We Are the People (You Are Not!): Inclusive and Exclusive Populism in Israel

Abstract

The article analyzes the evolution of populist movements in Israel. It also proposes a redefinition of populism as a form of manipulation of ‘available masses’. Populism is understood as a family of movements that regards the people as the source of virtue and the division of society into the (good) people, on the one hand, and the elites and non-liberal concept of democracy, on the other hand. 

The populist group is composed of two sub-groups: inclusive populism and exclusionary populism. Inclusive populist movements develop when excluded social groups constitute themselves as active political subjects. Exclusionary populist movements aim to protect the threatened identity of certain social groups by deepening the exclusion of other groups, such as immigrants, Jews, or Muslims. Based on these categories the article discusses the emergence of three different populist parties in Israel: The Likud, under Menachem Begin’s leadership, which is analyzed as an example of inclusive populism; Shas, as a party that radicalizes both inclusion and exclusion; and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beitenu, as an example of exclusionary populism similar to European radical right populist parties.