Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T02:34:10.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Constitutional revolutions: Israel as a case-study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2010

Gideon Sapir
Gideon Sapir*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
*
* Senior Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University, Faculty of Law; Rabbinic Degree, Har Etzion Yeshiva, 1989; LLB, Bar-Ilan University, 1993; LLM, Northwestern University, 1996; SJD, Northwestern University, 1998. The author is indebted to Daphne Barak-Erez, Nir Kedar, Menachem Mautner, Barak Medina and Amichai Radzyner for their valuable comments. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

From its foundation in 1948 and until the 1990s, the State of Israel lacked a formal Bill of Rights. Although the Declaration of Independence had promised a constitution, a series of obstacles prevented its adoption. In the intervening years, several attempts to anchor a Bill of Rights in a Basic Law met with failure.

In 1992, the Knesset adopted two Basic Laws dealing with human rights. The Supreme Court used these laws as a platform for creating a full-fledged Bill of Rights, and Israeli scholars helped to expedite this process. And yet, despite extensive academic discussion of these developments, the dearth of legal literature remains conspicuous on one question: How did it happen? How is it that after forty-four years of failures and parliamentary paralysis, the Knesset suddenly voted in favour of anchoring a Bill of Rights in Basic Laws?

In this article, I examine four possible explanations. The first attributes these developments to the successful exploitation of a constitutional moment that reflected a severe erosion of public trust in politics. The second pins success on the tactics adopted by the proponents of the law. Instead of insisting on the adoption of a complete Bill of Rights, they split it into small sections and worked to enact only the consensual ones. According to the third thesis, the adoption of these laws was enabled by their proponents’ failure to expose the full import of this move, thereby lulling their traditional opponents into a false sense of security. According to the fourth explanation, success resulted from two major shifts in Israeli politics. The first was the Labor Party’s loss of hegemony and the ensuing uncertainty regarding the identity of future coalitions, and the second was the strengthening of sectorial elements that threatened the dominance of the secular bourgeoisie. The first shift weakened the coalition’s inherent resistance to the constitutionalization of the political system, and the second neutralized the institutional interest of Knesset members representing the old elites against the constitutional project.

Finally, my conclusion points out that these explanations are not mutually exclusive, and all the elements they consider joined together to bring about the ‘constitutional revolution’, as it came to be known.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 355 - 378
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerman, Bruce (1991) We The People: Foundations. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Akzin, Binyamin (1966) ‘Basic Laws and Entrenched Laws in Israel’ in Azkin, B. (ed.) Government and Policy Issues, 109–127. Jerusalem: Hebrew University Press (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Amit, Roi (1997) ‘The Canonic Positions: The Barak Text as a Canon in the Making’, Tel Aviv University Law Review 21: 93 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Baker, Richard A. (1995) ‘The United States’ Congress Responds to Judicial Review. The 20th Century Experience (from Pollock to Cbadka, 1895–1983)’ in Smith, Eivind (ed.) Constitutional Justice Under Old Constitutions. The Hague/London/Boston: Kluwer Law International, 51–80.Google Scholar
Balmer, Thomas A. (2006) ‘Book Review: What’s a Judge To Do? Aharon Barak, Purposive Interpretation in Law’, Yale Journal of Law and Humanities 18: 139.Google Scholar
Barak, Aharon (1989) Judicial Discretion, trans. Kaufmann, Yadin. New Haven: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barak, Aharon and Spanic, Tana (eds) (1990) In Memoriam: Uri Yadin, vol. 1. Tel Aviv: Bursi Press (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Barak, Aharon (1992) ‘The Constitutional Revolution: Protected Human Rights’, Law and Government in Israel 1: 9 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Barak, Aharon (1993a) ‘Hermeneutics and Constitutional Interpretation’, Cardozo Law Review 14: 767.Google Scholar
