rights.
c) not a democratic state because it is based on the structural subordination of the Arab minority.
d) not a liberal democratic state because Palestinians are treated as inferior citizens.
a) a liberal democracy because Israeli Palestinians have democratic political rights.
b) a democratic state because a majority of the Israelis have full access to democratic political rights.
c) not a democratic state because it is based on the structural subordination of the Arab minority.
d) not a liberal democratic state because Palestinians are treated as inferior citizens.
5. Which of the following can be understood to be true about Israel from the passage?
a) Israel offers more democratic rights to its citizens than India or Brazil do.
b) Israel is a secular country despite Zionist and Jewish domination.
c) At least one-fifth of the Israeli citizens do not have access to equal rights.
d) All Palestinians in Israel have democratic rights but not the right to equality.
a) Israel offers more democratic rights to its citizens than India or Brazil do.
b) Israel is a secular country despite Zionist and Jewish domination.
c) At least one-fifth of the Israeli citizens do not have access to equal rights.
d) All Palestinians in Israel have democratic rights but not the right to equality.
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