Misplaced from the start: Israel’s state identity and the search for regional acceptance

This paper considers the elements that constitute Israel’s state identity, from its deepest layers of corporate identity through the middle layer of identification processes between self and other, to the most superficial layer at which political entrepreneurs are able to shape aspects of identity in the short term. Israel’s state identity is examined through the use of roles, alongside other elements of societal identity upon which it supervenes. Continuities and changes in Israel’s state identity are analyzed from independence in its geographic region through efforts to reimagine its cognitive region in the Mediterranean or Europe. While Israel is often frustrated in its inability to enact roles commensurate with its status in its geographic region, there is little agreement over what cognitive region this misplaced state really belongs in. For the moment, Israel remains a misplaced state in its geographic region.