Continuity and Change in Political Culture

Continuity and Change in Political Culture: Israel & Beyond recalls Myron J. Aronoff’s innovative re-inventing of political culture over the course of his illustrious career, allowing him to uncover how power is exerted and legitimacy earned. The contributors to this festschrift elaborate and extend his insistent reimagining of a re-democratized Israel at peace with a viable Palestinian state.

-- David D. Laitin, Stanford University

How fitting is it that a volume in tribute to Professor Myron Aronoff—one of the academic giants in the field of culture and politics—is itself a vital resource for understanding Israeli culture, politics and the peace process. Aronoff’s work has inspired scholars for several generations; that influence has also been personal: for example, his 2009 analysis of the Camp David Summit—'Camp David Rashomon'—was a building block for my own work on lessons learned and unlearned in peace negotiations. This volume is truly a living legacy to a leading American professor.

-- Daniel C. Kurtzer, Princeton University

This is a fitting tribute to one of the pioneers in the academic study of modern Israel. The editors have mobilized top scholars in the field who have contributed cutting-edge essays on the most critical aspects of Israel studies, together with an arresting comparative dimension. The book stands on its own as a penetrating overview of Israeli politics, society, and culture. It would be an outstanding choice as a text for any course on Israel, as well as for many courses in comparative politics. But it would also serve as a illuminating introduction for the general reader looking for that one book on Israel that would put everything into perspective.

-- Alan Dowty, University of Notre Dame

This Festschrift contains unique very illuminating useful essays stimulated by Myron Aronoff’ s special achievement getting Ph.D.’s in Political Science and Anthropology, enabling him to explore how cultural identity, especially the memory of catastrophes, shapes politics in deeply divided democratic societies. All contributors are academics with important publication achievements. Two were also important Israeli politicians, Yossi Beilin the 1992 Oslo Accords architect who examines the absence of trust in the negotiations, and Naomi Chazan evaluates the recent erosion of Israeli democracy when the government abandoned the two-state solution.

The focus is the Israeli-Palestinian relationship though American, Basque and Polish tensions get some attention. There appears to be complete agreement that the two -state paradigm is the only way to solve the Israel-Palestinian problem. Yael Aronoff provides a systematic comprehensive analysis of the issue and the challenges to it. Saliba Sarsar notes Israelis focus on the Holocaust while Palestinians focus on Al-Nakba (catastrophe) when nearly 40% left the country. Each side focuses on their own suffering and will not recognize the other party’s. The book is essential for Israel politics courses and those examining intense ethnic conflicts in democracies.

-- David C. Rapoport, (University of California, Los Angeles)

Continuity & Change offers a wealth of insight into two fields to which Myron Aronoff made such pioneering contributions: the fundamental relationship between politics and culture, and the understanding of Israeli political culture. With contributions by some of the major figures in these two fields, the book offers rich rewards to anyone interested either in that complex yet fascinating subject of Israeli politics or in the role played by symbols and ritual in political life.

-- David I. Kertzer, Brown University

This vol­ume on political culture with a focus on Israel is a Festschrift for Rutgers University professor Myron Aronoff, with contributions from scholars of political science, anthropology, and Middle East studies. The volume is divided into three parts: Section I focuses on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, identity, and pos­sible paths forward; Section II focuses on challenges to democracy in Israel and the creation of the Ameri­can public in nineteenth-century cities; and Section III focuses on the role of art in creating national memory in Israel, the Basque Country, and Poland. Myron Aronoff himself writes a valuable epilogue that links together the variety of subjects. (JDC)

* Middle East Journ