Failed peace and the decline in liberalism in Israel: A spiral model

Illiberal democracies that include ultra-nationalist elements have become more common across the globe, and often go hand-in-hand with conflict and war. Most prior studies have proposed a single direction of causality such that insecurity and violence lead to the spread of illiberal political culture and the rise of illiberal political elements. In contrast, we propose a spiral process in which illiberal elements are not only the product of insecurity and violence, but are also among the main drivers of these conditions. We illustrate this spiral model using the rapid transformation of Israel’s democracy from peace-prone liberalism to hawkish illiberalism.