From Populist Politician to Sober Statesman
Naftali Bennett's One-Year Premiership
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Abstract
The surge of far-right populist leaders around the world has raised the question of whether they can be moderated through their participation in government—a matter of scholarly contention. This article examines the political arc of Naftali Bennett, a populist-nationalist politician who served as Israel's prime minister from June 2021 to June 2022. Until his unexpected ascension to the top political post, Bennett regularly employed populist Us vs. Them rhetoric while backing populist measures as a government minister that often put him at odds with the security establishment. Upon assuming the premiership, however, Bennett, following an instrumental logic, abandoned his polarizing rhetoric and embraced, instead, a statesmanlike approach to governing. The case of Bennett illustrates partial moderation undergone by a populist-nationalist politician's rise to power.
Contributor Notes
GUY ZIV is associate professor in the Department of Foreign Policy and Global Security at American University's School of International Service. He also serves as the associate director of American University's Meltzer Schwartzberg Center for Israel Studies. He is the author of Why Hawks Become Doves: Shimon Peres and Foreign Policy Change in Israel (SUNY Press, 2014) and Netanyahu vs the Generals: The Battle for Israel's Future (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Email: ziv@american.edu