Integrative Enclave: When Israeli Policy Makers encounter Ultra-Orthodox Society

This research examines the manners in which policy makers address deep rifts between various segments of a population. At the same time, it analyzes the policy shaped for Israel's Ultra-Orthodox population from the late 1990s. The study offers two primary contributions: first, it presents a theoretical model of "new consociationalism," explaining the ways in which policy makers tackle crises between various social segments; second, the study offers case studies of policies shaped for Israel's Ultra-Orthodox population, according to the mentioned theoretical model and the efforts made by the policy makers to include it in the "triangle" of military service, education and employment. Arend Lijphart, and numerous scholars who followed in his footsteps, established the consociationalism model, arguing that political elites succeed in handling social rifts through four different manners: mutual veto, autonomy, wide coalition and proportional allocation of resources (Jarstad, 2001; Lijphart, 1969; 1977; O’Leary & McGarry, 2004). Primary political science researchers defined religion and state relationship in Israel as consociational (Don-yehiya, 1997; Sharkaski, 1996). Others have shown a crisis in these relations since the 1990's (Barak-Erez, 2010; Cohen & Susser, 2003, Etzioni-Halevi, 2000). My research, based on more than 60 interviews with prominent policy makers, shows that in Israel, governmental bureaucrats succeeded in developing new tools in order to integrate the Ultra-Orthodox society in the aforementioned triangle. In the lecture, I intend to focus on the establishment of an "integrating enclave" for the advancement of the Ultra-Orthodox sector's integration, even at the cost of creating separate frameworks. In all the examined frameworks (i.e., military service, higher education, employment), the designated programs were outlined particularly for the Ultra-Orthodox sector, and activated by Ultra-Orthodox themselves, separately from the general population. Thus, all programs were successful in preserving the Ultra-Orthodox enclave. However, the contents offered were professional/secular and the very exposure to them could shake the walls of the Ultra-Orthodox enclave. Furthermore, the programs aimed to advance the participants' success on the general labor market, and indeed, they did so. Thus, they were also successful in integrating this sector in the general society. Integrative enclave, therefore, is a powerful policy tool. Its use by Israel's policy makers regarding the Ultra-Orthodox society can shed light on further endeavors to deal with majority-minority conflictual relationship in other countries.