  We introduce a novel semiclassical approach to the Lipkin model. In this way
the well-known phase transition arising at the critical value of the coupling
is intuitively understood. New results -- showing for strong couplings the
existence of a threshold energy which separates deformed from undeformed states
as well as the divergence of the density of states at the threshold energy --
are explained straightforwardly and in quantitative terms by the appearance of
a double well structure in a classical system corresponding to the Lipkin
model. Previously unnoticed features of the eigenstates near the threshold
energy are also predicted and found to hold.
