This project was completed in May 2003.
The goal of the Social Contract program was to document two major cleavages in Israeli society, and to promote policy-making mechanisms that reflect them and the need to form a binding social framework as a counterweight for them. The two social cleavages which were selected for the program were those that seem to have the highest potential for leading to the complete estrangement of major groups in Israeli society:
-
The Jewish-Arab cleavage.
-
The socioeconomic cleavage.
The research staff analyzed different sources and identified the political and social forces which are active in Israeli society. The study identified ways to contend with existing problems and, thereby, make it possible to draft a social contract.