Managing Political Conflicts: The Sociology of State Commissions of Inquiry in Israel

• Published in: Israel studies (Bloomington, Ind.) Ind.), 2001-04, Vol.6 (1), p.126-156
• Main Authors: Shenhav, Yehouda, Gabay, Nadav
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arab-Israeli conflicts; Assassinations; Assassinations & assassination attempts; Barak, Aharon; Checks and Balances in Governing Israel; Committees of inquiry; Crime; Disorders; Federal government; Government; International; International law; International relations; Israel-Arab conflicts; Jewish sociology; Jewish studies; Logic; Management; Massacres; Political aspects; Political conflict; Political discourse; Political violence; Prime ministers; Rabin, Yitzhak; Reason; Rule of law; Shamgar, Meir; Social aspects; Social order; Sociology; Sociology, Jewish
• ISSN: 1084-9513; 1527-201X
• DOI: 10.2979/ISR.2001.6.1.126

"State" and "society" are two predominant images in political theory and public discourse. Whereas "society" is characterized as "unpredictable," often "irrational" and "chaotic," "state" institutions and state actions are perceived as "modern" and "rational."(5) Inherent in the very act of positing these dichotomous analytical categories is the tacit assumption that a sharp division exists between forces of order and forces of disorder, between equilibrium and disequilibrium. The immediate implication of this distinction is that the social order is "fragile" and that only the state can save the society from anarchy.(6) The "state" commissions of inquiry constituted their investigation in accordance with the assumption that a commission is a component of the rational state system that is intended to investigate and resolve "problems" in the society by applying legal and organizational rationality. In other words, the rational-instrumental discourse leads to a technocratic inquiry which presupposes that the objects of the probe are "mishaps" deriving from the failure of societal system. The upshot is that "the circumstances of the massacre and its consequences" were described as a mishap, a glitch in the system's equilibrium, and the solution to the problems was perceived to lie in the stabilization and realigument of the system's components in order to enable the continued orderly, efficient, and harmonious operation of the rational system called "social order," which is identified with the state. Accordingly, the technocratic investigation proposed rational managerial and organizational conclusions and solutions, subject to the desired system-based model, which is identified with the social order that is constituted as "external" to the inquiry itself. "Systematization" and "mamlakhtiut" are two congruent forms of a rational, instrumental discourse which emphasize consensus and social harmony over tensions and conflicts, and preserve the rational experts neutral, universal image so that it can continuously manage ongoing behavior. Harmony in the system conception, like consensus in the state-mamlakhtiut conception, is intended to contain conflicts, political disagreements, or any potential for confrontation, by depicting them as disharmonious, or dysfunctional, for the system. Mamlakhtiut and systematization create a discourse of harmony that conceals tensions and disputes, enabling the state or the organization to concentrate the means of control in thei