Book
Radicalized Conservatism in Israel
Right-wing ideology is a dominant force in Israel today. Between 2009 and 2021, and again since 2023, Likud-led governments headed by Benjamin Netanyahu consolidated their vision for the country’s identity and its place in the Middle East. Radicalized Conservatism in Israel presents this vision’s ideological roots, policy components, and political implications, based on hundreds of primary sources representing the Israeli right’s political elite and its intellectual backings.
- Author
- Mateo Cohen
- Date
- 01 April 2025
- Links
- Leiden University Press
By using the tools of argument analysis, it exposes a distinct right-wing vision of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that spearheads the Israeli government’s actions, obscuring radical aspirations behind commonsense center-right conservative values. The Israeli right’s hidden power lies in promoting status quo preservation, social traditions, historical rights, Western culture, judicial restraint, and majoritarian democracy while pushing policies that challenge the country’s security, institutions, and moral fabric. As conservative values radicalize, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensifies, and Israel’s democracy decays. Thus, the Israeli case sends a warning sign to other countries with a growing right-wing ideological force.