Baruch Kimmerling is Professor at Hebrew University and Director of the Center for the Study and Documentation of Israeli Society.

"It deals with exceedingly important issues scarcely touched by an earlier generation of Israeli social scientists. The topic is central to the study of Israeli society, and the book makes innovative contributions to sociological theory. It represents first-rate scholarship." — Robert J. Brym, University of Toronto"There are provocative and insightful notions, and readers will come away with an appreciation both of the complexities of Israeli society and of the difficulty of charting its boundaries and explaining their creation and evolution." — Mark Tessler, University of Wisconsin

• Preface Chapter 1 The Crystallization of the State and the Struggles Over Rulemaking: Israel in Comparative Perspective Joel S. MigdalChapter 2 Before the State: Communal Politics in Palestine Under the Mandate Dan HorowitzChapter 3 Citizenship, Nationality and Religion in Israel and Thailand Erik CohenChapter 4 Jewish Organized Labor and the Palestinians: A Study of State/Society Relations in Israel Michael ShalevChapter 5 Children's Perceptions of Minority Rights: Israel in a Cross-National Perspective Charles W. Greenbaum, Leon Mann and Shoshana HarpazChapter 6 The Social Meaning of Alternative Systems: Some Exploratory Notes Nachman Ben-YehudaChapter 7 The State of Israel as a Theological Dilemma Menachem FriedmanChapter 8 The Structure and Dilemmas of Israeli Pluralism Judith T. ShuvalChapter 9 Between "Alexandria-On-The-Hudson" and Zion Baruch KimmerlingChapter 10 Boundaries and Frontiers of the Israeli Control System: Analytical Conclusions Baruch KimmerlingContributors Index