Barak, Aharon (1993b) ‘Protected Human Rights and Private Law’ in Zamir, Yitzhak (ed.) Klinghoffer Volume on Public Law, 163–208. Jerusalem: Hebrew University (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Barak, Aharon (1997) ‘The Law of Israel: Past, Present, and Future’, Hapraklit 43: 5 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Barak, Aharon (2000) Selected Writings, vol. 1, ed. Cohen, Haim H. and Zamir, Yitzhak, Jerusalem: Nevo press (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Barak, Aharon (2005) Purposive Interpretation Law, trans. Bashi, Sari. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barak, Aharon (2006) The Judge in a Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Barak-erez, Daphne (1995) ‘From an Unwritten to a Written Constitution: Israeli Challenge in American Perspective’, Columbia Human Rights Law Review 26: 309–355.Google Scholar
Bechor, Guy (1996) Constitution For Israel. Tel Aviv: Maariv Press (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Bendor, Ariel (2003) ‘Four Constitutional Revolutions’, Law and Government in Israel 6: 305.Google Scholar
Bork, Robert (2003) Coercing Virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.Google Scholar
Bracha, Baruch (1982) ‘The Protection of Human Rights in Israel’, Israel Yearbook on Human Rights 12: 110.Google Scholar
Calabrezi, Steven (2006) ‘The President, the Supreme Court, and the Founding Fathers: A Reply to Professor Ackerman’, University of Chicago Law Review 73: 469.Google Scholar
Clayton, Cornell W. and Howard, Gillman (eds) (1999) Supreme Court Decision-Making, New Institutionalist Approaches. Chicago:University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Asher (1998) The Prayer Shawl and the Flag: Religious-Zionism and the Vision of a Torah State in Israel’s Early Years. Jerusalem: Yad Yitzchak Ben Zvi (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Dotan, Yoav (1997) ‘A Constitution for the State of Israel: The Constitutional Dialogue after the “Constitutional Revolution”’, Mishpatim 28: 149 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Dotan, Yoav (2002) ‘Judicial Accountability in Israel: The High Court of Justice and the Phenomenon of Judicial Hyperactivism’, Israeli Affairs 8: 87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Martin (1994) Courts, Politics and Culture in Israel. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.Google Scholar
Elon, Menachem (1996) ‘Basic Laws: Their Enactment and their Interpretation – From Where and To Where?’, Bar Ilan Law Studies 12: 253 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Elster, Jon (1995) ‘Forces and Mechanisms in the Constitution Making Process’, Duke Law Journal 45(2): 364–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, David (1999) ‘The Human Rights Act 1998 and Constitutional Principles’, Legal Studies 19(2): 165–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Martin L. C. (1990) ‘Book Review: Judicial Discretion by Aharon Barak’, Tulane Law Review 65: 451.Google Scholar
Gardbaum, Stephen (2001) ‘The New Commonwealth Model of Constitutionalism’, American Journal of Comparative Law 49(4): 707–719.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gavison, Ruth (1985) ‘The Controversy Over Israel’s Bill of Rights’, Israel Yearbook on Human Rights 15: 113–154.Google Scholar
Gavison, Ruth (1990) ‘Forty Years of Constituional Law’, Mishpatim 19: 617 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Gavison, Ruth (1997) ‘The Constitutional Revolution: A Description of Reality or a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?’, Mishpatim 28: 21 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Giora, Amos N. and Page, Erin M. (2005) ‘Going Toe to Toe: President Barak’s and Chief Justice Rehnquist’s Theories of Judicial Activism’, Hastings International & Comparative Law Review 29: 51.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Giora (1998) ‘Religious Zionism and the Framing of a Constitution for Israel’, Israel Studies 3: 211 (in Hebrew).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenawalt, Kent (1994) ‘Dualism and Its Status’, Ethics 104(3): 480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, Mordechai (1999) ‘Appointment of Judges: The Solution to the Problem in the Elyon’, Azure 8: 54.Google Scholar
