This SIIS faculty syllabus provides a in-depth look at the history and development of Israel’s foreign policy goals and addresses a number of critical issues, including: the Arab-Israeli conflict, migration, terrorism, nuclear policy, and its relation to the Middle East.
Essential Reading
Uri Bialer, “Top Hat, Tuxedo and Cannons: Israeli Foreign Policy from 1948 to 1956 as a Field of Study“, Israel Studies, Vol. 7:1, (2002), pp. 1-80
Emmanuel Navon, “From Kippur to Oslo,” Israel’s Foreign Policy, 1973-1993, Israel Affairs, 10:3 (2004)
Recommended Reading
Scott Buchill, International Relations National Interest Theory, Introduction
Aharon Klieman “Zionist Diplomacy and Israeli Foreign Policy” Jerusalem Quarterly, Vol. 11 (1979), pp. 93-111.
Avraham Sela
The Decline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Middle East Politics and the Quest for Regional Order, Chs. 1-2
(Albany: SUNY Press, 1998)
ISBN/ISSN: 0791435385
A. Klieman, Israel & the World after 40 Years, (New York: Pergamon-Brassey’s, 1990), Chapter 5: Policy Making
Efraim Inbar, “Jews, Jewishness and Israel’s Foreign Policy”, Jewish Political Studies Review, Vol. 2, (1990), pp.165-183
Shabtai Rosenne , “Israel and the U.N: Changed Perspectives 1945-1976”, American Jewish Year Book, (1978), pp. 3-59
Nadav Morag, “Water, Geopolitics and State Building: The Case of Israel”, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 37:3, (July, 2001) pp. 179-198
Uri Bialer, “Fuel Bridge across the Middle East: Israel, Iran and the Eilat-Ashkelon Oil Pipeline”, Israel Studies, Vol. 12: III, (2007), pp. 29-67
Zach Levey, “Israeli Foreign Policy and the Arms Race in the Middle East, 1950-1960”, The Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 24:1, (2001), pp. 29-48
Dan Horowitz
“The Israeli Concept of National Security”, in A.Yaniv (ed.) National Security and Democracy in Israel pp.11-54.
(Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers 1993)
ISBN/ISSN: 1555873944
David Rodman , “Israel’s National Security Doctrine” , Meria Journal , Vol. 5:3, (Sept 2001)
Yoram Ben Porat (ed.)
The Israeli Economy: Maturing through Crises
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986)
pp. 1-23, 173-191
ISBN/ISSN: 0674468783
Itamar Rabinovich
Waging Peace,
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004)
pp. 1-37
Jehuda Reinhard, “Zionism and the Great Powers: A Century of Foreign Policy” (New York, Leo Baeck Institute, 1994), ASIN: B0000CQTSY
Fred Halliday
The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology pp. 97-164.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
ISBN/ISSN: 0521592402
Shlomo Avineri, “Ideology and Israel’s Foreign Policy”, Jerusalem Quarterly,Vol. 37, (1986), pp. 3-13
Arye Naor, “Hawks’ Beaks, Doves’ Feathers: Likud Prime Ministers between Ideology and Reality”, Israel Studies, Vol. 10:3, (2005), pp. 154-191
Michael Brecher, “Jerusalem: Israel’s Political Decisions, 1947, 1977”, Middle East Journal, Vol. 32, (1978), pp. 13-34
Benjamin Pinkus
“Israel’s Activity on Behalf of Soviet Jews” in Selwyn Ilan Troen and Benjamin Pinkus (eds.) Organizing Rescue: Jewish National Solidarity in the Modern Period
(London: Routledge, 1992) ISBN/ISSN: 0714634131
Michael Laskier, “Jewish Emigration from Morocco to Israel: Government Policies and the Position of International Jewish Organizations, 1949-1956”, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 25:3, (1989), pp. 323-362
Gabi Sheffer, “The Elusive Question: Jews and Jewry in Israeli Foreign Policy”, Jerusalem Quarterly, Vol. 46, (1988), pp. 104-114.
Uri Bialer
“Israel and Nostra Aetate: The View from Jerusalem”
in A. Melloni and Y. Lamdan (eds.) Nostra Aetate: Origins, Promulgation, Impact on Jewish-Catholic Relations, pp. 63-86, (Munster, 2007)
David Tal, “Symbol not Substance? Israel’s Campaign to acquire Hawk Missiles, 1960-1962”, International History Review, Vol. 22:2, (June 2000) pp. 304-317.
Ariel Merari, “Israel Facing Terrorism”, Israel Affairs, Vol 11:1, (January, 2005), pp. 223-237
Uri Bar-Joseph, “Towards a Paradigm Shift in Israel’s National Security Conception”, Israel Affairs, Vol. 6:3-4, (1999), pp. 99-114
Zeev Maoz, “The Mixed Blessing of Israel’s Nuclear Policy”, International Security, Vol. 28:2,(2003), pp. 44-77
Eliezer Sheffer
“The Economic Burden of the Arms Race between the Confrontational States and Israel”, in Zvi Lanir (ed.) Israeli Security Planning in the 1980’s: Its Politics and Economics pp. 142-165 (Praeger, 1984)
ISBN/ISSN: 0275912094
Zeev Maoz
Defending the Holy Land
(Ann Arbor: The University of Chicago Press, 2006)
Ch. 10 ISBN/ISSN: 0472115405
Background Reading
Click here for extensive background reading on Setting and Aims: State-Building.
Click here for a related syllabus on Israel’s Foreign Policy Processes. It explores the processes of developing foreign policy interests in the State of Israel. Special attention is paid to Israel’s diplomatic history and how critical national security decisions are made.