- ISR - Institutes for Strategic Research
University of Haifa
Office: Eshkol Building, Room 2306
Address: 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mt. Carmel, Haifa 3103301 - +972-51-588-0961
- Terrorism, Political Violence, Radical Right, International Terrorism, Data Visualization, International Security, and 45 moreIntelligence Studies, Middle East Politics, Security Studies, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Counter terrorism, Big Data, Historical Institutionalism, Revolution in military affairs, Strategy (Military Science), Special Operations And Low Intensity Conflict, History of Military Technology, Radicalization, Social Research Methods and Methodology, Qualitative methodology, International Relations, Xenophobia, Crisis Management, Social Network Analysis (SNA), Survey Research, Religious Fundamentalism, Digital methods, Computational Social Science, Structured data, Process Tracing, Data Structures, Unstructured Data, Version Control Systems, Transparency, Data Sharing, Data Access, Replication, Digital Tools, GitHub, Concepts, Military Intelligence, Intelligence, Political Science, Political Sociology, Middle East Studies, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Information Technology, Digital Humanities, Knowledge Management, Personal Knowledge Management, and Mixed Methods Researchedit
- A faculty member at The Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences (CSMS), Ami Pedahzur's main focus over the last dec... moreA faculty member at The Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences (CSMS), Ami Pedahzur's main focus over the last decade was understanding the ties between technology and humans in modern warfare. Previously, he followed the rise of the Israeli radical right. He summarized his two-decade research in the book The Triumph of Israel's Radial Right. Earlier in his career, Pedahzur explored terrorism and counterterrorism using multiple perspectives and research approaches.Pedahzur taught political science at the University of Haifa. He then moved to the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught for two decades. Most recently, he held the Ralph W Yarborough Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Haifa.edit
- Yael Yishaiedit
REVIEWS The Triumph of Israel’s Radical Right is a bold and personable book that establishes Ami Pedahzur as the late Ehud Sprinzak’s successor as the premier scholar of political extremism in Israel. —Cas Mudde, University of Georgia,... more
REVIEWS
The Triumph of Israel’s Radical Right is a bold and personable book that establishes Ami Pedahzur as the late Ehud Sprinzak’s successor as the premier scholar of political extremism in Israel.
—Cas Mudde, University of Georgia, author of Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe
Settlers, yes, but Ami Pedahzur brilliantly portrays the increasingly powerful radical right in Israel as much more than the settlers in the occupied territories. The Triumph of Israel’s Radical Right portrays the evolution of the right from a group preoccupied with preventing the creation of a Palestinian state to an anti-democratic, nativist force that has made deep inroads into defining the character of the Israeli state.
—Joel Migdal, University of Washington, co-author of The Palestinian People: A History
If Israel’s purposes are to serve as a ‘light unto the nations’ and to share with others the task of healing and repairing the world (Tikkun Olam), this book does a compelling job of explaining why these purposes are not being met. Ami Pedahzur does an estimable job of tracing the Israeli radical right from a marginal force to the dominant one in Israeli political life.
—Leonard Weinberg, University of Nevada, Reno, author of Global Terrorism
The Triumph of Israel’s Radical Right is a bold and personable book that establishes Ami Pedahzur as the late Ehud Sprinzak’s successor as the premier scholar of political extremism in Israel.
—Cas Mudde, University of Georgia, author of Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe
Settlers, yes, but Ami Pedahzur brilliantly portrays the increasingly powerful radical right in Israel as much more than the settlers in the occupied territories. The Triumph of Israel’s Radical Right portrays the evolution of the right from a group preoccupied with preventing the creation of a Palestinian state to an anti-democratic, nativist force that has made deep inroads into defining the character of the Israeli state.
—Joel Migdal, University of Washington, co-author of The Palestinian People: A History
If Israel’s purposes are to serve as a ‘light unto the nations’ and to share with others the task of healing and repairing the world (Tikkun Olam), this book does a compelling job of explaining why these purposes are not being met. Ami Pedahzur does an estimable job of tracing the Israeli radical right from a marginal force to the dominant one in Israeli political life.
