Changing Concepts of Movement Democracy: The Case of the Israeli Labor Movement

This article identifies and analyzes three concepts of democracy that have developed in the history of the Israeli Labor movement: institutional, competitive and pioneer. The institutional concept originated in the Labor party, and the Federation of Labor (Histadrut); the competitive concept was fully articulated by members of the circle of young leaders of Mapai in the 1950s; and the pioneer concept was developed by the collectivist kibbutz movement. The differences among the three concepts are discussed in relation to the suggested distinction between a system of democratic choice and a system of democratic approval.