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  • The Security Network and its Impact on Israeli Politics
  • Gabriel (Gabi) Sheffer (bio)

The article deals with the informal Security Network, a continuing phenomenon that significantly influences Israeli politics and security especially after the 1967 War.

There have been three basic approaches to the study of the relationships between civilian and military spheres, and they are closely connected to the international literature on the military and related political issues.

The first of these three approaches—“The Traditional Approach”—focused on the institutional and formal aspects of the Security Network relations with other organizations.1 Generally speaking, this approach has focused on traditional and formal institutional aspects of those relationships. The perspective adopted by “members” of this school of studies followed structural-functional theories. They regarded the political system and the military system as two clearly distinctive systems. Thus, the emphasis in these studies is on formal institutions, functions, and policy making. The underlying premise of this approach is that the civilian political sector in Israel has traditionally been dominant among the two systems. The continuous involvement of politicians in running the IDF was stressed, as well as the military’s own growing intervention in politics in later periods, particularly after 1967.2

The second approach may be termed “The Critical Approach”. It maintains that an active army requires a political core of veterans serving as policy makers. That aspect should ensure the policy makers’ influence in control of military campaigns and place them in a position of playing a major role in influencing highly important matters, such as the size of the military, the amount of its budget, and even, on occasion, in making a decision for launching war.3

The third is Sheffer’s and Barak’s approach about the relationships between Israel’s civil and military organizations.4 It is termed “The New [End Page 253] Critical Approach”. Its adherents focus on the social and cultural aspects of Israeli civilian political society that allows the “Security Network” to play a semi-hegemonic role in shaping the state’s behavior. This means that under certain circumstance the military can determine the main policies and actions of its own goals and needs in spheres related to security.5

The Defense Network leads the IDF and the security system and influences many active politicians who are interested or involved in decision making concerning Israel’s general security. Thus, I suggest a new view of the political-military systems relations.6 Actually, the members of the two networks, the political and the military, have a number of shared characteristics: they are informally and non-hierarchically connected within their networks; they share joint values and ideas concerning Israel’s national security matters, and the concepts and means to achieve them; they share values and ideas concerning Israel’s security matters and the ways to improve them; and, especially in the context of this article, they are ready and capable to join together to influence and activate policy making on various levels.

There are two kinds of members in the Israeli defense networks: a) well-known senior actors in the large and complicated security network and b) well-known and influential actors in different social, economic, and political connections and especially in the formal social and political systems.7 The first group includes senior officers; the second group includes retired officers and other activists that succeeded in joining the social, political, economic systems, as well as politicians, officials, and journalists, etc., who are engaged in security issues.

More specifically, the main purposes of this article are: a. to define and describe the Defense Network and its composition, and to outline the various functions and activities it performs; b. to explain how the network was established, how its members succeeded in acquiring power, and their influence in various spheres, political, economic, local and international security; and its relations with the political network. (The following description and analysis is based on Sheffer and Barak.8)

According to a conservative evaluation, the number of the security network members is large. Despite the impact on the formulation and execution of relevant security matters, the network’s significance requires serious examination.

The actual structure of the...

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