—Leonard Weinberg, University of Nevada, Reno, author of Global Terrorism
Research Interests: Political Sociology, Comparative Politics, Public Administration, Peace and Conflict Studies, Social Networks, and 13 morePolitical Parties, Middle East Studies, Israel Studies, Religion and Politics, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Middle East Politics, Political Geography, Radical Right, Ethnicity and National Identity, and Public Policy
REVIEWS Publishers Weekly (starred review) Choice (highly recommended) [A] superb examination of Israel's secret services. Daniel Byman, New York Post "More than entertaining spy stories . . . this book will be a great aid to other... more
REVIEWS
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Choice (highly recommended)
[A] superb examination of Israel's secret services. Daniel Byman, New York Post
"More than entertaining spy stories . . . this book will be a great aid to other Western countries around the world struggling to confront terror." Jewish Book World
[Pedahzur] offers a brilliant description of Israel’s fight against terrorism from 1948 to the present. Seth J. Frantzman, The Jerusalem Post
"A fascinating history of counterterrorism by Israeli security agencies . . . Highly recommended." Choice"Replete with detail, vignettes, and insights, this book provides a unique inside account of the Israeli intelligence and security services' sixty-year-long struggle against terrorism. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative depiction and analysis of this struggle currently available in the English language." Bruce Hoffman, author of Inside Terrorism
Ami Pedahzur has written an astute, well-documented, and compelling analysis of Israel's reliance on the 'war model' to combat terrorism. Israel's political and military leaders were consistently unable to resist the temptation of dramatic and costly uses of force when modest defensive or conciliatory measures were preferable. This lesson should not be lost on any national policymaker confronted by terrorism." Martha Crenshaw, Stanford University""
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Choice (highly recommended)
[A] superb examination of Israel's secret services. Daniel Byman, New York Post
"More than entertaining spy stories . . . this book will be a great aid to other Western countries around the world struggling to confront terror." Jewish Book World
[Pedahzur] offers a brilliant description of Israel’s fight against terrorism from 1948 to the present. Seth J. Frantzman, The Jerusalem Post
"A fascinating history of counterterrorism by Israeli security agencies . . . Highly recommended." Choice"Replete with detail, vignettes, and insights, this book provides a unique inside account of the Israeli intelligence and security services' sixty-year-long struggle against terrorism. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative depiction and analysis of this struggle currently available in the English language." Bruce Hoffman, author of Inside Terrorism
Ami Pedahzur has written an astute, well-documented, and compelling analysis of Israel's reliance on the 'war model' to combat terrorism. Israel's political and military leaders were consistently unable to resist the temptation of dramatic and costly uses of force when modest defensive or conciliatory measures were preferable. This lesson should not be lost on any national policymaker confronted by terrorism." Martha Crenshaw, Stanford University""
Research Interests:
REVIEWS Publishers Weekly (starred review) Choice (highly recommended) Foreign Affairs - Jewish Terrorism in Israel, the second book to appear in the Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare series, sets a high bar for... more
REVIEWS
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Choice (highly recommended)
Foreign Affairs - Jewish Terrorism in Israel, the second book to appear in the Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare series, sets a high bar for subsequent works....Avoiding the pitfalls that generally confront the study of terrorism -- either expressing outrage at such inhumane behavior or dismissing one man's terrorist as another man's freedom fighter -- the authors dispassionately study the backgrounds, social networks, and motives of the terrorists....
Most, perhaps all, religious traditions have produced their own long intermittent and unique histories of terrorism. Yet this remarkable, engrossing study is the first to put the story of one religion together. It will surely stimulate studies of other religious traditions, a subject everyone needs to know more about.
