Political Power Shifts in Israel, 1977 and 1992: Unsuccessful Electoral Economics

ABSTRACT: During the past decade, several researchers have convincingly argued that, as a developed democracy, Israel ex-hibits a fairly clear pattern of electoral economic cycles. The present article questions some of the fundamental assumptions and 'political anthropologyn underlying this approach. Specifi-cally, it points to the crucial impact of long-term economic re-structuring and power realignment on the nature and outcome of electoral politics. The significance of these processes has be-come apparent mainly since the 1970s, with the transition from a growing economy dominated by a socialdemocratic govern-ment to a stagnating market dominated by large business groups. In the latter context, when there emerges a "consensus of dis-content " among the key business and labor coalitions, the gov-ernment is dethroned. Due to limitations in available data, this study must be re-garded as preliminary. Its hypothesis is tested against the two major electoral shifts, in 1977 and 1992. An alternative political-economic approach to the development of Israeli society, opposed to current political and economic paradigms, is presented. 1