Bulletin: Military Occupation and Conflict, the West Bank, and Gaza

Books

• Andy Clarno, Neoliberal Apartheid
• Matthias Leese and Stef Wittendorp, eds. Security/Mobility. Politics of Movement
• Gershon Shafir, A Half Century of Occupation

Articles

• Nadia Abu-Zahra, Philip Leech, and Leah MacNeil, Resistance and the Israeli Wall in Palestine
• Omri Grinberg, Israeli State Discourses about Palestinian Child Labour
• Laura E. Miller-Graff and E. Mark Cummings, The Israeli–Palestinian Conflict: Effects on Youth Adjustment
• Deborah Nathan, Artsbridge: Conflict Mitigation with Israeli and Palestinian Youth
• Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, Extrajudicial Killing with Near Impunity: Excessive Force by Israeli Law Enforcement against Palestinians
• Anne Sofie Roald, Empowerment and Agency for Palestinian Women in the West Bank
• Madalena Santos, Palestinian Narratives of Resistance: The Freedom Theatre’s Challenge to Israeli Settler Colonization
• Michelle Slone, et al, The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Meta-Analysis of Exposure and Outcome Relations for Children of the Region
• Rebecca L. Stein, GoPro Occupation: Networked Cameras, Israeli Military Rule, and the Digital Promise

Reviews

• Naama Blatman-Thomas, on Ahmad H. Sa’di’s Thorough Surveillance: The Genesis of Israeli Policies of Population Management
• Anissa Hélie, on Lihi Ben-Shitrit’s Righteous Transgressions: Women’s Activism on the Israeli and Palestinian Religious Right

Theses

• Daniel Moses, Billions of Dollars Lost along the Checkpoints? An Econometric Analysis of Labor Mobility, Economic Development, and Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (MA, Oklahoma)
• Aisha Phoenix, Palestinian University Students Narrating Life under Occupation
• Samah Saleh, The Politics of ‘Sumud’: Former Palestinian Women Prisoners’ Experience of Incarceration under Israeli Occupation (PhD, Goldsmiths)
• James Thompson, Social Activists for Palestine: who are they, what do they do and can they make a difference? (BA, Plymouth)

Reports

• Heather Aidy, Tanya Lee, and Meriel Watts, Human Rights and Toxic Chemicals in the Occupied West Bank

Events

• “Israel’s Second Founding: The Six-Day War 50 Years Later“, Michael Brenner moderates discussion with Alon Confino, Arie Dubnov, Yoav Gelber, Benny Morris, Yoram Peri, and Tamara Wittes. American University, April 4, 2017, 7:30pm.

ToC: Israel Studies 22.2 (2017)

Israel Studies 22.2 (2017)

Table of Contents

    Special Section: Religion And Ethnicity

•         Like a Phoenix: The Renaissance of Sephardic/Mizrahi Identity in Israel in the 1970s and 1980s / Avi Picard (pp. 1-25)
•         Philoumenos of Jacob’s Well: The Birth of a Contemporary Ritual Murder Narrative / David Gurevich and Yisca Harani (pp. 26-54)
•         William James in the Holy Land: Religious Experience and Secular-Believer Jewish Women in Israel / Hagar Lahav (pp. 55-77)
•         “Belfast Is Not Here”: The Israeli Press and the Good Friday Agreement / Aidan Beatty (pp. 78-95)

Articles

•         The Kibbutz and the Development Town: The Economic Dimension of Their Reciprocal Relations—The Case of the Hula Valley / Amir Goldstein (pp. 96-120)
•         Kibbutz Under Fire: Back to the Days of Sickle and Bayonet / Zeev Drory, Eyal Lewin and Eyal Ben-Ari (pp. 121-144)
•         The Fiscal Path to the State of Israel: Social Policy and State Building in the Yishuv during the Mandate / Michal Koreh and Daniel Béland (pp. 145-168)
•         What is Israeli in Israeli Art? A Psychoanalytic Solution / Efrat Biberman (pp. 169-187)

New Article: Ben-Shahar & Warszawski, Inequality in Housing Affordability

Ben-Shahar, Danny, and Jacob Warszawski. “Inequality in Housing Affordability: Measurement and Estimation.” Urban Studies 53.6 (2016): 1178-1202.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0042098015572529

 