David Rapoport, author of Inside Terrorist Organizations
Jewish Terrorism in Israel addresses a huge lacuna in the field by providing the first systematic, in-depth treatment of Jewish terrorism from ancient times to today. It concludes with vitally important developments in Jewish extremism over the past nine years, making a signal contribution at a moment when interest in terrorism and counterterrorism is high, when more attention than ever is being focused on terrorism motivated by religion, and when we most need insight into the nature of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process — Bruce Hoffman, author of Inside Terrorism
Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger provide us with an intelligent, sensible, and compelling story of terrorism among a people more famously known as historical victims rather than perpetrators. Their use of multiple research methods—including first-hand observations and interviews—is admirable; their insight into the interaction among religious, political, social, and psychological forces is convincing; and their accounts of informal networks and ideological socialization are especially revealing. This book is a model of scholarship on a topic most resistant to dispassionate analysis. — Neil J. Smelser, University of California, Berkeley
This engaging book documents the dark side of Jewish political activism in Israel from ancient times to the present. These gripping accounts, which describe the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the anti-Arab vitriol of Meir Kahane, and the strident opposition of the settler movement, show that terrorism has been in the shadows of Jewish politics in Israel, just as it has been in every other religious tradition around the world. Jewish Terrorism in Israel should be required reading for anyone concerned about the moral dilemmas of Jewish activism, peace in the Middle East, and the rise of religious violence everywhere. — Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence
""
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Choice (highly recommended)
Foreign Affairs - Jewish Terrorism in Israel, the second book to appear in the Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare series, sets a high bar for subsequent works....Avoiding the pitfalls that generally confront the study of terrorism -- either expressing outrage at such inhumane behavior or dismissing one man's terrorist as another man's freedom fighter -- the authors dispassionately study the backgrounds, social networks, and motives of the terrorists....
Most, perhaps all, religious traditions have produced their own long intermittent and unique histories of terrorism. Yet this remarkable, engrossing study is the first to put the story of one religion together. It will surely stimulate studies of other religious traditions, a subject everyone needs to know more about.
David Rapoport, author of Inside Terrorist Organizations
Jewish Terrorism in Israel addresses a huge lacuna in the field by providing the first systematic, in-depth treatment of Jewish terrorism from ancient times to today. It concludes with vitally important developments in Jewish extremism over the past nine years, making a signal contribution at a moment when interest in terrorism and counterterrorism is high, when more attention than ever is being focused on terrorism motivated by religion, and when we most need insight into the nature of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process — Bruce Hoffman, author of Inside Terrorism
Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger provide us with an intelligent, sensible, and compelling story of terrorism among a people more famously known as historical victims rather than perpetrators. Their use of multiple research methods—including first-hand observations and interviews—is admirable; their insight into the interaction among religious, political, social, and psychological forces is convincing; and their accounts of informal networks and ideological socialization are especially revealing. This book is a model of scholarship on a topic most resistant to dispassionate analysis. — Neil J. Smelser, University of California, Berkeley
This engaging book documents the dark side of Jewish political activism in Israel from ancient times to the present. These gripping accounts, which describe the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the anti-Arab vitriol of Meir Kahane, and the strident opposition of the settler movement, show that terrorism has been in the shadows of Jewish politics in Israel, just as it has been in every other religious tradition around the world. Jewish Terrorism in Israel should be required reading for anyone concerned about the moral dilemmas of Jewish activism, peace in the Middle East, and the rise of religious violence everywhere. — Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence
""
Research Interests: Comparative Politics, Jewish Studies, Social Networks, Terrorism, Middle East Studies, and 10 moreIsrael Studies, Security Studies, Political Violence and Terrorism, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Israel/Palestine, Jewish History, Lebanon, Syria, Middle East Politics, and Ethnicity and National Identity
"Suicide terrorism in its modern form made its first appearance in Lebanon in the early 1980s. Over the last quarter century, terrorist attacks perpetrated by suicide bombers have spread to many corners of the world and have become a... more
"Suicide terrorism in its modern form made its first appearance in Lebanon in the early 1980s. Over the last quarter century, terrorist attacks perpetrated by suicide bombers have spread to many corners of the world and have become a major threat for both the governments and citizens of numerous countries. Can this devastating phenomenon be attributed to a specific religion or culture? What are the causes and motivations that lead ordinary people to embark upon suicide attacks? How are potential bombers trained for their mission? And is it possible for democratic governments to effectively cope with this challenge?
In this compelling book, Ami Pedazhur investigates the root causes of suicide terrorism and its rapid proliferation in recent years. Drawing on a variety of sources, the book explores the use of human bombs in Lebanon, Israel, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Chechnya, Iraq, and the ostentatious attacks of Al-Qaeda and the global jihad. It is the only book to offer such an in-depth, up-to-date, cross cultural analysis of suicide terrorism in the twenty-first Century."
In this compelling book, Ami Pedazhur investigates the root causes of suicide terrorism and its rapid proliferation in recent years. Drawing on a variety of sources, the book explores the use of human bombs in Lebanon, Israel, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Chechnya, Iraq, and the ostentatious attacks of Al-Qaeda and the global jihad. It is the only book to offer such an in-depth, up-to-date, cross cultural analysis of suicide terrorism in the twenty-first Century."
