Annexation Attempts as a Two-Level Game: Israel and the West Bank in 1967 and 2020

Abstract Annexation attempts threaten international security and the rules-based world order. Yet, studies of annexation are rare, whilst the scant relevant literature is great-power centric. This article therefore asks why some non-great power annexations succeed, whereas others do not. Applying Putnam's two-level game framework, it analyses an occupier's: (1) domestic politics; (2) international relations; and (3) interactions between these two levels of analysis. It applies this framework to Israeli policy in two specific cases: partial annexation, where Israel annexed East Jerusalem but not the entire West Bank (1967); and Israel's comprehensive but aborted West Bank annexation (2020). This article finds that when the policy would yield maximum domestic returns and minimal global opprobrium, Israel's leaders enacted annexation. They refrained from doing so when this synchronization was absent. These findings illustrate the utility of the two-level game framework for explaining non-great powers’ decision-making and their territorial policies in particular.