Lev Grinberg

The Israeli regime is a paradox. Considered a democracy, it has no recognized borders and controls the majority of Palestinians by military rule, while the resistance of non-citizen Palestinians exerts major influence over politics and policies. Drawing on detailed academic research and a broad knowledge of Israeli politics and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book narrates and analyzes the political developments of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the conflict with Hezbollah and Hamas, explaining the dangers to future negotiations and how hopes for a settlement have been dashed by the ongoing violence. The author explores the internal Israel and Palestinian politics, showing how they influence the conflict and explaining the central role of military organizations in shaping the relations towards the other nation. With particular relevance to current events, he analyzes the Unilateral Disengagement from Gaza and the second Lebanon War, which account for the deterioration into the present violence and political crisis, explaining the need for international mediation in order to reach a peace agreement and suggesting a new innovative model for future Israeli-Palestinian relations.

This article analyzes violence within the framework of power relations and social conflict, aiming to comprehend the different dynamics that lead to escalation of violence or its containment by opening political space for representation. It distinguishes between the violence of dominant and non-dominant groups and explores the conditions of effective resistance that facilitate recognition and negotiation. The Israeli–Palestinian case provides an opportunity to explore the dynamics of resistance and violence and their relation to politics. The goal is to explain the contradictory reactions to the First and Second Intifada in order to analyze options for the future. The article argues that the First Intifada opened up political space for recognition and negotiations but since the Second Intifada there has been only violence, no politics. The First Intifada demarcated the borders of the Israeli state and the imagined Palestinian state, while the second blurred them. Palestinian resista...

The article discusses the spontaneous popular movement J14 that erupted into the Israeli public sphere during the summer of 2011. Inspired by the Egyptian and Spanish movements, J14 was ignited by opposition to housing prices, later expanded into protests against neoliberal economic policies and socioeconomic inequalities. The concept of resistance mo(ve)ment is used to comprehend the peculiar intersection between the movement and moment of mass mobilization. The article explores the mo(ve)ment focusing on the political and economic background and context, and analyzing the role of a new generational class who were suffering the effects of a neoliberal political economy. The B Generation in Israel is the product of a double crisis, global and local. The local crisis involves the disintegration of Israeli society after Rabin’s assassination in 1995, and the repression of socioeconomic agendas by fanning hostility to external ‘enemies’. The global crisis is the outcome of a neoliberal...

The chapter adopts a historical and sociological perspective and institutional political economy to explain the inability of the Zionist labor movement to adapt to democratic conditions following Israeli sovereignty. In the 1970s and early 1980s the Histadrut (peak association of labor) and large private employers formed a distributional coalition against the state which eroded its autonomy and contributed to economic crisis. When the strong and stagnant labor institutions became a political burden on Labor Party leaders, they initiated the dismantling of the Histadrut economy and welfare state, including privatization of enterprises and pension funds, and the nationalization of health services. The chapter highlights the critical role of domestic political processes for explaining neo-liberalization of the economy and the rebuilding of state autonomy in Israel, and explains the irony that politicians on the Left played a more decisive role than those on the Right.

Les élections israéliennes de 2006 : un « big bang » silencieux ? ... Versions papier et électronique : le numéro est expédié par poste. Il est également accessible immédiatement en ligne. ... Versions papier et électronique : les numéros sont expédié par poste au fur et à mesure de leur ...

To be presented in Spanish in RC47, session C ABSTRACT Traveling Resistance: From Egypt to Chile through Israel and Spain Lev Luis Grinberg A new wave of mass mobilization spread all over the world following the demonstrations in Tunis and Egypt which succeeded to overthrow their respective dictators. The wave traveled to Spain in May, to Chile and Israel in July, and to the US in October. Although the events in one place encouraged activists in other places, the content and impact of the new movements was determined by the local political conditions. In Egypt the claims "people" claimed democracy, and in Spain the "indignados" protested against neo-liberal policies, in Chile the students demanded public education, and in Israel the "people" demanded social justice. Activists all over the world are encouraged by the capability to mobilize masses and the example of significant accomplishments. The global events inspire the imagination of local movements,...

