Monday, February 4, 2008

Kedar on David Ben-Gurion, the Israeli Army and the Law

Nir Kedar, Bar-Ilan University, has posted another new paper, A Civilian Commander in Chief: David Ben-Gurion, the Israeli Army and the Law. The paper draws upon primary sources in the Ben-Gurion Archives. Here's the abstract:
David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime-minister, is regarded more of a `security-minded leader' than a `civilian leader'. Nevertheless, as premier of a fledgling state, he played a major role in shaping Israel's civil institutions and establishing democracy and the rule of law. Even his attitude toward the army and security matters derived from a solidly-constructed civil-legal weltanschauung. This paper demonstrates the civil roots of his concept of army by analyzing his insistent demand for the enactment of a comprehensive and efficient military criminal code (known in Israel as the Military Justice Law).