Constitutions and Political Reconstruction? Israel's Quest for a Constitution

Abstract

Israel's Declaration of the Foundation of the State of 14 May 1948 specified, as required by UN Resolution 181, that Israel be a constitutional democracy. The constituent assembly was only elected in 1949, after the 1948 war, and made itself into the first Knesset, thus conflating constitution-making and regular legislative authority. In 1950, the young state decided not to enact a constitution at once but to enact special basic laws, which together might form a constitution. Attempts to enact a constitution gathered momentum in the last two decades of the 20th century but were defeated. The enactment, in 1992, of two basic laws related to human rights was declared a `constitutional revolution' by some. This article argues that Israel's constitutional history reflects two anomalies: in 1948 there was a major social and political change, which was implemented without a constitution; in the 1980s and 1990s there was a constitutional process designed to arrest - rather then facilitate and reflect - social, political and demographic changes.