Abstract

Israeli constitutionalism has long interested comparative constitutional law scholars, whether due to its geopolitical status, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, its internal divisions, or its unique constitutional evolution. Unlike many other countries that have ratified constitutions after the Second World War, Israel was established as a parliamentary democracy, with an explicit intention to ratify a constitution at a later stage. This did not happen. Instead, it underwent a “constitutional revolution” announced by its Supreme Court. Fitting a revolution, much of comparative constitutional law scholarship has focused on this pivotal moment. The articles in this symposium depart from the scholarship focused on that moment. They seek to critically understand what has become of Israeli constitutionalism in the past decade. In this introduction, we highlight several transformations and features which we believe are essential if one is to understand the extant constitutional order in Israel. These should be understood as background conditions against which Israeli constitutionalism is operating. They include the strengthening of judicial review alongside rising political resistance to the Court’s power; populism in political discourse targeting rule of law institutions; the erosion of individual rights alongside the strengthening of nationalist elements; and increasing divisions inside Israeli society. These challenge the idea of a successful constitutional revolution in terms of its inherent promise to better protect individual rights and safeguard the rule of law. In describing these features, we seek to situate the Supreme Court, judicial review, and the legal-constitutional order generally, in the larger sphere of Israeli society and politics.

中文翻译：

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从承诺到裁员：论以色列宪政格局的变化

摘要

以色列宪政长期以来一直对比较宪法学学者感兴趣，无论是由于其地缘政治地位，以巴冲突，内部分歧还是独特的宪法演变。与第二次世界大战后批准宪法的许多其他国家不同，以色列被确立为议会民主制，其明确意图是在稍后阶段批准宪法。这没有发生。相反，它经历了最高法院宣布的“宪法革命”。为了适应革命，比较宪法学的许多学术研究都集中在这一关键时刻。本次研讨会上的文章偏离了当时的学术重点。他们试图批判性地理解过去十年来以色列宪政的发展。在此介绍中，我们重点介绍了几种变革和特征，我们认为，如果要了解以色列现有的宪法秩序，这些变革和特征必不可少。这些应被理解为以色列宪政所针对的背景条件。其中包括加强司法审查，以及对法院权力的政治抵抗日益增强；以法治为目标的政治话语中的民粹主义；在加强民族主义因素的同时，个人权利受到侵蚀；以及以色列社会内部日益分化的分裂。这些挑战以成功地宪政革命的内在希望，即更好地保护个人权利和维护法治提出了挑战。在描述这些功能时，我们力求将最高法院，司法审查，