Suicidal Democracy: Israel's Future in the Arab Environment spells out the perils inherent in the practice of "democracy at any price," even when it takes precedence over national identity, and disregards national security and national existence just in order to preserve the ideal of democracy.
For one, the values of existence and survival are considered by author Raphael Israeli as overwhelming, while the character of a regime is only auxiliary to ascertain a better existence. Therefore, to choose any kind of government, one first must guarantee one's survivability.
This volume examines the way Israel has been disregarding these basic life requirements in its frenzied drive to be and to appear as a supreme practitioner of democracy, both towards its large Arab population and in its relations with the Arab world, while the latter have been abusing democracy and liberal policies to bring Israel to its demise.
(About the Author)
Raphael Israeli has taught Islamic, Chinese, and Middle Eastern history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A graduate of Hebrew University in history and Arabic literature, he earned a Ph.D. in Chinese and Islamic history from the University of California, Berkeley. Now retired, he has been a Fellow of the Harry Truman Research Institute at Hebrew University and the Jerusalem Center since the 1970s, and is the author of over 50 research books, a dozen edited books, and 100 scholarly articles about Islam. Born in Fes, Morocco, at age fourteen, "I left my family when I could no longer bear the oppression of Jews in an Islamic country and moved to fledgling Israel. To this day, I consider that the wisest and most game-changing decision I took in my life."