Research Interests: Criminology, Political Sociology, Social Movements, Comparative Politics, Ethics, and 26 morePhilosophy Of Religion, Terrorism, International Studies, Middle East Studies, International Law, International Security, War Studies, Political Violence and Terrorism, Israel/Palestine, Philosophy Of Law, Lebanon, Suicide, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency(COIN), Protest, Sri Lanka, Syria, Islam, Middle East Politics, Counter terrorism, Economic Law, Administrative Law, National Security, Existentialism, Suicide Terrorism, Rules of War, and Ethnicity and National Identity
This book looks at the theoretical issue of how a democracy can defend itself from those wishing to subvert or destroy it, without being required to take measures that would impinge upon the basic principles of the democratic idea, such... more
This book looks at the theoretical issue of how a democracy can defend itself from those wishing to subvert or destroy it, without being required to take measures that would impinge upon the basic principles of the democratic idea, such as human rights, freedom of speech, and the freedom to form political organizations. In this book institutional and social frameworks are incorporated into the discussion of the 'paradox' in an attempt to provide an answer to the question: is there a golden path which can reconcile between the democratic polity's need to defend itself and, at the same time, maintain responsibility to protect and safeguard the basic right of its citizens?
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Terrorism, Middle East Studies, Community Resilience, Disaster Studies, Disaster risk management, and 12 morePolitical Violence and Terrorism, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Urban Studies, Syria, Middle East Politics, Counter terrorism, Disaster risk reduction, Participatory Decision Making, Disaster Culture, Ethnicity and National Identity, and Public Policy
Have any of you been in a viral video that will live on forever on YouTube? Based on my last check, I belong to this exclusive, if undesirable, club. The Palestine Solidarity Committee, a student group at the University of Texas at... more
Have any of you been in a viral video that will live on forever on YouTube? Based on my last check, I belong to this exclusive, if undesirable, club. The Palestine Solidarity Committee, a student group at the University of Texas at Austin, uploaded a video of me on YouTube. The video has received over 184,000 views since November 16, 2015. Impressive, isn't it? I cannot claim credit for the overwhelming success. This video was filmed without my consent and later doctored in a manipulative manner to match the footage to a pre-written script. I asked YouTube to remove the video several times. They have yet to respond. I talked to some lawyers who know a lot about defamation. They informed me that the First Amendment protects the PSC and YouTube from libel lawsuits. I was unhappy to hear this. The independent inquiry found that this was a lie meant to harm my reputation. There is no way to dispute that right, to demand that the lie be exposed, or to salvage what's left of my reputation. As long as the video stays in the cloud, people will label me as a racist, hater, and Islamophobe.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACTThe study explores the nexus of violence and mass media, and the ability of terrorists to enhance their influence and resources via effective marketing of their actions. We utilized a dataset of 242 IS propaganda videos in order... more
ABSTRACTThe study explores the nexus of violence and mass media, and the ability of terrorists to enhance their influence and resources via effective marketing of their actions. We utilized a dataset of 242 IS propaganda videos in order to examine how the Islamic State employed visual propaganda to enhance the effectiveness of a low-cost, high-impact terrorist campaign, by reconstructing the theater of terror. Our findings illustrate the positive relationship between the IS territorial control and the quality of its media production, thus the IS uses propaganda to develop a relatively low-cost avenue to global media attention. Prior acts of terrorism were risky, high cost, and required news media to cover the incidents. For IS, a steady stream of battle imagery allowed it to develop highly efficient low- cost propaganda. Additionally, we identified associations between the video’s thematic components, including between level of depicted violence and the tendency of the videos to be critical or to include religious symbols, as well as their production value. It reflects the importance that terrorist groups place in maximizing the symbolic impact of their violent videos which intend to depict their military capabilities, and capacity to retaliate against their enemies.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Replicability in political science is on the rise, as disciplinary journals have been placing a growing emphasis on data access and research transparency (DA–RT) practices and policies. As a result, nearly every article that is published... more
Replicability in political science is on the rise, as disciplinary journals have been placing a growing emphasis on data access and research transparency (DA–RT) practices and policies. As a result, nearly every article that is published today in leading political science journals offers an online appendix that includes data, code, and methodological explanations necessary for replication. While these developments are laudable, many appendices still do not enable satisfactory replication because they are inaccessible, compartmentalized, and difficult to understand. In this article and in its accompanying online appendix, we demonstrate this problem and make the case for more accessible and comprehensive appendices whose contribution can fulfill and go beyond mere replicability. We propose several ways in which authors and journals can produce better appendices, namely, by making appendices more intuitive, integrated, and standardized, and by choosing an adequate online platform on which to create and host the appendix.
