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PurposeReligious minority groups often enjoy strong support systems and high levels of trust, providing for volunteering within the community, but under what conditions are members of these groups likely to volunteer outside their... more
PurposeReligious minority groups often enjoy strong support systems and high levels of trust, providing for volunteering within the community, but under what conditions are members of these groups likely to volunteer outside their community? Or, would they prefer the security, intimacy and commitment to their own communities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachTo answer this question, the authors examine the motivations of ultra-Orthodox young men who volunteered for National Civil Service in Israel, and compare the choices of volunteer frameworks: separatist-religious volunteering within the community compared to volunteering in secular institutions outside the community.FindingsThe authors associate the interest and motivations with different types of social capital, “bonding” and “bridging.”Research limitations/implicationsResearch based on one case study.Practical implicationsGuidelines for encouraging volunteering among closed groups.Social implicationsUnderstanding of motivations and concerns among religious groups.Originality/valueAn original study of a relatively new phenomenon.
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A thriving, yet small, liberal component in Israeli society has frequently taken issue with the constraints imposed by religious orthodoxy, largely with limited success. However, Guy Ben-Porat suggests, in recent years, in part because of... more
A thriving, yet small, liberal component in Israeli society has frequently taken issue with the constraints imposed by religious orthodoxy, largely with limited success. However, Guy Ben-Porat suggests, in recent years, in part because of demographic changes and in part because of the influence of an increasingly consumer-oriented society, dramatic changes have occurred in secularization of significant parts of public and private lives. Even though these fissures often have more to do with lifestyle choices and economics than with political or religious ideology, the demands and choices of a secular public and a burgeoning religious presence in the government are becoming ever more difficult to reconcile. The evidence, which the author has accrued from numerous interviews and a detailed survey, is nowhere more telling than in areas that demand religious sanction such as marriage, burial, the sale of pork, and the operation of businesses on the Sabbath.
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Religion has played an important part in Israeli politics, and religious-secular contentions are likely to remain part of the political landscape. In the early years of Israel’s statehood religious politics was contained by common goals;... more
Religion has played an important part in Israeli politics, and religious-secular contentions are likely to remain part of the political landscape. In the early years of Israel’s statehood religious politics was contained by common goals; secular ambivalence toward religion; and a political leadership able to create agreements, both formal and informal, known as the status quo. Beginning in the 1990s, however, economic, demographic, and sociocultural changes undermined the agreements, and religious questions became politicized. Israeli governments were unable to mediate between new demands of secular and religious groups, so subpolitics—political actions outside the formal political sphere—combined with traditional politics to become a way for Israelis to struggle for and against religious authority.
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ABSTRACT
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Citizenship is a legal status conferring privileges of membership in a particular political community and thereby creating processes of social inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion provides members with social status, social rights and the... more
Citizenship is a legal status conferring privileges of membership in a particular political community and thereby creating processes of social inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion provides members with social status, social rights and the right to take part in collective decision making. As such, citizenship is often a contested ground for individual and group rights, and over the very definition of the political community. Social and political struggles over the boundaries of citizenship and the meaning of citizenship are central to contemporary Israeli politics. These diverse struggles – religious, national, gender, economic and ethnic – are, on the one hand, about equality, recognition and re- defining the collective and, on the other hand, about the practical needs of everyday life. This collected volume engages with contemporary questions about citizenship in Israel as they pertain to particular group demands and to the dynamics of political life in the public arena. Contributors to this volume examine different aspects of citizenship primarily through the needs, demands and struggles of minority groups. In general terms, they provide a comprehensive picture of the dynamics of Israeli citizenship and the dilemmas that emerge at the collective, group and individual levels
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Introduction G.Ben-Porat Israeli Flags Flying Alongside Belfast's Apartheid Walls: A New Era of Comparisons and Connections A.Guelke PART 1: STRUCTURAL EXPLANATIONS The State-to-Nation Balance: A Key to Explaining Difficulties in... more
Introduction G.Ben-Porat Israeli Flags Flying Alongside Belfast's Apartheid Walls: A New Era of Comparisons and Connections A.Guelke PART 1: STRUCTURAL EXPLANATIONS The State-to-Nation Balance: A Key to Explaining Difficulties in Implementing Peace - The Israeli-Palestinian Case B.Miller Consociational Theory and Peace Agreements in Pluri-National Places: Northern Ireland and Other Cases J.McGarry & B.O'Leary Ending Apartheid: The Relevance of Consociationalism R.Taylor Realism, Liberalism and the Collapse of the Oslo Process: Inherently Flawed or Flawed Implementation? J.Rynhold PART 2: THE DYNAMICS OF PEACE Sponsors or Spoilers: Diasporas and Peace Processes in the Homeland R.Schwartz People's Diplomacy and People's Vigilantism: Israeli Grassroots Activism 1993-2003 T.Hermann Passive Reconciliation in the Context of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict R.Nets-Zehngut Identity Shift in Settlement Processes: The Northern Ireland Case J.Todd PART 3: SUCCESS AND FAILURE Oslo: Liberalization and De-Colonization Y.Peled Mandela in Palestine: Peacemaking in Divided Societies H.Adam Conclusion G.Ben-Porat
