The Road Not Taken

This article explores the position taken by the Herut party and its leader, Menachem Begin, on fundamental issues of democracy and regime type. It analyzes the democratic model that Begin and Herut sought to promote during Israel’s formative years: a presidential democracy with a clearly defined separation of powers preserved in a rigorous formal constitution that includes both judicial supremacy and a mechanism for judicial review. The article illuminates an important and unexplored chapter in Israeli historiography—the right wing’s position on the formation of Israel’s democratic regime—and addresses the ideological roots and foundations of the Likud movement in the spheres of government and law.