Abstract

This research proposes and examines a new measure for assessing the state of housing affordability inequality. We employ a large micro-level data set by which we estimate and evaluate the time-varying housing affordability inequality in Israel over the period 1992–2011. Results show that our developed housing affordability inequality Gini coefficient has considerably increased in the past decade. Moreover, controlling for changes in net income inequality and macroeconomic conditions, housing affordability inequality is found to positively correlate with average housing prices (computed in net income terms). Outcomes are robust to the alternative Atkinson inequality index. Furthermore, our method allows for an examination of segmentation in housing affordability. We find that segmentation particularly prevails across household head’s gender, family status, working status, the number of income providers in the household and household geographical residence. Research outcomes may direct policymakers in designing policies aiming to reduce inequality and segmentation in housing affordability.

 

 

 

Lecture: Weiss, Social and Economic Policy in Israel (Berkeley, April 7, 2016)

Thursday, April 7

PUBLIC LECTURE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN ISRAEL  Avi Weiss Executive Director of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel Time & Location To Be Announced Please RSVP Here Co-sponsored by the Department of Economics

New Article: Benchimol, Money and Monetary Policy in Israel during the Last Decade

Benchimol, Jonathan. “Money and Monetary Policy in Israel during the Last Decade.” Journal of Policy Modeling (early view; online first).

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2015.12.007
 
Abstract

This study examines how money and monetary policy have influenced output and inflation during the past decade in Israel by comparing two New Keynesian DSGE models. One is a baseline separable model (Gali, 2008) and the other assumes non-separable household preferences between consumption and money (Benchimol & Fourcans, 2012). We test both models by using rolling window Bayesian estimations over the last decade (2001-2013). The results of the presented dynamic analysis show that the sensitivity of output with respect to money shocks increased during the Dot-com, Intifada, and Subprime crises. The role of monetary policy increased during these crises, especially with regard to inflation, even though the effectiveness of conventional monetary policy decreased during the Subprime crisis. In addition, the non-separable model including money provides lower forecast errors than the baseline separable model without money, while the influence of money on output fluctuations can be seen as a good predictive indicator of bank and debt risks. By impacting and monitoring households’ money holdings, policy makers could improve their forecasts and crisis management through models considering monetary aggregates.

 

 

 

New Article: Chen and Gavious, Book-Tax Conformity and Tax Enforcement

Chen, Esther, and Ilanit Gavious. “The Roles of Book-Tax Conformity and Tax Enforcement in Regulating Tax Reporting Behaviour following International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption.” Accounting & Finance (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12172

Abstract

This study investigates whether increasing the level of tax enforcement can potentially offset the primary cost of a reduction in the level of book-tax conformity (BTC) following International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption – increased tax avoidance. We find that after the decrease in BTC and the concomitant increase in tax enforcement that followed IFRS adoption in Israel, tax avoidance declined significantly. Our results imply that one of the primary costs of reducing BTC can be avoided. Moreover, the results suggest that rather than one strict regulatory approach to deal with reporting manipulations, a combination of trust and control is more effective and less radical.

 

 

New Article: Kan and Kislev, Corporatization and Price Setting in the Urban Water Sector under Statewide Central Administration

Kan, Iddo, and Yoav Kislev. “Corporatization and Price Setting in the Urban Water Sector under Statewide Central Administration: The Israeli Experience.” In Use of Economic Instruments in Water Policy: Insights from International Experience (ed. Manuel Lago et al.; Cham: Springer, 2015): 135-46.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18287-2_10

 

Abstract

As in many European countries, all water sources in Israel are public property, and are centrally managed by the government. This is to facilitate correction of market failures associated with externalities, natural monopolies and equity considerations. The economic policy instrument (EPI) considered here comprises two aspects of the centralized approach: (1) an institutional reform: local services that were formerly provided by municipal water departments became the responsibility of corporations; (2) a price-scheme reform: urban water prices are set by the regulator subject to the constraint of overall cost-recovery at the national and municipal levels, combined with an egalitarian policy; the latter is realized in identical municipal end-users tariffs. We evaluate the environmental, economic and institutional aspects of these reforms, and point out two main conclusions. First, with respect to EPI implementation from the regulator perspective, the lesson learned can be summarized by the phrase “grasp all, lose all.” EPI reformation, in this case the establishment of regional corporations, should take account of unattainable objectives: “sanitizing” the political factors from involvement. The second lesson is associated with the challenge of designing a pricing mechanism that simultaneously achieves several potentially contradicting targets: costs recovery, creation of incentives for efficiency, and equality. Also here the mechanism was distorted by political pressures. According to the social norms as they are reflected by the resultant policy, equality overwhelms efficiency.

