The rise of populism as a factor in Mezey’s explanation of legislative vulnerability

ABSTRACT

Michael Mezey maintained that all legislatures are vulnerable to executive attempts to aggrandise their power and influence at the expense of parliamentary prerogatives. In democracies, populist leaders are a danger to parliaments. Therefore, I explored the role of populism as a factor in Mezey's explanation of legislative vulnerability using the case of the Israeli parliament during the 37th government. A wave of populism prompted an attempt to create a constitutional revolution that would weaken the already weak parliament. Israel is one example of the role of populism in making legislatures vulnerable to attempts by the executive branch to increase its power, but there are more cases to study to understand the depth of the phenomenon. Thus, as researchers, we should identify the procedures that can help vulnerable parliaments confront populist leaders and their behaviour.

KEYWORDS:

• Populism
• legislative vulnerability
• Israel
• constitutional revolution

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 On 28 February 2019, for the first time in the history of Israel, the Attorney General announced the filing of an indictment for crimes of bribery, fraud and breach of trust against an incumbent Prime Minister.

2 https://v-dem.net/ The answers range: 0: Extremely unlikely, 1: Unlikely, 2: As likely as not, 3: Likely, 4: Certain or nearly certain.

3 https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/activity/pages/basiclaws.aspx

4 https://main.knesset.gov.il/Activity/Legislation/Laws/Pages/LawBill.aspx?t=lawsuggestionssearch&lawitemid=2201424

5 https://news.walla.co.il/item/3548645

6 https://main.knesset.gov.il/mk/government/Documents/CA37-Otzma.pdf

7 For example, see: https://www.maariv.co.il/news/law/Article-763326

8 https://www.nevo.co.il/law_html/law00/74874.htm

9 https://13tv.co.il/item/news/domestic/crime-and-justice/p8lag-903388027/

10 https://fs.knesset.gov.il/25/law/25_ls1_1792677.pdf

11 https://www.idi.org.il/knesset-committees/48199

12 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/31/middleeast/benjamin-netanyahu-cnn-interview-israel-intl/index.html

13 https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/sjczdeq5i

14 https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/skcuwpp9s

15 https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/h1cjrume3

16 https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/b111hwbieh

17 https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/rjvt11owlh

18 See the committee's protocols of the debates https://main.knesset.gov.il/Activity/Legislation/Laws/Pages/LawBill.aspx?t=lawsuggestionssearch&lawitemid=2201200

19 https://main.knesset.gov.il/mk/government/Documents/CA37-RZ.pdf https://main.knesset.gov.il/mk/government/Documents/CA37-Otzma.pdf https://main.knesset.gov.il/mk/government/Documents/CA37-Shas.pdf https://main.knesset.gov.il/mk/government/Documents/CA37-YT.pdf

20 https://www.israelhayom.co.il/news/law/article/14832222

21 https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan-news/politic/720846/

22 https://v-dem.net/documents/44/v-dem_dr2024_highres.pdf

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Osnat Akiarv

Osnat Akirav is an associate professor in Political Science at the Western Galilee College, Israel, the head of the research Galilee institute at the Western Galilee College. She is also the president of Israel Political Science Association. She holds a PhD from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Her specialisation is in legislative studies, setting the agenda, candidate selection methods, local government, gender and politics, minorities and politics, research methods and Israeli political system. She served 10 years as local council representative. In 2010 and in 2015 she received a prize for outstanding teaching in political science from the American Political Science Association and in 2012 she received Edmond Safra award for outstanding achievement and excellence. In 2012 and 2016 she received a prize for best article from the Israeli Political Science Association. In 2015, 2018–2023 she received a prize for excellent researcher from the Western Galilee College.