FACTORS SHAPING THE ISRAELI FOREIGN POLICY: AN ANALYTICAL MODEL

In this article wee seek to suggest an analytical model for explaining the Israeli foreign policy. To do this, we must, on the one hand, survey briefly the main theories of foreign polcy and, on the other, to review the literature about the Israeli foreign policy. The major question this paper would ask is: what are the main factors shaping the Israeli foreign policy and which one might be said to be the dominant one. We suggest that though internal and external factors such as geographical attributes, domestic groups, national and social characteristics, public opinion, the structure of international system, the nature of the global economy, regional alliances, international institutions and international law, have, to various degrees, influenced the Israeli foreign policy, but the nature of the Israeli state i.e., Zionist, functinalist and ethnicisit attributes, has been the main factor shaping the Israeli foreign policy.