This book has been driven by one large question: how are we to understand the Jewish Diaspora's relationship with Israel when it is no longer appropriate, if it ever was, to presume that to be a good Jew means being a Zionist? Answering this question has meant working out what is it about Jewish identity that ties it to Israel, and what theoretical framework can be used to explore this relationship. The language of political obligation raised the hope that political theory could provide a starting point for working out the complexities of a relationship that involved obligations and had clear political aspects to it, but was characterized by a transnational geography spreading across a Diaspora and involving a specific state. The political obligation literature provided some headway, but it became clear very quickly that because of its state-centric focus, this language of political theory was not appropriate.

At issue is a kind of obligatory framework that is difficult to explain. The closest that we have in political theory to explaining this kind of commitment is in Marxism, where state does not matter and class does instead. However, as neither class nor historical materialism, let alone ideological commitments, are the relevant factors here a different theoretical framework is required. Turning to political obligation made it possible to work out some of the underlying features of this relationship without having to adopt or begin with an uncritical acceptance of Zionist narratives or alternative normative positions. Political obligation made it possible to highlight the problematic nature of this relationship, as it is not statist but is nevertheless characterized by political relations and expectations of obligations. Moreover, by working out critically some of the unaddressed but underlying assumptions that guide theories of political obligation, in particular the role of power, this approach opened up new avenues for thinking about the Diaspora/Israel relationship. Moreover, beginning with political obligation was useful, because it avoided both having to take Zionist claims for granted, and beginning by challenging normative beliefs about what it means to be a Diaspora Jew.