Backsliding without Democracy: Israeli Democratic Backsliding and the OPT

• In Event: Democratic Backsliding: New Measures and Approaches

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effects of Israel’s democratic backsliding on the local population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). While literature on democratic backsliding has explored how the erosion of liberal democratic features influence democracies’ citizenry, Israel’s composite regime offers a unique setting. On the one hand, in the area “within the Green Line” (i.e. territory Israel controlled prior to 1967) an established democracy has evolved, with citizens enjoying the benefits of an (albeit weakened) liberal regime. Simultaneously, “beyond the Green Line,” an established occupation has been installed, wherein Palestinian civilians are denied civil liberties and are governed by belligerent martial law. This highly unusual setting leads to an interesting question: while the effects of Israel’s democratic backsliding on the country’s citizens within the Green Line is apparent, what will this process mean for Palestinians? How will the retrenchment of Israel’s liberal democratic features influence the parts of the country under military occupation?

Exploring this, this paper analyzes the ways in which Israel’s occupation has at times been restrained by the ‘democratic side’ of the country. Specifically focusing on the role played by the High Court of Justice, it explores the limitations the court has placed on the belligerent use of arbitrary force and on arbitrary regulations by the Israeli military, demonstrating how Palestinians have indirectly benefited (however minimally) from Israel’s democracy while not having democratic rights themselves. A retrenchment in Israel’s liberal democratic features will therefore have a similar indirect yet propound impact on the Palestinian population, leading them to be among the first populations to suffer from democratic backsliding while themselves being devoid of democratic rights.

Author

• Alon Burstein, Tufts University