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The Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community is one of the poorest sectors in Israel but because of the large families in the community, often more than eight children, the sector is an important target for food and other retail companies.... more
The Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community is one of the poorest sectors in Israel but because of the large families in the community, often more than eight children, the sector is an important target for food and other retail companies. Retailers’ efforts to reach the Haredi communities included special chain stores with strict levels of Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), low cost products, large packages for big families and dress codes of store staff that promise a comfortable, modest atmosphere for the religious consumers. The competition between retailers over the Haredi market, however, has given the community new power it could use either for economic bargaining or for the enforcement of religious rules. Thus, retailers have at times to maintain strict religious rules not only vis-a-vis the Haredi sector but also in other operations in Israel.
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ABSTRACT Minority groups striving for integration may support representation in state institutions as well as recognition measures not as ends in themselves but only insofar as they believe that these reforms can advance their full... more
ABSTRACT Minority groups striving for integration may support representation in state institutions as well as recognition measures not as ends in themselves but only insofar as they believe that these reforms can advance their full integration into mainstream society. We illustrate this argument by focusing on perceptions about police reforms among Israeli Jews of Ethiopian descent, a racial minority. Drawing on data from public opinion surveys, focus groups, and interviews with community activists, our analysis indicates that Ethiopian Israelis support recruitment of co-ethnic officers (representation) and cultural sensitivity training of police officers (recognition) because they believe it could change police’s attitudes and behaviors. However, they are also conscious of the downsides of these reforms as they might perpetuate their stigmatization as a distinct group that requires special accommodation. This paper suggests that successful integration strategies need to take into account how minority groups view their status within the state’s citizenship regime.
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(Product of workshop No. 3 at the 7th MRM 2006)
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Studies of secularization suggest it is a complex and multidimensional process and that secularization unfolds in different sets of identities, practices and values. But, in spite of its non-linear and non-coherent character,... more
Studies of secularization suggest it is a complex and multidimensional process and that secularization unfolds in different sets of identities, practices and values. But, in spite of its non-linear and non-coherent character, secularization it is not necessarily arbitrary and individualistic. Rather, as this work demonstrates, ethnic groups may be influenced by similar secularizing forces, but the impact of these forces will be different and different paths of secularization will take place. In this work, based on a survey conducted in March 2009 of a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel, we study three major ethnic groups in Israel to demonstrate how ethnicity influences the process of secularization measured in beliefs, practices and attitudes. Our findings demonstrate that ethnicity creates distinct paths of secularization with different changes of practices, beliefs and values. While for some ethnic groups secularization happens alongside a significant ...
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The Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community is one of the poorest sectors in Israel but because of the large families in the community, often more than eight children, the sector is an important target for food and other retail companies.... more
The Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community is one of the poorest sectors in Israel but because of the large families in the community, often more than eight children, the sector is an important target for food and other retail companies. Retailers’ efforts to reach the Haredi communities included special chain stores with strict levels of Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), low cost products, large packages for big families and dress codes of store staff that promise a comfortable, modest atmosphere for the religious consumers. The competition between retailers over the Haredi market, however, has given the community new power it could use either for economic bargaining or for the enforcement of religious rules. Thus, retailers have at times to maintain strict religious rules not only vis-a-vis the Haredi sector but also in other operations in Israel.
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Studies of political consumerism and of political consumers tend to ask general questions about motivations and tendencies among specific segments of society and investigate the likelihood of the political attitudes of specific social... more
Studies of political consumerism and of political consumers tend to ask general questions about motivations and tendencies among specific segments of society and investigate the likelihood of the political attitudes of specific social identities to affect consumer choices. In contrast, we examine how political consumerism is influenced by both individual characteristics and the communities in which these individuals live. In addition, we explore whether specific issues of political consumerism – environmental concerns, social justice, and religion – exist independently of general political consumerism. Finally, we attempt to determine the relationship between these different focuses of political consumerism. Based on a survey conducted in August 2010 in Israel of a random sample of 603 adult Jewish Israelis, we delineate the general trends of political consumerism. We then present a regression model to further explore the different paths of political consumerism. This article conclu...