Hilbink, Lisa (2006) ‘Beyond Manicheanism: Assessing the New Constitutionalism’, Maryland Law Review 65: 15.Google Scholar
Hirschl, Ran (2000a) ‘The Struggle for Hegemony: Understanding Judicial Empowerment Through Constitutionalization in Culturally Divided Polities’, Stanford Journal of International Law 36: 73.Google Scholar
Hirschl, Ran (2000b) ‘The Political Origins of Judicial Empowerment through Constitutionalization: Lessons from Four Constitutional Revolutions’, Law & Social Inquiry 25: 91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschl, Ran (2000c) ‘Looking Sideways, Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards: Judicial Review vs. Democracy in Comparative Perspective’, University of Richmond Law Review 34: 415.Google Scholar
Hirschl, Ran (2004a) Towards Juristocrac: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hirschl, Ran (2004b) ‘Constitutional Courts vs. Religious Fundamentalism: Three Middle Eastern Tales’, Texas Law Review 82: 1819.Google Scholar
Hiebert, Janet L. (2006) ‘Parliament and the Human Rights Act: Can the JCHR help facilitate a culture of rights?’, International Journal of Constitutional Law. 4(1): 1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lessig, Lawrence (1995) ‘Understanding Changed Readings: Fidelity and Theory’, Stanford Law Review 47: 395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karp, Yehudit (1993) ‘Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty: A Biography of Power Struggles’, Law and Goernment in Israel 1: 323 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Kedar, Nir (2003) ‘The Constitutional Revolution: The Rise of Purposive Interpretation in Israel’, Tel Aviv University Law Review 26: 737 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Klein, Claude (1970) ‘The Constituent Authority in Israel’, Mishpatim 2: 51 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Klein, Claude (1971) ‘A New Era in Israel’s Constitutional Law’, Israel Law Review 6: 376.Google Scholar
Klein, Claude (1972) ‘Special Majority and Implicit Variation’, Hapraklit 28: 563 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Klein, Claude (1992) ‘Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty: An Initial Normative Assessment’, Hamishpat 1: 123 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Klinghoffer, Yitzakh Hans (1993) ‘The Establishment of the State of Israel: Constitutional History’ in Zamir, Yitzhak (ed.) Klinghoffer Volume on Public Law (in Hebrew), 53. Jerusalem: Hebrew University.Google Scholar
Kramer, Larry (1996) ‘What’s a Constitution for Anyway? Of History and Theory, Bruce Ackerman and the New Deal’, Case Western Reserve Law Review 46: 885.Google Scholar
Kretzmer, David (1990) ‘Forty Years of Public Law’, Mishpatim 19: 551 (in Hebrew)Google Scholar
Kretzmer, David (1992) ‘The New Basic Laws on Human Rights: A Mini-Revolution in Israeli Constitutional Law?’, Israel Law Review 26: 238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahav, Pnina (1989) ‘Israel’s Supreme Court: The Formative Decade (1948–1955)’, Tel Aviv University Law Review 14: 479 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Landau, Moshe (1996a) ‘Reflections on the Constitutional Revolution’, Mishpatim 26: 419 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Landau, Moshe (1996b) ‘Granting a Constitution to Israel by way of a Court Ruling’, Law and Government 3: 697 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Landau, Moshe (2000) ‘Symposium: The Mizrachi Judgment Three Years Later’, Hamishpat 5: 249 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Liebman, Charles S. and Don-yehiya, Eliezer (1984) Religion and Politics in Israel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Lynn, Uriel (1993) ‘A Foundation for a Written Constitution in Israel’, Hamishpat 1: 81 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Lynn, Uriel (2000) ‘Basic Laws as Part of Israel’s Written Constitution’, Hamishpat 5: 267 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Mandel, Michael (1999) ‘Democracy and the New Constitutionalism in Israel’, Israel Law Review 33: 259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maoz, Asher (1988) ‘Defending Civil Liberties Without a Constitution: The Israeli Experience’, Melbourne University Law Review 16: 815.Google Scholar
