The Limits of Right-Wing Populism in Power and the Israeli Political Crisis of 2018–2021

Between 2018 and 2021, Israel experienced an unprecedented political crisis that saw four rounds of elections, as the country’s parties failed to form a stable co-alition government. This article contends that this crisis was the result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shift away from neoliberalism and toward a populist “anti-system” agenda. While Netanyahu’s intensification of institutional subversion played a role in his success in the mid–late 2010s, it complicated relations within his party and among his political allies. The end result was years of political deadlock.