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Diverse societies present different challenges for police forces that have to gain the trust and legitimacy of minorities. Police forces must develop the ability to engage with diversity and overcome their own biases and prejudices in... more
Diverse societies present different challenges for police forces that have to gain the trust and legitimacy of minorities. Police forces must develop the ability to engage with diversity and overcome their own biases and prejudices in order to better serve minorities. Police reforms, however, may fail to address the challenge successfully if core problems are not clearly identified. In such a case, reforms may be misdirected and fail to achieve the desired results. This paper, based on a study of the Arab minority in Israel, suggests a bottom-up approach that concentrates on identifying the attitudes of minority groups as the basis for any reform plan. A survey was conducted among Arab citizens to identify general attitudes, perceptions of over-policing and under-policing and assessment of three potential reforms; recruitment of minority members into the police, community involvement in policing, and cultural training for police officers.
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This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Israel, accounting for changes, developments and contemporary debates. The different chapters offer both a historical background and an updated analysis of politics, economy,... more
This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Israel, accounting for changes, developments and contemporary debates. The different chapters offer both a historical background and an updated analysis of politics, economy, society and culture. Across five sections, a multidisciplinary group of experts, including sociologists, political scientists, historians and social scientists, engage in a wide variety of topics through different perspectives and insights. The book opens with a historical section outlining the formation of Israel and Jewish nationalism. The second section examines contemporary institutions in Israel, their developments and the contemporary challenges they face in light of social, economic, political and cultural changes. The third section explores geopolitics and Israel’s foreign relations, exploring conflicts, alliances and foreign policy with neighbors and powers. The fourth section engages with Israel’s internal divisions and schisms, highlighting questions of identity and inequality while also outlining processes of integration and marginalization between groups. The final section explores matters of culture, through the social and demographic shifts in contemporary music, poetry and cuisine, along with the struggles for inclusion and the impact of globalization on Israeli culture. The Routledge Handbook on Contemporary Israel is designed for academics along with undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses on Israel, Israeli politics, and culture and society in modern Israel.
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Gentrification is not only an economic process based on individual desires and decisions and independent of political goals, but also a process led or assisted by governments with economic development and national goals. In this work, we... more
Gentrification is not only an economic process based on individual desires and decisions and independent of political goals, but also a process led or assisted by governments with economic development and national goals. In this work, we study a state-led ethno-gentrification in Acre, a contested city in the north of Israel. Looking beyond the neoliberal terminology of regeneration, we argue that in contested cities gentrification is an economic development policy often intertwined with national-demographic goals. Yet, while economic and national motivations and policies may reinforce one another, they also produce tensions among policy makers, gentrifiers and local residents. ‘State-led ethno-gentrification’ presents the complexity of the relationship between neoliberalism and nationalism in a contested city. Interviews conducted in Acre with policy makers, Jewish newcomers involved in the gentrification process and Arab residents present a complex picture of goals, interests and c...
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The paper explores the relation between religion and populism in Israel. Jewish identity has been an important marker of citizenship and belonging in Israel since its inception. The founders of the Zionist movement and the dominant elites... more
The paper explores the relation between religion and populism in Israel. Jewish identity has been an important marker of citizenship and belonging in Israel since its inception. The founders of the Zionist movement and the dominant elites of early statehood remained dependent upon Jewish religion to demarcate national boundaries and legitimate territorial claims. With the establishment of the state, Jewish identity helped create and legitimate a segmented citizenship regime that secured privilege for Jews. Gradually, and especially in the past two decades, Jewishness became more contested, demarcating not only Jews from non-Jews but also “authentic” Jews from allegedly “cosmopolitan elites,” thus becoming part of populist politics, central to Israeli politics. The complex relation between religion and populism in Israel is demonstrated by the development of two populist parties; an “inclusive” one (Shas) and an “exclusionary” one (Likud). The study of the two parties shows the role ...