 

 

Workshop: Erez on Greek Popular Music; Rosenhek on Israel’s Political Economy (NYU, Dec 4, 2015)

12/4/15 – Taub Center Graduate Workshop

 

10am – 2pm

The Taub Center organizes regular workshops for graduate students and faculty in the field of Israel Studies at NYU and other universities in the tri-state area. The regional workshops are an opportunity for students and faculty to present and discuss their respective areas of research.  The workshops also serve as an important forum for networking and strengthening the field of Israel Studies.

First Floor, 14A Washington Mews

Coffee is served from 10 – 10:30am, and a kosher lunch served at noon.

 

RSVP here.

 

10:30am

Oded Erez
UCLA

Becoming Mediterranean: Greek Popular Music and the Politics of Ethnicity in Israel

Oded Erez is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Musicology and the Program in Experimental Critical Theory at UCLA. His current research focuses on the politics of ethnicity, diaspora, and vernacular cosmopolitanism in popular music and film. He has presented his work in wide range of disciplinary contexts, including at the annual meetings of the American Musicological Society, the American Comparative Literature Association, and the  Association for Israel Studies. He currently teaches at the Hebrew University’s School of Arts. His paper “The Practice of Quoting Everyday Life: Quotation as Political Praxis in the songs of HaBiluim” will be published in the upcoming issue of Theory and Criticism (Teoria U’vikoret).

 

12:30pm

Ze’ev Rosenhek
The Open University of Israel

The Dynamics of Israel’s Political Economy: Change and Continuity in State-Economy Relations

Zeev Rosenhek is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication at the Open University of Israel. His main research interests lie in the fields of political and economic sociology, with a particular focus on processes of institutional change and continuity in state-economy relations. He has conducted research on the political economy of the welfare state, labor migration, and the politics of institutionalization of the neo-liberal regime in Israel. He is the co-author of The Israeli Central Bank: Political Economy, Global Logics and Local Actors (Routledge, 2011) with Daniel Maman, and has published numerous articles in books and journals. He is currently conducting research on the emergence and dynamics of the institutional field of financial literacy in Israel and its interfaces with transnational knowledge and policy networks.

 

New Article: Yirmiyahu et al, Does Accessibility to Higher Education Reduce Wage Inequality?

Yirmiyahu, Albert, Ofir D. Rubin, and Miki Malul. “Does Greater Accessibility to Higher Education Reduce Wage Inequality? The Case of the Arab Minority in Israel.” Studies in Higher Education (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1076781

 

Abstract

Many studies assessing national policy reforms in education focus on the likelihood of acquiring an advanced education and the associated returns in the labor market. In this paper, the authors investigate the impact of the Israeli Academic Colleges Law that was designed to promote the acquisition of higher education among all segments of the Israeli population. They found that this law, in fact, contributed to making higher education accessible more to the Israeli Arab minority than to the rest of the population. In addition, they demonstrate that the influence of the law on improving access to higher education is reflected in the increase in the earning potential of Israeli Arabs.

 

 

ToC: Israel Economic Review 12.2 (2015)

Israel Economic Review 12.2 (2015):

Table of Contents

• Government Support for Young Families in Israel

Adi Brender and Michel Strawczynski

• The Origins of Income Inequality in Israel – Trends and Policy

Ofer Cornfeld and Oren Danieli

• Tax Cuts and Economic Activity: Israel in the 2000s

Zvi Hercowitz and Avihai Lifschitz

• The Response of the Weighted Average Time to Maturity of Government Bond Issues to Changes in the Financial/Economic Environment

Yehuda Porath

***

• Review of “Understanding Global Crises” by Assaf Razin

Francesco Bianchi

New Article: Waichman et al, Reciprocity in Labor Market Relationships

Waichman, Israel, Ch’ng Kean Siang, Till Requate, Aric P. Shafran, Eva Camacho-Cuena, Yoshio Iida, and Shosh Shahrabani. “Reciprocity in Labor Market Relationships: Evidence from an Experiment across High-Income OECD Countries.” Games 6.4 (2015): 473-94.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/g6040473

 

Abstract

We study differences in behavior across countries in a labor market context. To this end, we conducted a bilateral gift-exchange experiment comparing the behavior of subjects from five high-income OECD countries: Germany, Spain, Israel, Japan and the USA. We observe that in all countries, effort levels are increasing while rejection rates are decreasing in wage offers. However, we also find considerable differences in behavior across countries in both one-shot and repeated relationships, the most striking between Germany and Spain. We also discuss the influence of socio-economic indicators and the implications of our findings.

