This article's thesis is that the close connection between the military elite and the government/political elite in Israel detracts from the quality of Israeli democracy by lending the government an unfair electoral advantage over the opposition. The article documents the various facets of the connection between the elites, which includes military commanders' publicly expressed support for government policy over that of the opposition, military elite participation in the formation of government policy, political appointments within the army, the movement from the military elite into the political (especially the government/political) elite, and informal social contacts between the two elites. It then analyzes how the connection between the two elites enhances the electoral chances of the government over those of the opposition. It shows that some facets do so directly by forming a legitimating device for the government, while others do so indirectly by being part of an exchange system that includes the other aspects of the connection. The inequitable electoral advantage thus gained by the government through its connection with the military elite contravenes the spirit-if not the letter-of democratic principles.
Globalization entails the development of a set of transnational organizations, and these are becoming major arbiters of power and policies. These organizations are headed by elites and thus, in addition to national elites, we now have a second layer of transnational elites. This article examines the linkages between such elites and the public in two organizations: the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. Its argument is that such links, or couplings, between elites and the public are of crucial importance to democracy, and to progress toward a more egalitarian distribution of socioeconomic resources. Further, it documents a series of deficits in elite-public linkages in the two organizations analyzed. When linkages are deficient this means that democracy in these transnational organizations is flawed as well. Concomitantly, and partly because of the same inadequacy in their coupling with the public, these elites are also instrumental in increasing socioeconomic inequalities.
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