Judicial behaviour: A socio-cultural strategic approach-conceptual framework and analysis of case studies in Israel

By analyzing two controversial decisions made by the Israeli Supreme Court, the ''Torture decision, 1999' and the 'Land decision, 2002', this article develops a policy determination model highlighting the strategic calculations of various social groups turning to the court, as well as the role of socio-cultural explanations and the ways in which social players act as agents of political and institutional change. It concludes that Israeli society with its formal and non-formal rules create the situation whereby the political system is unable to deal with problems which require the shaping of public policy. In light of this inability, Israeli society has adopted alternative behaviour, by filing an ever-increasing number of petitions with the Supreme Court, with a twofold purpose: to cause policy decisions to be made, and to apply pressure on politicians to change the institutional structure, in one way or another.