Routledge Handbook of Modern Israel

Israel is a country made up of contradictions. A lively democracy in a multicultural society but within a state promoting a strong national identity; a thriving economy in an unequal society; a culture open to modern trends but drawing on the Hebrew past and preoccupied with the Holocaust and the Arab-Israeli conflict; a sovereign member in the international arena, whose existence is still contested in the Middle East. The Routledge Handbook of Modern Israel provides a comprehensive profile of the intricacies of contemporary Israel, offering a unique, in-depth survey of the country.

Organised thematically, a full range of topics are discussed, including:

• Politics and international relations
• The foundation of the Israeli state
• The birth and development of the Israeli economy
• Israeli culture
• Israel’s role in the Middle East

Bringing together more than thirty notable contributors from across the globe, this Handbook sheds light on the multifaceted reality of modern Israel in order to better understand, beyond clichés, this complex society.

Alain DIECKHOFF is Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies and Research, and teaches at Sciences Po, Paris. As an academic he has worked extensively on various aspects of contemporary Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He has also undertaken a major comparative project on nationalism in the Western world.

He has authored six books, edited eight others and published more than fifty articles in journals and edited volumes. Among his books published in English are; The Invention of a Nation: Zionist Thought and the Making of Modern Israel, (New York, 2003); The Politics of Belonging: Nationalism, Liberalism, and Pluralism (ed., Lanham, 2004); Revisiting Nationalism: Theories and Processes (co-ed., New York, 2006). His latest book is Le conflit israélo-arabe, (Paris, 2011).