Democratic Societies and Their Armed Forces

These papers are an edited selection from the BESA conference of 1998. They present an overview of transformations in societal-military relations in the western world, and the specific manifestations in Israel.

Throughout the democratic world, armed forces are having to adapt to sweeping shifts in their domestic status. This book attempts to explore the possible implications of that situation for Israel - a state long considered a paradigmatic "nation in arms".
Containing an edited selection of papers presented at an international BESA conference held in 1998, this book presents an overview of current transformations in societal-military relations in the western world. Within the context of that framework, it then explores their specific manifestations in Israel. The result is a comprehensive study of a process which, in Israel as elsewhere, already affects the very fabric of a vital sphere of public life.