Forward (Kadima) to the Centre? - The Rise and Fall of Israeli Centre Parties

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: 1,7, University of Heidelberg, language: English, abstract: The political earthquake that shook Israel in November 2006 eventually led to the establishment of a new party with a centre image, KADIMA, led by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Only four months later, after a lot of political turmoil (domestic as well as external), including losing its charismatic leader as Sharon fell into a coma, KADIMA entered the Knesset as the largest party, and its new leader, Ehud Olmert, formed the new government. Never before had an Israeli centre party been this successful. While political parties, party systems and party positioning along the left-right continuum have been subject to research by scholars of political science, the phenomenon of the centre party has been neglected until recently. Maurice Duverger¿s verdict that ¿the centre does not exist in politics,¿ seems to have had a devastating effect on centre party research: there is no universal definition and hardly any theoretical groundwork on which to base an analysis of past and contemporary centre parties. This thesis seeks to make a contribution to the quest for such a universal definition by proposing one of its own. It is partly drawn from the findings of others, such as Hans Daalder and Reuven Hazan, combining several features proposed for centre parties in general research as well as research on Israeli parties in particular. It analyzes the phenomenon of KADIMA in conjunction with former Israeli centre parties and the general changes in the Israeli political system. The research question guiding the analysis is: Why was Kadima in the elections 2006 so much more successful than any other Israeli centre party had ever been before? This is in no way the final word on centre parties in the Israeli party system, but it hopefully proves to be another step towards a more thorough understanding of the dynamics of Israeli parties. The fact that a genuine centre has emerged in Israeli society might be of great consequence for the political system (irrespective of KADIMA and its survival as a political party), but only time will show if the bickering and the scandals within KADIMA won¿t lead to the disappointment of its voters and their subsequent return to the parties of the blocs.