Provides a fresh perspective on Israeli civil-security relations and politics, introducing the concept of informal security networks in the area of national security.

Gabriel Sheffer is a professor of political science at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His current research topics include ethnic politics, with special emphasis on ethno-national diasporas, and civil-military relations. Sheffer has been a visiting professor in many leading universities, including Cornell University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Duke University. Sheffer is on the editorial board of several journals in English and Hebrew, including Israel Studies and Diaspora. He has served as the director of various research institutions and projects, and was a senior fellow at the Max Planck Institute. He is the author of numerous books, journal articles, book chapters and edited volumes, including Middle Eastern Minorities and Diasporas (2002), Diaspora Politics At Home Abroad (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and The Jewish Diaspora and the Jerusalem Question (2012).

Introduction; 1. Security networks: a theoretical and comparative perspective; 2. The making of Israel's security network; 3. Membership, structure, and culture; 4. The security network and Israel's formal democracy; 5. The network at work: shaping Israel's foreign and security policies; 6. Israel in a comparative perspective; Conclusions.