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Religion has played an important part in Israeli politics, and religious-secular contentions are likely to remain part of the political landscape. In the early years of Israel’s statehood religious politics was contained by common goals;... more
Religion has played an important part in Israeli politics, and religious-secular contentions are likely to remain part of the political landscape. In the early years of Israel’s statehood religious politics was contained by common goals; secular ambivalence toward religion; and a political leadership able to create agreements, both formal and informal, known as the status quo. Beginning in the 1990s, however, economic, demographic, and sociocultural changes undermined the agreements, and religious questions became politicized. Israeli governments were unable to mediate between new demands of secular and religious groups, so subpolitics—political actions outside the formal political sphere—combined with traditional politics to become a way for Israelis to struggle for and against religious authority.
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Introduction: Contemporary Dilemmas of Israeli Citizenship Guy Ben-Porat and Bryan S. Turner 1. Collective Identities, Public Spheres, Civil Society and Citizenshipin the Contemporary Era - with some Observations on the Israeli Scene S.... more
Introduction: Contemporary Dilemmas of Israeli Citizenship Guy Ben-Porat and Bryan S. Turner 1. Collective Identities, Public Spheres, Civil Society and Citizenshipin the Contemporary Era - with some Observations on the Israeli Scene S. N. Eisenstadt 2. Military Hierarchies and Collective Action: The Case of Israel Yagil Levi 3. Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in the Israeli Welfare State: State-Building and Political Economy Zeev Rosenhek 4. Corporatism and Multiculturalism as Responses to Ethnic Claims and Socio-economic Inequality: The Case of Shas David Lehmann and Batia Siebzehner 5. Citizenship, Identity, and Ethnic Mobilization in Israel: The Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow - Between Universalism and Particularism Ofir Abu 6. Fundamentalist Citizenships: The Haredi Challenge Nurit Stadler, Edna Lomsky-Feder and Eyal Ben-Ari 7. NGOization of the Israeli Feminist Movement: Depoliticizing or Redefining Political Spaces? Hanna Herzog 8. Parading Pridefully into the Mainstream: Gay and Lesbian Immersion in the Civil Core Amit Kama 9. Inward Turns: Citizenship, Solidarity and Exclusion Guy Ben-Porat 10. Civic Associations, Empowerment and Democratization: Arab Civil Society in Israel Amal Jamal 11. All by Myself? The Paradox of Citizenship Among the FSU Immigrants in Israel Michael Philippov and Evgenia Bystrov 12. The Rise and Fall of Liberal Nationalism Yoav Peled
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Abstract The Arab Spring provides for a comparative study and debate on Citizenship, its expansion, and shrinkage. Ironically, the demands for citizenship in the Middle East have risen in a period when the model of liberal citizenship in... more
Abstract The Arab Spring provides for a comparative study and debate on Citizenship, its expansion, and shrinkage. Ironically, the demands for citizenship in the Middle East have risen in a period when the model of liberal citizenship in established democracies appears to be in crisis. The grim results of the Arab Spring had influences beyond the region as instability, militant Islam, and civil wars drove many to seek refuge in Europe and underscored new debates on citizenship and belonging, often questioning the European liberal creed of citizenship, a model for some of the protestors in the Middle East. Right wing parties across the continent gained popularity by demanding to restore or instill an ethno-national citizenship regime. Securitization, a discourse that emphasizes ‘danger’ to the stability and public order of society, led governments to undertake steps to stave off potential challenges to their control of the state and hegemony over the public sphere and restrict citizenship access and rights. Thus, across the Middle East and Europe, a new phenomenon that we label the ‘Shrinking nature of Citizenship’, the decline and reduction of the rights of certain segments of society, has taken place, in different forms and with different oppositions.
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Immigrants who believe they suffer from stigmatization and discrimination may still demonstrate positive attitudes toward government authorities. We explore this trust–discrimination paradox by examining perceptions about police and... more
Immigrants who believe they suffer from stigmatization and discrimination may still demonstrate positive attitudes toward government authorities. We explore this trust–discrimination paradox by examining perceptions about police and policing among Ethiopian Jews in Israel, an immigrant racial minority. Drawing on data collected from focus groups and survey results, we find that levels of trust in the police among Israelis of Ethiopian descent are equal to or higher than among veteran Jewish Israelis. Nevertheless, Ethiopian Israelis also report negative perceptions of the police that are rooted in strong feelings of stigmatization by these government agents. While trust in the police may reflect Ethiopian Jews’ desire for integration, participation, and inclusion as legitimate and equal members of nation and state, we demonstrate that they use various de-stigmatization strategies whose aim is to downplay the importance and depth of their discrimination by the police. These strategie...