A new wave of mass mobilization and popular struggle has spread all over the world since 2011, traveling from Tunisia and Egypt to Spain, Chile and Israel and the USA. When the wave arrived to the US the New Yorkers gave to name to the global new repertoire of resistance: occupy movement. Although the events in one place encouraged activists in other places, the content and impact of the new movements was determined by the local political conditions. It is my argument that despite all the differences and peculiarities of political context and dynamics, there is a common pattern to all movements: the need to occupy the public space in order to be recognized and to talk in the name of the people, the masses or 99%. All mobilizations are resisting the economic damage caused to middle and lower classes by the neo-liberal economic policies. Two main effects of neo-liberal policies gave rise to the occupy movement's new repertoire: the individualism that destroys social solidarity, an...

Este artículo aborda el establecimiento del peculiar régimen de dominación dual de Israel desde 1967, argumentando que la estructura de este régimen convierte a las élites militares en un actor político crucial. El régimen dual se basa en la separación geográfica entre dos ...

ABSTRACT This paper discusses Goldthorpe's (1984) interpretation of corporatism and dualism as divergent tendencies of capitalism. In contrast, it is proposed that both are patterns of political economy representing partial solutions to the common problems of advanced capitalist democracies, primarily the damage caused by the business cycle to both capital and labour. The two patterns are not incompatible and may coexist, as in the case of Israel, with the consequence that the working class is weakened. Corporatism and dualism are two patterns of the transformation of class conflict into forms of politically controlled conflict that must be analysed in an historical perspective. The theoretical concepts central to both approaches are briefly summarised, and various concepts shared by them are explored. The Israeli case is discussed, and it is argued that in the Israeli pattern the original economic class conflict is transferred to the political arena and transformed into national conflict between Israeli and Arab workers.

This article analyzes Israel's electoral deadlock through the lens of its settler-colonial project. It looks at how the ruling elite's secular but supremacist national identity disintegrated over time, giving rise to a number of antagonistic communities, which have increasingly become harder to bring together into a viable coalition.

The pandemic spread of Covid-19 is part of globalisation, and similar to globalisation it penetrates every country, but in very different ways. The differences are related to local features. Coronavirus became a tester to diagnose social diseases, and from a political point of view the Coronavirus functions as an X-Ray. Everything became transparent: leadership skills, capacities of state institutions, the capability of political actors to cooperate, as well as power relations within civil society and between them and the State. It also helps to comprehend how politics have shaped various health systems within a historical perspective, and not only in the current context of the pandemic crisis. Israel is a very interesting case, both from a historical perspective of the political building of the health services, and the present reactions to the crisis.

המאמר מתאר את התפתחות ההתיישבות הציונית בגליל התחתון החל מפתיחת המשרד הארץ ישראלי של ההסתדרות הציונית ב-1908. לנוכח ההתנגדות האלימה של הילידים לדחיקתם מן הקרקע המשרד הארץ ישראלי פיתח אסטרטגיית התיישבות חדשה של מימון קבוצות כיבוש המסוגלות להפעיל בעצמן אלימות. צורת ההתיישבות השיתופית הוכיחה עצמה כיעילה יותר, והיא המקור להקמת קיבוצים. אבל המטרה המקורית של הפעלת אלימות אכן נשכחה. המאמר מבקש לתקן זאת

Hebrew chapter on ethnic Representation in Local Government, in a book edited by SN Eizenstadt, M Lissak and J Nahon entitled Edot Beisrael, published by Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies
"תמורות בייצוג בשלטון המקומי - אתניות פריפריאלית" פרק בתוך הספר עדות בישראל, בעריכת ש"נ אייזנשטדטת מ ליסק וי נהון, (מכון ירושלים לחקר ישראל, 1993)

Chapter 2 of the book "Neoliberalism as a State Project" (Merom and Shalev eds, Oxford University Press, 2017).

Comparative political economists disagree on the reasons for paradigm shifts, like the interwar and postwar rise of Keynesianism, or the neoliberal transformations during the 1980s. Some attribute major policy changes to state institutional developments, domestic political processes or the emergence of new ideas, others insist that paradigm shifts are the direct result of a changing balance of class power. In our own era, the class argument goes, financialization and globalization of capital on the one hand and the decline of organized labor on the other have contributed to the transition to neoliberal macroeconomics. This chapter challenges the class power theory by analyzing the rise of neoliberal policies in Israel as a result of a peculiar institutional tension and political context, and the intentional action of Labor Party leaders. In short I will argue that, in addition to global tendencies, politics matter.

This is a chapter published in the Handbook of Israel (ed by Ben Raphael et al. de Gruyter, 2016). It discusses the immediate economic crises provoked by the new Likud Government and their long term effects. It discusses the hyperinflation and the neoliberal restructuring of the economy since the ESP in 1985. It discusses the crises of the 1980s - the Lebanon War and the Intifada - and how they led to the Oslo process.

