My research seeks to understand how domestic political institutions, leadership dynamics, and regime type influence the making and evolution of foreign policy, with Israel as the primary case study. I anchor my inquiry in Neoclassical Realism, a theoretical approach that links the international system’s structural pressures with internal political variables such as elite perceptions, institutional constraints, coalition politics, and regime legitimacy.

Israel presents a compelling site for such an investigation. As a parliamentary democracy with proportional representation, its political landscape is shaped by coalition governments, shifting party blocs, and strong personalities. These institutional configurations shape foreign policy outcomes not solely through strategic calculations but also through processes of negotiation, ideological framing, and public legitimacy management. In this regard, I aim to examine how leadership styles—from Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres to Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, and post-2020 coalition formations—intersect with domestic power balances to produce distinctive diplomatic and security choices.

Central to my research is the question of how Israel’s model of democracy should be characterized, particularly under the pressures of a hostile and conflict-prone regional environment. Some scholars argue that the Israeli model reflects signs of democratic decay, manifested through judicial weakening, securitization of identity, and narrowing of pluralist spaces. Others contend that Israel’s geopolitical context necessitates a security-democracy equilibrium, where strong executive authority and societal cohesion are indispensable for survival. My research interrogates this tension: Is Israel’s democratic trajectory a deviation from liberal norms, or a context-specific adaptation shaped by persistent existential threat?

By tracing key moments from 1993 to 2025—the Oslo Accords, the Second Intifada, unilateral disengagement, the Abraham Accords, shifts in U.S.–Israel relations, and current debates on judicial reform—I aim to map both continuities and transformations in Israel’s foreign policy logic. My goal is to show how structural pressures remain constant, but the translation of these pressures into policy varies depending on institutional configuration and leadership interpretation.
Ultimately, this research contributes to broader debates on how democracies behave under insecurity, and whether such cases offer alternative perspectives for rethinking democratic resilience and foreign policy decision-making in the Global South and beyond.