Populism and corruption in Israel - From a clientelist point of view

Populists often contravene the law so as to gain and maintain power as well as enrich themselves and their supporters. At the same time they tend to delegitimize the fight against corruption, roll back anti-corruption laws, and openly violate ethical standards of public life, what has been referred to as “legal corruption.” The development in Israel over the last years presents a prime example. Current incidents in the country enable us to examine not merely the types of corruption involved but also the specific forms they take and the mechanisms to which they are connected. This chapter discusses these developments and points to their origins, both on the populism sphere and on delegitimization of the combat against corruption. These phenomena can be traced also in parties other than the Likud headed by Netanyahu. The effort will also be to show that the adoption of populist components could well lead to forms of corruption, especially various types of clientelism and “Voter Construction” (the arrangement of party lists to fit the requirements of specific voters who would cast ballots in return for actual or promised benefits). This form of bribery was used in the Likud internal elections in the past, spread to other parties and later present new formations as the populist components are added. The chapter examines the assumption that the spread of such forms of corruption across the political system is a signpost to the emergence of a new type that has inner connections to previous trends of neo-liberal political corruption to which the term “neo-liberal populism” is suggested.