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Neither the study of the political system nor surveys of individual religiosity capture the full picture of secularization in Israel. The power of religious parties seems unshaken, and formal changes in religious policies and legislation... more
Neither the study of the political system nor surveys of individual religiosity capture the full picture of secularization in Israel. The power of religious parties seems unshaken, and formal changes in religious policies and legislation are few. A large number of Israelis maintain their attachment to Jewish religion in beliefs and practices, and the Jewish majority agrees that Israel is and must remain a “Jewish state.” However, economic and demographic trends in the past two decades have caused incremental changes, not registered in formal political channels, toward the partial yet significant secularization of Israel. Religion still has a hold on private beliefs and practices, but secularization will unfold in societal changes involving a decline of religious authority over significant spheres of life. A more complex concept of secularization allows for contradictions observed in Israel and helps to explain how secularization can occur while religion remains embedded in state and...
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In spite of legal limitations, commerce in Israel on the Sabbath has expanded significantly in the past two decades. This secular development is counteracted by religious boycotts of stores operating on the Sabbath. Using Ulrich... more
In spite of legal limitations, commerce in Israel on the Sabbath has expanded significantly in the past two decades. This secular development is counteracted by religious boycotts of stores operating on the Sabbath. Using Ulrich Beck's concept of sub-politics, we explain the shift away from the formal political realm, a result of a deadlocked political system that is no longer able to regulate boundaries between the religious and secular realm. As a result, both religious and secular communities use their power as consumers, albeit in different ways, to shape the public sphere. Using media reports and open-ended interviews with religious and secular entrepreneurs we demonstrate how, first, the value of formal political channels was eroded and, second, how the economic power of religious and secular consumers is used in the new struggles to shape the day of rest.
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Israeli politics has been characterized since the 1990s as both overloaded with social schisms that undermine existing political arrangements and suffering with a governance and leadership crisis reflected in the difficulty for elected... more
Israeli politics has been characterized since the 1990s as both overloaded with social schisms that undermine existing political arrangements and suffering with a governance and leadership crisis reflected in the difficulty for elected politicians to make decisions and implement them. In the late 19th and early 20th century the visionaries of Zionism led European Jews to immigrate to Palestine and establish what would later be the State of Israel. The Labor Party that came to dominate the Zionist movement continued to dominate the young state from its inception in 1948 until the 1970s. In the wake of the Yom Kippur War, the party rapidly lost its hegemony and political power. Its successor, the right-wing Likud Party, was unable to replicate its hegemony and dominance. Growing schisms in Israel were manifested in the decline of the large parties and the emergence of small parties that have made coalition building difficult and rendered the decision-making process and policy implemen...
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ABSTRACT
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Political debates in many Mediterranean countries today are increasingly framed in dichotomous terms, highlighting divisions between religious and secular worldviews. In some countries, for example Israel, the issue is so contentious that... more
Political debates in many Mediterranean countries today are increasingly framed in dichotomous terms, highlighting divisions between religious and secular worldviews. In some countries, for example Israel, the issue is so contentious that it is described as a ‘culture war’. While Israel struggles to balance its commitment to a Jewish state and a democracy, it does not seem to matter if the countries in question are democracies or non-democracies, or what their majority religious faith is. Instead, the role of religion in public life or, put another way, the ‘public return of religion’, is a pertinent and controversial political question everywhere in the Mediterranean region. How do we explain this phenomenon? On the one hand, we can point to both economic and demographic changes, while, on the other, we can trace the impact of continuing secularisation. Together these two sets of developments produce new challenges to existing political arrangements.
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This article seeks to contribute to the discourse on the politicization of voluntary simplifiers’ consumption patterns. Some scholars argue that voluntary simplifiers’ consumption practices are individualistic and escapist in nature, and... more
This article seeks to contribute to the discourse on the politicization of voluntary simplifiers’ consumption patterns. Some scholars argue that voluntary simplifiers’ consumption practices are individualistic and escapist in nature, and therefore cannot be defined as political, and that they are likely to become such only if they organize for collective action. Conversely, we argue that voluntary simplifiers’ lifestyle is an individual political choice that should be analyzed using theories of political consumption. This article, based on interviews with voluntary simplifiers in Israel, identifies four characteristics of voluntary simplifiers that attest to their political nature: (1) multidimensional political discourse, (2) embracement of a holistic and uncompromising lifestyle of simplicity, (3) lifestyle changes as ongoing political process, and (4) the desire to exert influence. We therefore argue that voluntary simplifiers are not only political, but they represent a clear-cu...