Chapter in Ehrenberg and Peled (eds) "Israel and Palestine - Alternative Perspectives on Statehood" (Rowan, 2016).
The two states solution became the shared imagery of Jews and Palestinians immediately after the mutual recognition in September 1993, and the symbolic shaking hands between Rabin and Arafat in the White House. In order to imagine the establishment of two states living in peace as a "solution" to the 100 years conflict two basic elements were indispensable: mutual recognition of the national movements and recognized borders. Although imagination is an essential element of any significant political change, it is not enough. It necessitates realization, namely, transformation of images into facts in the ground, and the facts on the ground contradicted the imagined two states solution. Since my previous article (IPU, the '1-2-7 States' Vision of the Future, JPS 2010) two bi-national groups of experts have worked to suggest concrete answers to an array of crucial questions and problems emerging from the ideas of parallel sovereignty and a union. One Land two States (Mossberg and LeVine, 2014); and Two Sates in one space" (Goldenblatt and Boutteau, 2014). The most surprising support to the combination of two states and one came, unexpectedly, from the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin. This paper aims to present the idea of the Israeli-Palestinian Union and develop the analysis of crucial obstacles which are, in my opinion, insufficiently treated until now. The first part of the paper presents a critical analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian relations; the second part briefly presents my initial ideas for an Israeli-Palestinian Union, and analyzes the fundamental issues: demography, citizenship, institution building, the economy and security; the third part discusses the pre-conditions necessary to start thinking out of the box, mainly how to start dismantling the "permanent-interim" situation, and the type of International intervention needed to end Israeli expansionist policies.

זהו פרק מתוך ספרי המבוסס על הדוקטורט שלי בו אני מנתח את הכניסה למיתון והיציאה ממנו בכלים של כלכלה פוליטית, ולא בשיח כלכלני (בעיות מאזן התשלומים) או שיח פוליטי, מחזור עסקים פוליטי רגיל. הפרק מבוסס על מסמכי ארכיון רבים שהיו גלויים בארכיונים שונים למעט ארכיון המדינה, ומסמכים סודיים שהגיעו לידיי אז. החשוב הוא להבין כי המיתון הוא תוצאה של אובדן שליטה על  העובדים על ידי ההסתדרות בתקופת התעסוקה המלאה, אבל הוא גרם למשבר . .חמור של חברת עובדים. לאחר המלחמה ספיר החל לסבסד את חברת העובדים,  אבל התעקש להמשיך במיתון. רק בנובמבר 1967 החליטה הממשלה . להפסיק את מדיניות המיתון בניגוד לדעת ספיר, ולהגדיל משמעותית את תקציב הביטחון. מצורפים שני מסמכי ארכיון, האחד דיון על שיווק התוצרת לאזורי הכיבוש, מתאריך 22-6-1967 המסמך השני הוא פרוטוקול של ישיבת הממשלה (סודי ביותר) בה נידון תקציב הביטחון ומחליטים  להפסיק את המיתון בניגוד לדעת ספיר, מה-15-10-1967.

My article in Hebrew, "strong workers, weak workers", published in 1996 by Teoria Ubikoret. It criticizes the tendency to simplify labor movements either as corporatism or Dual labor markets, arguing that the combination is the worst. Probably this is the case in Europe today, but Israel was the pioneer in 1967...

This article draws on Lev Grinberg’s notion of political space,
understood as symbolic spheres in which political actors represent and further their interests, identities and agendas. The political space notion is designed to analyze and criticize political power and its dynamics in cases such as the Serbian one, where governments do not rely on heavyhanded
control of civil society. I suggest here that following the wars of the 1990s, the democratic governments in Serbia have excluded the war veteran population from the political space of representation, since gaining control over this population was perceived as a crucial step in the attempt to silence any public reckoning of the nation’s criminal past. Through the case study of a decade-long “Per Diem Affair”, designated to alienate the
war veteran population, I show how the mechanism of fragmentation has served the ruling elite to close the political space for open debate regarding the role of Serbia in the wars of the 1990s, first and utmost, in order to maintain control over the narrative of the recent wars. This, I suggest, comes as a result of the alteration in the role of the state: from being the
direct source of power to becoming a mediator between the opposing local and international demands for particular national images and identities.
Keywords: Political space, Serbia, memory politics, war veterans,
fragmentation