Israel's foreign policy behavioral patterns 1948-2022

Document Type : Original Article

Author

PhD student in Middle East Studies, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Israel's foreign policy has gone through significant pattern changes since its inception in 1948. Despite the direct support of the United States and Britain and other Western governments from the beginning until now, Israel's foreign policy has operated based on several behavioral patterns in different periods of time. In the beginning, the security problems and the issue of existential threats for this government caused it to go to war and conflict with the Arab countries of the Middle East region, but over time and affected by the environmental and internal conditions, especially the emergence of new subcultures and elites, its behavioral patterns in foreign policy also changed, and everything is no longer defined around conflict, deterrence and security. Economic development, especially the economy based on advanced technologies, has forced Israel to expand extensive relations with other governments and move toward de-escalation. Although it can be said that the structure of the international system and the great powers have also influenced Israel's foreign policy, what is central and preferable in its foreign policy is the issue of Jewish religion and ethnicity (the nature of the Israeli state) throughout the world, which is one of the Israel's unique features that considered among the actors of the international system. Therefore, in this article, we seek to answer the question: "The changes and developments that have taken place in Israel's foreign policy in different periods have been designed and implemented based on which behavioral patterns?" In response to this question, four important models can be mentioned based on which Israel's foreign policy is designed in relation to other countries, both in the Middle East region and in other parts of the world. These four patterns are: 1. Security-oriented (offensive and defensive), 2. Pragmatism without perspective, 3. Ethnocentrism and special attention to Jews outside Israel (diaspora), 4. Market and technology-oriented economy. In the current era, Israel's foreign relations are developed and implemented in a changing process based on the above models compared to other regional and international actors. This research, using documentary and library sources and descriptive-explanatory method, has been trying to investigate the factors affecting Israel's foreign policy and of course its changing behavioral patterns since its establishment until now.

Keywords

References

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Mesopotamian Political Studies
Volume 2, Issue 2
September 2023

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History

  • Receive Date: 27 July 2023
  • Revise Date: 02 September 2023
  • Accept Date: 18 September 2023

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