Research Interests:
This analysis begins by exploring various reasons that the concept of terrorism has evaded a widely agreed upon definition for so long despite the efforts of so many writers. Emphasis is placed on the difficulties associated with all... more
This analysis begins by exploring various reasons that the concept of terrorism has evaded a widely agreed upon definition for so long despite the efforts of so many writers. Emphasis is placed on the difficulties associated with all “essentially contested concepts.” In addition, the investigation calls attention to such problems as conceptual “stretching” and “traveling.” In an effort to solve the difficulties, the inquiry attempts to determine a consensus definition of terrorism by turning to an empirical analysis of how the term has been employed by academics over the years. Specifically, the well-known definition developed by Alex Schmid, based upon responses to a questionnaire he circulated in 1985, is compared with the way the concept has been employed by contributors to the major journals in the field: Terrorism, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and Terrorism and Political Violence. The 22 “definitional elements” of which Schmid's definition is composed are compared to the frequency with which they appear in the professional journals. If these elements appear frequently in both the Schmid definition and those employed by the journal contributors, they are then used to form a consensus definition of the concept. The most striking feature of this academic consensus over the meaning of terrorism is the virtual absence of references to the psychological element, heretofore widely thought to be at the heart of the concept.
Research Interests:
Using data collected by the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, the authors provide social profiles of Palestinian suicide bombers and their largely Israeli victims. In addition, drawing on a series of public... more
Using data collected by the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, the authors provide social profiles of Palestinian suicide bombers and their largely Israeli victims. In addition, drawing on a series of public opinion polls, the writers describe the reactions of Israeli citizens to the wave of suicide bombings the country has experienced since the beginning of the Al Aqsa intifada in the second half of 2000.
Research Interests:
Over the last decade, the suicide method became one of the most prevalent tactics of Palestinian Terrorism in Israel. Who are these people, willing to sacrifice their lives in such an act, and what drives them to do such things? In our... more
Over the last decade, the suicide method became one of the most prevalent tactics of Palestinian Terrorism in Israel. Who are these people, willing to sacrifice their lives in such an act, and what drives them to do such things? In our present analysis, we answer these questions, while relying on the concepts of altruistic and fatalistic suicide from Durkheim’s typology of suicide behavior. Based on a newly established database compiled for this purposewhich includes information based on suicide, as well as non-suicide—Palestinian suicide terrorists from 1993 until the beginning of 2002, fit the ‘‘altruistic’’ type as well as some elements from the ‘‘fatalistic’’ and represent a combination of both types; thus they can be labeled under a new category of ‘‘fatalistic altruistic’’ suicide.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Political dynamics in recent decades have posed a new extreme right-wing threat to the stability of democracies. This threat, which we will call the 'uncivil society', is far more fluid in nature than its predecessor, the subversive... more
Political dynamics in recent decades have posed a new extreme right-wing threat to the stability of democracies. This threat, which we will call the 'uncivil society', is far more fluid in nature than its predecessor, the subversive political party. It presents a (idiosyncratic) challenge to regimes seeking to assure stability. Contrary to the 'party decline' and 'trade off' theses, we will argue that the 'uncivil society' and extreme right-wing parties operate jointly to promote similar goals and thus present a double threat to liberal democracies: one operating within the parliaments and the other operating from the surrounding environment. The first part of this article will explore the changing structure of the political process which has allowed the expansion of democracy's enemies. The second part will identify old and new enemies of democratic regimes and evaluate the level of threat each poses to democracy. Finally, we will assess whether 'uncivil society' has replaced the (subversive) political party as the principal source of extremism, or whether it co-operates with this same extremism.
