I just read and article about Benjamin Netanyahu resigning as Finace Minister.
Why would you want to be something lame like FM when you use to be the Prime Minister? This seems to happen alot in Israel… Didn’t one other PM become a cabinet minister?
It’s a way to keep yourself in the spotlight for a possible return to power.
To be a little clearer: Israel’s democracy is Parliamentary, in which voters vote for a party - not a person, the parties get a proportionate number of seats in parliament , and then the party with the most seats forms a coalition with a majority of seats, during which time, ministry portfolios (including Prime) are negotiated.
In the U.S., voters vote for an individual, and the parties need to choose someone they think voters will choose. The parties therefore will not put forth someone who is thought of by voters as a loser…so someone who reached for the brass ring and missed knows he’s not going to be nominated again. So to an American politician, the step down is not an opportunity for a possible other step up. In the Israeli system, staying active in the government is good for another try at the Prime Ministry.
It’s not unheard of in countries with a full parliamentary system and with a lot of parties (former french system until the 60s or Italy until some years ago, for instance). The governments are unstable, and there’s a lot of switching around, depending on the relative influence of parties and subgroups within them, people or whole parties switching sides about specific issues (or using said issues as a pretext to switch side), formation of temporary alliances, etc…
So, each cabinet is the result of a complicated process of negociation, that can be undone at any moment. Depending on his current influence and on the current influence of his party, a politician can hold an important office, then be replaced and leave the government, then come back in a less important office, etc…
I think it becomes part of the political culture, at some point. For instance, nothing in theory would prevent the same thing from happening in the UK, as a result of internal strugles within the labor party (currently), for instance. But I suppose that the lack of multiple represented parties (a result of the electoral system) prevented this “culture of political unstability” from appearing, and thus the british governments are quite stable.
At least, the examples I have in mind of unstable governance are all countries with a large number of parties represented in the parliament. That’s why I assume it’s directly related. The political class and the public at large probably becomes accustomed to frequent changes in the government’s composition and organization due to switching alliances between parties, and in quick order, the same concept is applied to switching alliances within the main parties themselves. Just a theory, of course.
Oh! And by the way, from a practical point of view, it makes a lot of sense. Nethanyahu intends to beome prime minister again, and leaving the government now might allow him to ride the wawe of dissatisfaction within the Israeli right. If is bet is well placed (the opposition to Sharon’s policies stays high in the future and the voters still favor the Likud), he might get back the prime minister’s job.
Of course, there’s also the remote possibility that he’s actually resigning because his conscience dictates that he must do so in the current circumstances, rather than due to political considerations. But for some reason, I doubt it.