3
I. Introduction
Why do people seek litigation? Is it because they expect court to do justice in place
where they believe that justice was denied? Is it because they expect to achieve
tangible benefits by waging a legal battle? Would people go to court merely to
demonstrate their rejection of public policies endorsed by the ruling authority?
Courts are commonly regarded as instruments for settling disputes between
rivals who cannot solve their differences through other means of dispute resolution. In
recent years, however, more attention is being drawn to the role which courts play
within the political process itself. This article sets out to examine the role of public
litigation in the Israeli High Court of Justice as a vehicle of political participation.
Political participation has been the subject of an extensive research for the past
few decades, since civic participation is taken to be at the heart of the democratic
process (Dahl 1971). Although the exact definition of ‘political participation’ is
subject to much debate, its features include those (overt) actions, undertaken by
ordinary citizens that are intended - directly or indirectly - to influence the selection of
governmental personnel and/or policy decision-making (Bennett & Bennett 1986);
Often a voluntaristic spice is being added to the compound (Weiner 1971). A
substantial part of the research on political participation focuses on voting, which is
considered the most common and important act of participation (Bennett & Bennett
1986; Greene 1990; Jackman & Muller 1995).
Political participation came to include many different forms. Patterns of
participation have been divided between conventional and non-conventional, legal
and illegal or institutional and non-institutional modes (Verba & Nie 1972; Barnes &
Kasse 1979; Van Deth 1986; Sabucedo & Arce 1991). Within conventional political
participation included are the following: voting; electoral campaigning lobbying and
Convention