 

 

New Article: Levy, Dialectics of Legal Gambling in Israel

Levy, Moshe. “Rationalization and the Re-Enchantment of Play: the Dialectics of Legal Gambling in Israel.” Human Affairs 25.3 (2015): 317-26.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/humaff-2015-0026

 

Abstract

Romantic notions and critical theories of play describe an assault by rationalization processes on the free and spontaneous nature of play. Other theories seek to describe the dialectical nature between rationalization and freedom, between routine, and magic, and between planning and spontaneity. This article seeks to focus on the rationalization processes of play and to examine whether and in what dimensions, these processes shape the characteristics of play and hamper its spontaneity and freedom. Examination of these processes, performed by socio-historical analysis of legal gambling in Israel, shows that rationalization processes were active on both the practical and technological levels, and on the discursive level of the games of chance. Nevertheless, the characteristics of freedom, joy and spontaneity appeared only on the discursive level of the game and were designed to deliberately serve the economic interests of the various agents in the Israeli gambling field.

 

 

New Article: Shmueli, Calculation of the Israeli Risk Adjustment Rates

Shmueli, Amir. “On the Calculation of the Israeli Risk Adjustment Rates.” European Journal of Health Economics 16.3 (2015): 271-277.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10198-014-0572-x

 

Abstract

Objective

The Israeli risk adjustment formula, introduced in 1995 and which serves for the allocation of the health budget to the sickness funds, is unique compared to countries with a similar national health insurance system in that it is not calculated on the basis of actual cost data of the sickness funds but on the basis of quantities retrieved from surveys. The current article aims to analyze the implications of the Israeli methodology.

Methods

The article examines the validity of the Israeli methodology used to set the 2004 risk adjustment rates and compare these rates with the “correct” ones, which are derived from the 2004 internal relative cost scales of the sickness funds.

Results

The Israeli methodology ignores services provided by the sickness funds and assumes constant unit cost across the sickness funds, an assumption which is implausible. Comparing the actual and the “correct” rates, it turns out that the actual rates over-compensate all the sickness funds for members in age 0–14, and under-compensate them for insurees aged 55+. In age 0–4, the over-compensation per capita is about NIS 1,500 while the under-compensation in age group 75+ reaches NIS 1,600.

Conclusions

The current risk adjustment formula distorts the intended competition on good quality care among the sickness funds, and turns it into a competition on profitable members. After 18 years of using incorrect rates, the Israeli risk adjustment rates should be calculated, as is common in other systems, based on individual cost data from the sickness funds.

 

New Article: Yemini and Giladi, Internationalization of Israeli Educational Administration Programs

Yemini, Miri, and Aviva Giladi. “Internationalization Motivations and Strategies of Israeli Educational Administration Programs.” Journal of Studies in International Education (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1028315315579240

 

Abstract

Internationalization became a mainstreamed goal of almost every higher education institution, and institutions are expected to proactively implement this process. Although as an academic discipline, education is considered to be one of the most context-related and locally oriented ones, it had not avoided pressures to internationalize. Within the flurry of research on internationalization, a paucity of information exists on the perceptions of academic leadership regarding internationalization within academic educational administration programs, which are preparing future schools’ leadership, who may in turn act as catalysts or inhibitors of internationalization at schools. This study aims to fill this gap with a comprehensive, in-depth, interview-based analysis of the views and opinions of educational administration program directors within diverse contextual settings in the Israeli higher education system, including the large research universities and colleges in the Jewish and Palestinian-Arab sectors, with both secular and religious inclinations. We identified three major discrete themes in the perceptions of educational administrative directors regarding internationalization: (a) the program’s purpose, (b) internationalization’s relations with the institutions’ goals, and (c) internationalization’s meaning. This study sheds light on the motivations for and obstacles facing internationalization from the underresearched perspective of educational administration degree program directors operating within the complex tension of the global–local nexus in education systems.