Mautner, Menachem (1993) The Decline of Formalism and the Rise of Values in Israeli Law. Tel-Aviv: Maaglei Da’at (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Mautner, Menachem (2003) ‘The Eighties: The Years of Anxiety’, Tel Aviv University Law Review 26: 645 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Nedelsky, Jennifer (1994) ‘The Puzzle and Demands of Modern Constitutionalism’, Ethics 104(3): 500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neuberger, Binyamin (1997) The Constitution Debate In Israel. Tel Aviv: The Open University Press (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Radziner, Amichai and Friedman, Shuki (2007) ‘The Constitution as Nuisance’, Policy Paper – Israel Democracy Institute 69.Google Scholar
Rozin, Orit (2002) ‘From “We” to “I”: Individualism in Israeli Society in the Early 1950s’. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Tel Aviv University (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Rubinstein, Amnon (2000) ‘The Knesset and Basic Laws on Human Rights’, Law and Government in Israel 5: 339 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Rubinstein, Amnon and Medina, Barak (2005) Constitutional Law in the State of Israel, Vol. 2, 6th edn. Jerusalem: Shoken Press, (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Russell, Peter H. (1993) Constitutional Odyssey: Can Candians Become Sovereign People?, 2nd end. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Sapir, Gideon (1999) ‘Religion and State in Israel: The Case for Reevaluation and Constitutional Entrenchment’, Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 22: 617.Google Scholar
Segal, Jeffrey A. and Spaeth, Harold J. (2002) The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Segev, Joshua (2007) ‘Who Needs a Constitution? In Defense of the Non-Decision Constitution-Making Tactic in Israel’, Albany Law Review 70(2): 409.Google Scholar
Sentelle, David B. (1990) ‘Judicial Discretion: Is One More of a Good Thing Too Much? Judicial Discretion by Aharon Barak’, Michigan Law Review 88: 1828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharfman, Daphna (1993) Living Without a Constitution: Civil Rights in Israel. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Sherf, Ze’ev (1959) Three Days. Tel Aviv: Am Oved (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Shapira, Amos (1974) ‘The Status of Fundamental Individual Rights in the Absence of a Written Constitution’, Israel Law Review 9: 497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapira, Amos (1983) ‘Judicial Review Without a Constitution: The Israeli Paradox’, Temple Law Quarterly 56: 405–462.Google Scholar
Shprinzak, Ehud (1986) Everyman Does Whatsoever is Right in His Own Eyes: Illegalism in Israeli Society. Tel Aviv: Sifriyat Poa’alim Press (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Shprinzak, Ehud and Diamond, Larry (1993) ‘Introduction’ in Shprinzak, Ehud and , Larry Diamond (eds) Israeli Democracy under Stress, 1–20. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sommer, Hillel (1997) ‘The Non-Enumerated Rights: On the Scope of the Constitutional Revolution’, Mishpatim 28: 257 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Stone sweet, Alec (2000) Governing with Judges: Constitutional Politics in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tate, C. Neal and Vallinder, Torbjorn (eds) (1995) The Global Expansion of Judicial Power. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Tushnet, Mark (2000) Taking the Constitution Away From the Courts. Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tushnet, Mark (2005) ‘Misleading Metaphors in Comparative Constitutionalism: Moments and Enthusiasm’, International Journal of Constitutional Law 3: 262–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tushnet, Mark (2006) ‘Political Power and Judicial Power: Some Observations on Their Relation’, Fordham Law Review 75: 755.Google Scholar
Waldron, Jeremy (1999a) Law and Disagreement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waldron, jeremy (1999b) Dignity of Legislation. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weill, Rivka (2004) ‘We the British People’, Public Law 2004(2): 380–406.Google Scholar
Weill, Rivka (2006) ‘Evolution vs. Revolution: Dueling Models of Dualism’, American Journal of Comparative Law 54: 429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar