The Industrial Geography of Israel

Yehuda Gradus holds the Harry Levy Chair in Geography and Regional Planning and is Head of the Centre for Regional Development Policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Eran Razin is Senior Lecturer in Geography at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and Shaul Krakover is Senior Lecturer and Chairman of the Department of Geography and Environmental Development, also at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Israel's industrial geography is unique. The country's geopolitical position has demanded that it constantly defend its borders--borders that are themselves still undefined. Taking advantage of high-technology developments in order to compensate for a lack of natural resources, industry has been encouraged by government incentives to locate in peripheral and developing areas. A policy of dispersing both people and industry has been one of the cornerstones of government security and defense efforts. By presenting a comprehensive overview of the industrial spatial development of Israel from the Ottoman era to the present day, the authors analyze the effect of government policy on corporate geography, high-technology industries, entrepreneurship, and rural industrial development. The spatial development of Israeli industry is set within the broader context of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Middle East as a whole.

Part I The industrial geography of Israel: An introduction 1 GENERAL BACKGROUND 2 ISRAELI INDUSTRY: BACKGROUND AND ROLE IN THE ECONOMY Part II The evolution of the industrial geography of Israel until 1973 3 INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION IN ISRAEL: GENERAL ARGUMENTS 4 THE PRE-STATEHOOD ROOTS 5 EARLY CRYSTALLISATION OF THE ISRAELI SPATIAL INDUSTRIALISATION POLICY, 1948¿55 6 THE GREAT PUSH FORWARD: INDUSTRIALISATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT TOWNS, 1956¿67 7 THE POST¿1967 CROSSROADS Part III The industrial geography of Israel in a period of economic stagnation8 CHANGING REALITIES OF THE 1970s AND 1980s 9 MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INDUSTRIAL DISPERSAL POLICY: A QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT 10 STAGNATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL BASE IN THE PERIPHERY AND THE CASE FOR DIVERSIFICATION 11 INERTIA AND INCREMENTAL CHANGE: AN EVALUATION OF THE INCENTIVES FOR INDUSTRIAL DISPERSAL 12 CORPORATE GEOGRAPHY AND THE CRISIS IN THE FEDERATION OF LABOUR ENTERPRISES 13 THE EMERGING GEOGRAPHY OF HIGH-TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIES 14 THE RE-EMERGENCE OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES 15 THE LOCAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPTION Part IV Rural industrialisation in Israel 16 INDUSTRIALISATION IN RURAL ISRAEL: AN INTRODUCTION 17 THE UNIQUE CASE OF THE KIBBUTZ 18 THE RURAL MOSHAV INDUSTRIALISATION PROCESS 19 INDUSTRIALISATION IN THE ARAB SECTOR Part V Postscript 20 ISRAEL¿S INDUSTRIAL GEOGRAPHY IN THE 1990s