Explore the vast range of titles available.

This article assesses democratic backsliding in Israel during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's years in office from 2009 to 2021, drawing comparisons to similar developments in Hungary and Turkey. While the democratic back-sliding that occurred in Israel during this period resembled what was taking place in these other countries, Netanyahu was less successful in achieving his goals than Viktor Orbán and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, despite employing similar rhetoric and tactics. Netanyahu's lack of success is explained by the amount and nature of affective polarization in Israel, its parliamentary system of government, and its electoral system.

Societies involved in intractable conflicts form conflict-supporting narratives that illuminate and justify their intergroup conflicts. These narratives play an important role in satisfying the basic sociopsychological needs of the involved individuals and collectives. In order to fulfill this role the narratives tend to be biased in favor of the in-group, selective, distorting and simplistic. This article analyzes such narratives that focus on the following major themes: Justification and Threats (of conflict), Delegitimization (of the opponent), Glorification and Victimhood (of the in-group), the in-group's need for Patriotism and Unity, and its Aspiration for Peace. Additionally, the article describes the individual and collective functions of these narratives. It also describes six main methods that are used in the narratives' construction: reliance on supportive sources, marginalization of contradictory information, magnification of supportive themes, fabrication of supportive contents, omission of contradictory contents, and use of framing language. Because conflict-supporting narratives are so functional, the involved societies struggle to support their dominance within their own society as well as in the international community. This article, therefore, presents seven methods that are used by the parties in their intrasocietal struggles – control of access to information, censorship, discrediting of contradicting information, monitoring, punishment, encouragement and rewarding, and closure of archives. Similar methods are used in the international arena struggles. Finally, it describes the process of change from adherence to the conflict-supportive narratives to the construction of new peace-supporting narratives and adherence to them.

This study focuses on the relationship between national identity and intractable conflict. Abdelal's definition of collective identity that refers to the level of agreement regarding the purposes, practices, relational comparisons with other entities, and narratives that define collective identity was adapted to national identity during intractable conflict and was later applied to Israel's national identity. A review of the Israeli 1969–2006 election platforms shows that in the 1980s and 1990s significant changes occurred in Israel's national identity. The most significant changes included: changes regarding the territorial purpose of Israeli identity; changes in practices on who may become an Israeli citizen; changes of perception of the relationship between Israel and the Arabs; and a growing Israeli acceptance of Palestinian identity. Since 2000, following the failure of the Israeli—Palestinian peace process, some components of Israeli national identity have reverted to their original form. The study indicates that the Arab—Israeli conflict triggered changes in Israel's national identity, but the conflict also seemed affected by changes in that identity. The article connects the changes in Israeli national identity to specific mechanisms and conditions of conflict resolution and reconciliation.

Societies involved in intractable conflicts form a conflict-supporting master narrative that provides justification and explanation of the conflict as a whole as well as narratives about its specific events and relevant persons. Both types of narratives fulfill important functions in satisfying the basic sociopsychological needs of the individuals and the collectives involved, as well as in maintaining a positive image of the society in the international community. In order to fill these needs, the narratives tend to be selective, biased, and simplistic. Moreover, because these narratives are so functional, societies go to extraordinary lengths to maintain their dominance among their own people and internationally. The present article analyzes the specific case of the Israeli-Jewish narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with regard to the methods that are used in the narrative's construction and the ways through which formal authorities strive to preserve its dominance in Israel and in the international community.

Societies involved in intractable conflicts form conflict-supporting narratives that illuminate and justify their intergroup conflicts. These narratives play an important role in satisfying the basic sociopsychological needs of the involved individuals and collectives. In order to fulfill this role the narratives tend to be biased in favor of the in-group, selective, distorting and simplistic. This article analyzes such narratives that focus on the following major themes: Justification and Threats (of conflict), Delegitimization (of the opponent), Glorification and Victimhood (of the in-group), the in-group’s need for Patriotism and Unity, and its Aspiration for Peace. Additionally, the article describes the individual and collective functions of these narratives. It also describes six main methods that are used in the narratives’ construction: reliance on supportive sources, marginalization of contradictory information, magnification of supportive themes, fabrication of supportive contents, omission of contradictory contents, and use of framing language. Because conflict-supporting narratives are so functional, the involved societies struggle to support their dominance within their own society as well as in the international community. This article, therefore, presents seven methods that are used by the parties in their intrasocietal struggles – control of access to information, censorship, discrediting of contradicting information, monitoring, punishment, encouragement and rewarding, and closure of archives. Similar methods are used in the international arena struggles. Finally, it describes the process of change from adherence to the conflict-supportive narratives to the construction of new peace-supporting narratives and adherence to them.

In his review of anti-civilian ideologies, Slim (2008) identifies a spectrum of anti-civilian thinking stretching from an absolute rejection of humanitarian law in the form of genocidal thinking, extreme power dominance, revenge, or collective punishment, to a pro-civilian mindset by leaders who believe in just war theory, but reason that civilian casualities constitute an inevitability of military engagement. He notes that among the most outspoken advocates of the relatively pro-civilian thinkers are current politicians and military leaders from the US, the UK and Israel.

Although a high prevalence of interpersonal violence among adolescents has been documented, we know very little about the association between interpersonal violence and alcohol use among adolescents. This study examines the relation between interpersonal violence experiences and alcohol use among a general random sample of 4,564 adolescents recruited through a randomized school-based survey of high school students in Florida. Overall, 30% of high school students reported lifetime interpersonal violence through physical fights, and 8% reported being physically forced to have sexual intercourse. In multivariable multinomial weighted logistic models adjusting for gender, ethnicity, and grade, high school students who were involved in physical fights or physically forced to have sexual intercourse had greater odds of alcohol use or binge drinking in the past 30 days than students who were not exposed to these experiences. In conclusion, adolescents who have faced interpersonal violence experiences may be at a high risk for alcohol use. Findings suggest that early evaluation of interpersonal violence experiences may be important as part of alcohol use prevention programs among adolescents. The article discusses implications for social work prevention programs and recommendations for future research.

This study compares the assessment of 30 teachers, 120 field instructors, and 287 students with regard to what students of social work do during their fieldwork practice and the importance they attach to these activities. The study used a Job Analysis Questionnaire developed specifically for this study. Results indicated differences among the three groups. Implications call for more attention and tighter follow-up of teachers on student field work and greater clarity on expected and actual performance of roles as perceived by teachers, field instructors, and students.

This study examined the association between parental substance use and the increased risk among school-age children to developing psychosocial problems. Data were collected from 148 children aged 8-11 from urban areas in Israel The following variables were assessed by four self-report questionnaires administered to the children: attachment style, family resources and emotional distress. The only significant difference found was that an insecure-avoidant attachment style was more prevalent among children of fathers with SUD than children with no parental history of SUD. This difference in insecure-avoidant attachment style may be an indication that, even though there were no significant emotional signs yet, children of fathers with SUD are a high-risk population in need of a preventive program. The study was funded in part by the Ministry of Labor Department of Research and Planning, Baum-Shahar scholarship, Sarah Peleg scholarship, and the Anti Drugs Authority in Israel.