New Article: Göksel, A Political Economy of Azerbaijan-Israel Relations

Göksel, Oğuzhan. “Beyond Countering Iran: A Political Economy of Azerbaijan-Israel Relations.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 42.4 (2015): 655-75.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2015.1048973

 

Abstract

In recent years, Azerbaijan–Israel relations have come to the foreground of politics in the Middle East and Caucasus region. Ties between Baku and Tel Aviv have been directly interlinked with their relations with Iran. The nature of the Azerbaijan–Israel partnership must be analysed in order to comprehend the balance of powers and energy security in the region. Even though there have been a number of works analysing the relationship by focusing on its role in regional military security, there is a gap in the discourse in terms of understanding the economic drivers of relations and the implications of the ties for regional energy security. Particular attention will be given to discussing Azerbaijan’s emerging role as a major energy producer that has already made a profound impact on the region as an ‘alternative’ to Iran in the aftermath of the recently imposed sanctions on Tehran’s energy exports. It will be argued that the Azerbaijan–Israel relationship is built on solid economic grounds and it would be reasonable to expect the strength of the ties to be further intensified in the future. The article will also demonstrate that new developments in the energy security of the wider Middle Eastern region will affect the evolution of Azerbaijan–Israel ties and their rivalry with Iran in the next decade.

Summer Seminar: Tikvah Israel Student Seminars (BA and MA students; apply by Apr 14, 2015)

The Tikvah Israel Summer Student Seminars

Dates: August 2-13 or 16-27, 2015
Location: Jerusalem
Instructors: Ran Baratz, Ruth Wisse, Meir Soloveichik, Asael Abelman, Michael Doran, Vance Serchuk, and Samuel Gregg

The Tikvah Fund is offering three different two-week seminars for Israeli advanced BA and MA students.

The seminar on Zionism will take place from August 2 until August 13. Asael Abelman will lead it, alongside Ran Baratz, Ruth Wisse, and Meir Soloveichik. Throughout, we will examine Zionist thought and history, especially as it relates to Judaism. Is Zionism the fulfillment of or an alternative to traditional Jewish life?

The seminar on Economics and Freedom will take place from August 16 until August 27. Ran Baratz and Samuel Gregg will discuss modern liberal economic principles as shaped by major thinkers like Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek, the world economy and the Israeli economy, and the reforms that would benefit Israel.

The seminar on War and Strategy will also take place from August 16 until August 27 and it will be led by Michael Doran and Vance Serchuk. The first week will be devoted to the causes of war and peace, and some of the strategies that states have pursued to contend with the former and promote the latter. The second week will interpret American policy in the Middle East.

Applications are open until April 14, 2015.

New Book: Krampf, The National Origins of the Market Economy (in Hebrew)

קרמפף, אריה. המקורות הלאומיים של כלכלת השוק. פיתוח כלכלי בתקופת עיצובו של הקפיטליזם הישראלי. ירושלים: מאגנס, 2015.

 

 

URL: http://www.magnespress.co.il/

 

About the Book

During the consolidation of Israeli capitalism, economic policy went through dramatic changes that reflected the key challenges of its society, the power relations between various groups of Israeli political economy, and the changes in worldviews and economic theories in the global arena. This book surveys the shifts in economic worldviews that guided the policymakers of of the State of Israel, and identifies the causes of these changes. The book is based on a variety of historical documents, some of which did not gain scholarly attention so far, and illuminates many issues from a new perspective. It also exposes unknown episodes in the history of political economy of the pre-State years and of Israel. The author presents this economic history in a clear and coherent storyline, readily accessible to readers. This cohesion is achieved through a crystallized and innovative theoretical framework. The book focuses on the period from the 1930s to the year 1967. However, readers will be able to better understand the nature of the relations between the state and the market today and gain insights about Israel’s economic and political future. (Yuval Yonay)

The author presents his readers, both professionals and the general public, with data, analasis and a narrative which will surprise many of them. Many will be surprised to learn that the planners of Israeli economy were far less socialist than they are told to be, and that the process of the formation of Israeli capitalism began long before the era of liberalization and globalization. (Guy Rolnik)

For a full Table of Contents (in Hebrew) click here (PDF).

