Interest Groups and Political Change in Israel (review)

Vol. 10, No. 3 Spring 1992 151 because education is the vehicle for occupational attainment; yet ethnic differences in education among Jews reflect institutional discrimination. Their conclusion that when differences in educational attainment and background resources are taken into account, competition for high status jobs is open among Jews is incomplete because ethnic differences in educational attainment remain powerful even among the native born. Their argument that Israeli Arabs "suffer no particular handicaps in the competition for civilian jobs once their backgrounds and education are taken into account" seems more a reflection of their conceptual and statistical model than of the reality of Jewish-Arab stratification in Israel. Given their conclusion that equality of· educational opportunity in Israel remains elusive, the continuation of ethnic-based inequalities is likely at least for another generation. The data analyzed in this monograph should serve as a useful reference for future research on social mobility, inequality, and ethnicity among the various subpopulations in the State ofIsrael. It should stimulate others to examine more recent data to outline changes since the mid1970s and to build toward a more comprehensive understanding of stratification in Israeli society. Calvin Goldscheider Program in Judaic Studies and Department of Sociology Brown University Interest Groups and Political Change in Israel, by Marcia DrezonTepler . SUNY Series in Israeli Studies, Russel Stone,ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990. 308 pp. $49.50 (c)j $16.95 (P). It has long been an assumption on the part of both Israelis and students of Israeli politics that the workings of the political system in Israel is more dependent on affiliation with ideologically motivated parties than on public pressure, interest groups, and issues. In this study Marcia Drezon-Tepler challenges this and other assumptions through her examination of three independent interest groups, their histories, and their relationship with political parties and governments. These three groups are diverse both in their ideologies and their constituenciesj they are the Israeli Manufacturers' Association, the Ihud ha-Kvutzot ve-ha-Kibbutzim 152 SHOFAR (Union of Kvutzot and Kibbutzim), and Gush Eminum (Block of the Faith- .ful, which supports Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria). Drezon-Tepler defines interest groups as "organized groups of persons sharing particular concerns and impacting [sic] upon the political process by requiring policy-makers to respond to their demands in some way" (p. 2). Although such groups have always' existed in Israel, their increasing influence, especially in the past twenty years, has belied even recent studies which still concentrate on party politics to the exclusion of extra-parliamentary influences. It is the changes,both within Israeli politics and within the interest groups themselves, that interest Drezon-Tepler and make this study an examination of political change, as she painstakingly traces ,each movement from its inception until the 1980s. In addition to the use of printed sources, Drezon-Tepler includes original data from fieldwork and interviews with prominent figures in Israeli politics, including Prime Ministers Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres, and Minister Ariel Sharon. By choosing three such diverse groups, Drezon-Tepler demonstrates that the increase in the power of public sector interest groups is not limited to one ideology or political affiliation, but can be found in various sectors of Israeli society, from right to left, religiOUS to secular. This discovery has as much to do with changes within the Israeli electorate and its relationship to the political parties as it does with the interest groups themselves. The cradle-to-grave, all-inclusive affiliation an individual had with his party, both in the pre-state period and during the early decades of independence, has been declining over the years, and this has led to a decrease in party loyalty and an increase in the importance individuals attach to specific policies. This apparent Americanization of the Israeli political system has paved the way for the flourishing of interest groups, and Drezon-Tepler even presents several possible scenarios for the future development of these changes. Interest Groups and Political Change in Israel is an important work which puts to rest some unquestioned characterizations regarding Israeli politics and polity. It is detailed and careful both in its presentation of material and in its discussion...