Research Interests: Comparative Politics, International Relations, Multiculturalism, International Law, Human Rights, and 18 moreInternational organizations, Conflict, Security, Governance, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Nationalism, Diplomacy, European Politics, Democracy, Ethnicity, Minority Rights, Civil Society, Peace, Corruption, Freedom, Water governance and management in Central Asia, Governance Reforms, and Public Policy
Research Interests:
Israel is a state with a large (some 80 percent) Jewish majority. Jews were victims of prejudice and xenophobia for two millennia. They constituted a minority in their countries of residence, and were subject to discrimination and... more
Israel is a state with a large (some 80 percent) Jewish majority. Jews were victims of prejudice and xenophobia for two millennia. They constituted a minority in their countries of residence, and were subject to discrimination and persecution. The founders of Israel pledged, in the state’s Declaration of Independence, to establish a society free from hatred, a society where all citizens enjoyed equal rights. The horrors suffered by the Jewish people during World War II consolidated Israel’s pledge to erase hatred. Yet the country is imbued with hatred towards three distinct groups: Arabs, foreign workers, and Ethiopian Jews. The Arabs are hated in the setting of the Arab- Israeli conflict; foreign workers may be resented on account of economic rivalry; Ethiopian Jews are probably shunned because they are different in skin color and have customs from the majority of Israelis. This article at-tempts to examine hatred in contemporary Israel, addressing the following questions: (a) What is the scope of hatred? (b) What factors induce hatred?(c) Is there a linkage between a specific set of factors and a specific type of hatred? The article is based on a survey of a Jewish urban population
Research Interests: Political Sociology, Ethnic Studies, Middle East Studies, Political Psychology, Israel Studies, and 12 moreRace and Racism, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Stereotypes, Israel/Palestine, Stereotypes and Prejudice, Lebanon, Survey Research, Syria, Middle East Politics, Ethnic Relations, Xenophobia, and Ethnicity and National Identity
Research Interests: American Politics, Comparative Politics, Terrorism, Middle East Studies, Democratic Theory, and 13 morePolitical Violence and Terrorism, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Populism, Counterterrorism Law, Syria, Middle East Politics, German Politics, Counterterrorism policing, Counter terrorism, Radical Right, and Ethnicity and National Identity
Over the course of the twentieth century, terrorist organizations possessing different political and religious outlooks have been formed in different regions of the world. This note reports that the peak decades for the formation of... more
Over the course of the twentieth century, terrorist organizations possessing different political and religious outlooks have been formed in different regions of the world. This note reports that the peak decades for the formation of terrorist groups were the 1970s and 1980s. Since that period, the pace of terrorist group formation has slowed substantially. Further, during the 1970s and 1980s the political goals of terrorist bands consisted of a heterogeneous mix of nationalist, left-wing revolutionary, right-wing radical and religious agendas. During the 1990s new terrorist groups have been largely reflective of religious concerns, Islamist ones in particular.
Research Interests:
This article describes research on the challenges that suicide attacks and other mass casualty attacks have posed to policy-makers and first responders in Israel. The authors describe a model of response to attacks which focuses on... more
This article describes research on the challenges that suicide attacks and other mass casualty attacks have posed to policy-makers and first responders in Israel. The authors describe a model of response to attacks which focuses on defensive responses to terrorism: prevention, crisis management and reconstruction. The authors draw out the lessons for other countries and discuss the problems that still need to be addressed in order to cope effectively with current and future terrorist attacks.
Research Interests: Public Administration, Public Administration, Organizational Theory, Terrorism, Terrorism, and 16 moreMiddle East Studies, Israel Studies, Israel Studies, Disaster Studies, International Security, Disaster risk management, Crisis Management, Political Violence and Terrorism, Political Violence and Terrorism, Israel/Palestine, Disaster Management, Middle East Politics, Counter terrorism, Disaster risk reduction, Risk and crisis management, and Public Policy
Four decades of scholarly attempts to uncover terrorists’ socio-demographic and psychological traits have proven largely inconclusive. A review of the scholarship would suggest that almost anyone can become a terrorist and provides no... more
Four decades of scholarly attempts to uncover terrorists’ socio-demographic and psychological traits have proven largely inconclusive. A review of the scholarship would suggest that almost anyone can become a terrorist and provides no consensus on why individuals join terrorist groups. In the current study we examine the challenges that hindered the search for a single terrorist “profile.” Utilizing a unique dataset which includes the social, organizational, and socio-demographic traits of 350 members of terrorist networks, we offer an alternative conceptualization of the terrorist profile. Rather than socio-demographic characteristics, this approach posits social and organizational requirements of the network as the dependent variable, offering an escape from some of the conceptual traps that have long limited our understanding of terrorist recruitment.