ToC: Israel Affairs 20,4 (2014) – Political Economy in Israel

Israel Affairs, Volume 20, Issue 4, October 2014 is now available online on Taylor & Francis Online.

Special Issue: Political Economy in Israel

Introduction

Introduction: the many faces of Israel’s political economy Gideon Doron & Ofer Arian Pages: 445-451 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955651

Part I The Superstructure

The development of social policy research in Israel John Gal & Roni Holler Pages: 452-469 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955652

Between the quality of the environment and the quality of the performances in Israeli local government Gideon Doron & Fany Yuval Pages: 470-483 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955653

The political economy of human rights: the struggle over the establishment of a human rights commission in Israel Nurit Hashimshony-Yaffe & Assaf Meydani Pages: 484-502 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955654

Part II Structure as details perspective

Political economy and work values: the case of Jews and Arabs in Israel Moshe Sharabi Pages: 503-516 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955655

The impact of electoral reforms on voting preferences: the Israeli 1996 and 1999 cases Hani Zubida & David Nachmias Pages: 517-529 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955656

Is an ‘economic peace’ possible? Israel and globalization since the 1970s Tal Sadeh Pages: 530-565 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955657

The evolution of public colleges in Israel Aliza Shenhar Pages: 566-576 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955658

The Visible Hand: economic censorship in Israeli media Miri Gal-Ezer Pages: 577-612 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955659

What do facts have to do with the summer 2011 protests? – Structuring reality Ofer Arian Pages: 613-631 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.955661

Editorial Board

Editorial Board Pages: ebi-ebi DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2014.961696

 

 

Calendar of Events: SOAS Centre for Jewish Studies Evening Lectures Series, Term 1, 2014 (London)

SOAS Centre for Jewish Studies Evening Lectures Series, Term 1, 2014

Please find below the programme for the SOAS Centre for Jewish Studies Evening Lectures Series which will run on the following Wednesdays at 17:30-19:00, in the Brunei Gallery room B104 (unless otherwise stated): 
October 8 Dr. Hila Zaban (SOAS)

“Gentrification and High-Status Immigration in a Jerusalem Neighbourhood”
October 22 Leonie Fleischmann (City University London)

“Beyond Paralysis: The Transformation of Israeli Peace Activism”
November 12 Dr. Lior Libman (UCL)

“Utopia, Trauma, Icon: Representation of the Kibbutz in 1950s’ Israel”

 

November 20 

“Shadow of Baghdad”: Film Screening and Panel Discussion, will be held at KLT
November 26 Dr. Yonatan Sagiv (SOAS)

“The Gift of Debt: Agnon’s Economics of Money, God and the Real Other”

 

December 10 Yael Levy-Ariel (UCL)

“Judicial Diversity in Israel: An Empirical Analysis of Judges, Lawyers and Law Students”
Programme is attached also as pdf (click here).

Please see our website for further details about these and other events.

 

All are warmly welcomed and entrance is free of charge.

New Article: Avigur-Eshel, Ideological Foundations of Neoliberalism’s Political Stability: An Israeli Case Study

Avigur-Eshel, Amit. “The Ideological Foundations of Neoliberalism’s Political Stability: An Israeli Case Study.” Journal of Political Ideologies 19.2 (2014): 164-86.

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13569317.2014.909261

 

Abstract

The importance of ideological beliefs held by the masses for the political stability of neoliberalism has yet to receive adequate attention. This research aims to begin to fill this gap by arguing that the ability of the neoliberal order to endure politically is assisted by key segments of the population either accepting its ideological bases or being unable to contest them. Political and socio-political research on neoliberalism tends to examine how it has become the leading framework for economic policymaking. Less attention has been given to the post rise-to-power period and even then the ideological factor is virtually absent. Directed by a Gramscian approach, this research uses the Israeli ‘social protest’ of 2011 as a case study. It probes into the ideological perceptions of the middle class through a qualitative content analysis of text-items they published during the protest on two news websites and on one blogging website. Findings indicate that significant segments of the Israeli middle class expressed ideological acceptance of neoliberalism either by explicitly supporting it or by demanding marginal reforms. Another finding is that within the middle class there is a group that lacks any relevant ideological framework regarding economic issues.