In its Proclamation of Independence, Israel promised itself and the world that it would adopt, by October 1, 1948, a written constitution with which to govern itself. It failed to do so and that failure weighs heavily upon the nation today, over seventy years later. In the absence of a written constitution, a clear, unambiguous and apolitical document to, among many other things, guide its electoral process, Israel is about to try for the third time during this cycle, with no solid reason to expect success, to elect a legal, effective and representative government.
Only a handful of the world’s modern countries currently govern themselves without benefit of a codified constitution. There are Canada and the United Kingdom, which lack constitutions because they are able to rely on centuries of precedent and deliberation. There are also the de facto dictatorships of Saudi Arabia and China which, being dictatorships, have no need for codified law.
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