Research Interests: Forensic Science, Terrorism, International Terrorism, Middle East Studies, International Security, and 10 moreSecurity Studies, Political Violence and Terrorism, Police, Political Violence, Social Network Analysis (SNA), Criminal Psychology, Counter terrorism, War on Terror, Police and Policing, and Criminal profiling
For decades, practitioners and academics sought to identify a common terrorist “profile.” However, the consensus in both the policy realm and academia suggests that, so far, these efforts produced only modest insights. This research note... more
For decades, practitioners and academics sought to identify a common terrorist “profile.” However, the consensus in both the policy realm and academia suggests that, so far, these efforts produced only modest insights. This research note identifies and addresses a major impediment to previous studies of terrorist profiles: conceptualization. We argue that ambiguities in the definition of the term terrorist lead to an inconsistent and aggregated operationalization in the existing literature. Previous studies attempt to identify the factors correlated with a willingness to commit violence rather than the factors that correlate with the willingness to join an organization that commits violence. We test our claim by disaggregating the roles and responsibilities of members of various Islamist terrorist networks. We provide initial evidence that disaggregation presents a promising first step toward identifying specific profiles for different types of terrorists.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Criminology, Political Sociology, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Social Networks, and 9 moreTerrorism, International Terrorism, International Studies, International Security, Political Violence and Terrorism, Social Network Analysis (SNA), Middle East Politics, Arab-Israeli conflict, and Suicide Terrorism
Research Interests: Criminology, Ethics, Philosophy Of Religion, Terrorism, International Law, and 11 moreIsrael Studies, Democratic Theory, Political Violence and Terrorism, Philosophy Of Law, Counterterrorism Law, Counter terrorism, Economic Law, Administrative Law, National Security, Existentialism, and Rules of War
The study examined the associations between support for right wing extremism, on the one hand, and social-psychological measures of in-group favoritism (e.g. authoritarianism) and both objective (e.g., income) and subjective (economic... more
The study examined the associations between support for right wing extremism, on the one hand, and social-psychological measures of in-group favoritism (e.g. authoritarianism) and both objective (e.g., income) and subjective (economic insecurity) socio-economic measures, on the other, among 706 Israeli- Jewish respondents. Contrary to the initial tendency to reduce right-wing extremism and define it on the basis of a single characteristic (i.e. anti-foreigner sentiments), it is defined as a broad concept that reflects a multi-layered ideology. We theorized that hostile attitudes towards out-groups are the result of ingroup favoritism, and that this may be particularly apt when a sense of socio-economic competition arises. Findings obtained through the analyses of three models via structural equation modeling show that the socio-economic variables have significant direct negative effects on the socio-psychological mediating variables, and also have negative indirect effects on right wing extremism, via their influence on the mediating socio-psychological variables. While persons with strong social identification tendencies are likely to espouse right-wing extremist ideologies whether they are high or low on the socio-economic status, persons who score low on socio-economic indicators are not likely to support right-wing extremist ideologies unless they also have strong mechanisms of social identification.
Research Interests:
The extreme right in Israel was traditionally defined by its hawkish views on the occupied territories and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The decline of this political camp in the 1999 national elections brought many to the conclusion that... more
The extreme right in Israel was traditionally defined by its hawkish views on the occupied territories and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The decline of this political camp in the 1999 national elections brought many to the conclusion that the Israeli extreme right had died. The main argument of this article is that the king is dead - long live the king. Despite the popular belief that the extreme right in Israel is on the decline, the second wave of right-wing extremism is already here in a stronger and more prevalent form. By accepting a broader definition of the extreme right, it can be concluded that twenty percent of Israeli parliament members represent ideas similar to those of the European extreme right, especially antidemocracy and xenophobia.
