Poppa always said they should meet in the middle....

So, I was passing a peaceful Monday afternoon at that think tank i'm interning with (henceforth TT) when our phones started ringing off the hook. On the other end was inevitably a concerned individual who wanted our take on Israel's moderate, though stuggling, Kadima government forming a coalition with the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu. Avigdor Lieberman, Yisrael Beiteinu's leader and the man famous for calling for the deportion of Israel's Arab citizens (who account for rougly 20% of the population) will be in charge as assessing and handling "strategic threats" to Israel. Visit this link for the full story.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2418211,00.html

This comes about 9 months after Hamas claimed victory in the Palestinian elections, an event which dealt a massive blow to a world not willing to engage in formal diplomacy with an entity widely regarded as a terrorist organization. At the time, besides the utter panic, there were voices (including mine) that put forth the so-called pothole theory: Hamas has historically existed as a interstate organization not bound by a particular national geography, a fact which has worked well to bolster it. Once bound by the confines of a nation-state, Hamas would have to deal with all of the mundane tasks inherent in running a government (e.g. filling potholes), that they would no longer be able to run around sponsoring suicide bombing missions. Becoming synonamous with the nation state as opposed to a group that floats above it, Hamas could for the first time be dealt with through traditional state to state combat, if necessary (this of course hasn't worked in the Palestinian case because Fatah maintains a military presence, resulting in a divided military force).

So the real question is, what effect does pulling radical elements into ruling coalitions (in the Israeli case) or into the formal government (in the Palestinian) actually have? Does it serve as a moderating or disruptive force? Has this type of strategy ever successfully moderated a radical element (come on poly sci kids....)? And does the same hold true for super-lefties or does this moderation theory only apply to the right-wingers? Discuss. I'm at the TT and need to earn my $8.50 an hour.