'Your Honor, Restrain Us': The Political Dynamics of the Right to Be Elected in the Israeli Democracy

תקציר

What are the differences between decision-making processes within judicial and political institutions? How do inter-institutional dynamics affect decision-making within courts and parliaments? We address these questions by investigating cases of disqualification of political parties and candidates from participating in elections to the Israeli Knesset. We show a consistently evolving trend where a political body bans Arab candidacies while the Supreme Court overturns its decisions. The gap between politicians and justices' decisions has widened over time in three aspects: the final decisions, the majority by which they are taken, and legislation amendments versus judicial precedents. We set forth and test possible explanations for these divergences, focusing on the different impact of ideology, the law, institutional norms, public opinion and strategic considerations on decision-makers in the two institutions. We find the explanatory power of these factors to be limited and proceed to explore the influence of inter-institutional dynamics in this regard. We suggest that considering this additional factor can advance research on decision-making involving judicial and political bodies.