Fifty Years Later: The Scope and Limits of Liberal Democracy in Israel Yossi Yonah An illegitimate system treats some of those living under it in such a way that they can reasonably feel that their interests and point of view have not been adequately accommodated – so that, even taking into account the interests of others, their own point of view puts them reasonably in opposition to the system. 1 Is Israel’s political system legitimate? Does the basic structure of Israeli society adequately accommodate the point of view of all citizens and communities consti- tuting it? Suppose a negative answer is in order, what changes ought to be initi- ated to secure the legitimacy of Israel’s political system? What is the prospect that these changes will gain wide public support? This paper is an attempt to answer these questions. It assesses both the adequacy of Israel’s basic structure and the changes it must undergo in light of liberal and democratic principles. The reason for this is that Israel, as will be elaborated below, is widely considered as a liberal democracy and also aspires to be judged as one. More specifically, this assessment is conducted against the background of three idealized models that can either be systematically derived from liberal and demo- cratic principles or are consistent with them. The models are: Strict Liberal Democracy (SLD), Republican Democracy (RD), and Multicultural Democracy (MD). 2 The main features of each model are introduced as the discussion proceeds. The employment of these models to assess Israel’s basic structure and the changes it must undergo is pursued dialectically. That is, the purpose of the paper is not simply to assess Israel’s political reality in light of the models, but also to examine the soundness of the models themselves in light of this political reality. This mode of inquiry should allow us not only to determine whether Israel’s polit- ical system is legitimate, but also, assuming the answer is negative, to single out the model most appropriate to secure its legitimacy. I. Liberal Democracy and Political Legitimacy: Theoretical Notes Political models should satisfy three different requirements: descriptive validity, normative validity, and feasibility. These requirements correspond to, respec- tively, three basic questions: To what extent can a political model adequately portray the basic structure of a given society? Is the model morally sound? If a Constellations Volume 6, No 3, 1999. © Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.