Political reform and the committee system in Israel: Structural and functional adaptation

Committees are the main functioning organs of the unicameral Knesset, Israel's parliament, but they have received little or no attention from legislative scholars in general, or from Israeli ones in particular. This article presents the first academic analysis focused on the committees of the Israeli Knesset, and the first description of them in English. The article attempts to achieve the following: (i) to elaborate the political environment within which the Knesset committees were created and to analyse the electoral and political reforms which have transformed Israeli politics; (ii) to describe the organisation and structure of the committee system in the Knesset; (iii) to assess the need for committee change in order to adapt to the consequences of recent reforms; and (iv) to assess whether Israeli politicians realise that structural change causes a modification of institutional performance.