Nationalist-Religious Ideology and Civic Education: The Israeli Case

Are we riding the fourth wave of democracy, as predicted by Toffler (1984) and Huntington (1991), a post-capitalist, post-global wave? Western liberal democracy is currently responding to the dramatic change in the economic system after capitalism, the coronavirus pandemic, and the growing power of nationalist and fundamentalist ideologies. Does this process indicates a change in Western democracy or is it the end of democracy and what is the role of civic education within it? In Israel, as in other Western countries, the nationalist and fundamentalist ideologies (gained strength, undermining liberalism) threaten the conception of global citizenship and strive to shape a model of an illiberal democracy. In Israel, contrary to other Western countries, they also threaten civic equality and the very existence of the democratic rule. In the absence of a constitution and consensus, Israel is experiencing culture and religious war over values, identity and the concept of “citizenship” as a legal, political, and social framework. Thus, the struggle over civic education reflects the struggle over educational hegemony, as well as over national hegemony. In this process, nationalists and fundamentalists initiate anti-democratic legislation, violate human rights, obstruct government supervisory mechanisms, and expand ideological education in order to change Israel’s character to a Jewish state rather than a Jewish and democratic state.