Leaders and Laborers: How Democratic Zionist Leadership and Jewish Workers in Palestine led to Israel’s Democratic Foundation

Abstract

Despite the extensive influx of research surrounding Israel in light of its recent conflict in Gaza, a majority of these studies explore Israel’s contemporary history, often neglecting its formative years. While Israel’s status as a democracy has been subject to ample debate, its democratic foundations at the time of its inception have yet to be thoroughly explained. This article therefore revisits Israel’s early years to address why Israel was founded as a democracy. Ultimately, it is concluded that the democratic, Western beliefs of key Israeli leaders such as David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann, combined with the central role of Jewish workers in the construction of Israel, placed an emphasis on the importance of popular democracy. This study provides valuable insights on how new nations come to adopt democratic practices, contributing not only to the discourse on the scope of Israel’s democracy, but also to the broader question of how nations end up democratic versus authoritarian.