The Israeli Foundation for Democracy

In recent years, Israeli democracy has been in a deep and prolonged crisis: the principle of separation of powers and the checks and balances on the executive branch are under pressure; efforts to concentrate power in the hands of political actors intensify the sense of division and polarization; and public discourse has become saturated with delegitimization and intimidation.

The current crisis reflects structural failures that have not been adequately addressed for decades. These are not problems created by a specific leader or government, but rather problems of the rules of the game and institutional structures: in the absence of a constitution - and without sufficient constitutional entrenchment - any narrow majority can implement far-reaching change without broad consensus; excessive centralization leaves too many decisions at the national level and weakens local implementation capacity; and the representation mechanism incentivizes identity-based party politics at the expense of reaching agreements on core civic issues. This is evident in everyday life: from essential reforms that remain stuck because they depend on zero-sum politics among ministers in Jerusalem, to hiring teachers or increasing the frequency of bus lines that require national-level approvals. The result is a sense of powerlessness, fatigue, and passivity; a leakage of talent; and harm to social and economic stability. At the same time, Israel has significant democratic assets: a strong and diverse civil society; broad civic activity against moves perceived as harming democracy; relatively free media; and "islands" of independence and impact in academia, high-tech, local government, and civic entrepreneurship. The Foundation was established to translate that power into durable, sustainable structural reforms.