Рассмотрены особенности становления лидеров, считающихся политическими долгожителями, на примере двух израильских премьер-министров - Д. Бен Гуриона и Биньямина Нетаньяху, побивших рекорд пребывания во власти в условиях формально демократической политической системы. Это диктовалось как их личными чертами, так и умением ответить на меняющиеся общественные запросы. И Д. Бен Гурион, и Б. Нетаньяху создали в рамках этой системы собственные режимы, готовые любыми методами противостоять угрозам, которые воспринимаются как экзистенциональные. Адаптивность политической системы к нелиберальным режимам и практикам свидетельствует о наличии потенциала её трансформации.
Political Longevity
Indispensability or Lack of Alternative?
(David Ben Gurion and Benjamin Netanyahu)
The article analyses a phenomenon of political leadership through the prism of exceptionally long carriers of the two Israeli prime ministers - David Ben Gurion and Benjamin Netanyahu. Ben Gurion belonged to a generation of the founding fathers while Netanyahu is an Israli leader raised in the State of Israel. Their respective ways to the top were different. Ben Gurion's career was a classical case - he started as a party activist, worked for trade unions, developed close ties with non-state military actors. Netanyahu came as a prince, who inherited his elite status from his father, a well known member of the Revisionist movement. Despite all differences the two prime ministers shared common features: personal charisma and assertiveness, responsiveness to the public expectations, an ability to deal with threats perceived by the majority as existentional. Both leaders created their own regimes within the framework of democratic system. The adaptivity of the Israeli political system to illiberal practices can be interpreted as a potential for its transformation in the future.