The dynamics of civil–military relations and the complexity of Israel’s security policies

This essay divides into three sections. The first explains how civilian control of the military in Israel has shifted over time from an institutional to an extra-institutional mode. The second analyzes the cyclical pattern from militarization and demilitarization to remilitarization, while the third illustrates how tensions caused by the simultaneous development of the preceding two processes have created contradictions in Israel’s civil–military relations.