Research Interests:
For many years the ‘party family’ concept has been utilised by scholars for the purpose of classifying political parties across both countries and time. Like many other concepts in political science, the ‘party family’ idea is widely... more
For many years the ‘party family’ concept has been utilised by scholars for the purpose of classifying political parties across both countries and time. Like many other concepts in political science, the ‘party family’ idea is widely used, yet has suffered from a certain level of ambiguity. In this study, we try to clarify and re‐emphasise the importance of the ‘party family’ concept. We do so by offering an integrative approach for the classification of ‘party families’. This approach brings together two different theoretical schools (the ideological and the sociological approaches) for classifying ‘party families’, and also combines various methodologies (qualitative content analysis, ecological analysis and survey‐based quantitative analysis) as essential tools for defining ‘party families’. The deeply polarised party system in Israel, and especially the expanding extreme right‐wing ‘party family’ in the country, serve as our case study. The decision to focus only on one political system is meant to illustrate the importance of the ‘party family’ concept, not only for its common use as a tool in the comparative classification of parties across countries and time but also for the study of single‐party systems which are characterised by multi‐partism or polarised pluralism.
Research Interests:
In this comment, I offer an alternative model for describing and explaining suicide terrorism. The model offers three stage: a) decision making among elites of terrorist organizations, b) individual motivations of the perpetrators and c)... more
In this comment, I offer an alternative model for describing and explaining suicide terrorism. The model offers three stage: a) decision making among elites of terrorist organizations, b) individual motivations of the perpetrators and c) the organisational process of recruitment, socialization, and launching of the terrorist.
Research Interests: Sociology of Religion, International Relations, Terrorism, International Studies, Community Development, and 10 moreInternational Security, Community Organizing, Political Violence and Terrorism, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Faith Based Organizations, Suicide, Religious Fundamentalism, Non Profit Organizations, Organizational Dynamics, and Religion and Social Work
The aim of this article is to assess the explanatory potential of three kinds of reasoning (socio-economic, political and psychological) in the field of political xenophobia. The Israeli arena, chosen for the study, provides a relevant... more
The aim of this article is to assess the explanatory potential of three kinds of reasoning (socio-economic, political and psychological) in the field of political xenophobia. The Israeli
arena, chosen for the study, provides a relevant context for the study of political xenophobia. This can be attributed to the varied ethnic populations in this country (immigrants from the
Former Soviet Union, foreign workers and Palestinian Citizens of Israel), which attract the animosity of the veteran Jewish group. Our findings, based on a series of multiple linear regressions of the data collected from 994 respondents support the hypotheses. As
hypothesized, the prominent finding is that while the socio economic approach has a minor explanatory capability and the political approach explains mainly certain types of political
xenophobia, the psychological approach is not only powerful for explaining all types of political xenophobia, but constant in its explanatory ability.
arena, chosen for the study, provides a relevant context for the study of political xenophobia. This can be attributed to the varied ethnic populations in this country (immigrants from the
Former Soviet Union, foreign workers and Palestinian Citizens of Israel), which attract the animosity of the veteran Jewish group. Our findings, based on a series of multiple linear regressions of the data collected from 994 respondents support the hypotheses. As
hypothesized, the prominent finding is that while the socio economic approach has a minor explanatory capability and the political approach explains mainly certain types of political
xenophobia, the psychological approach is not only powerful for explaining all types of political xenophobia, but constant in its explanatory ability.
Research Interests:
"Over the last two decades a number of theoretical perspectives have emphasized the growing phenomenon of extremist political challenges. These challenges come from two main sources: largely secular radical right-wing populism and... more
"Over the last two decades a number of theoretical perspectives have emphasized the growing phenomenon of extremist political challenges. These challenges come from two main sources: largely secular radical right-wing populism and religious fundamentalism. Yet the relationship between the two is still theoretically and empirically limited. Researchers have
usually limited their discussion to only one of the phenomena, ignoring the fact that despite the basic distinction between the two (i.e., secular versus religious orientation), the literature
points to many commonalities. This article takes up the challenge by analyzing the predictive
power of socioeconomic, ideological, and security threat factors on voting behavior for populist radical right (PRR) parties and for religious fundamentalist (RF) parties. Data collected following the Israeli parliamentary election of 2003 (N = 808) offer a challenge to the conventional, secular wisdom of right-wing extremism. The radical right party family is multifaceted with at least two flanks – a hawkish nationalist flank on the one hand, and a ‘faith-based’ radical flank on the other. Implications of these distinctions for voting behavior scholars and radical right-wing scholars are discussed."
usually limited their discussion to only one of the phenomena, ignoring the fact that despite the basic distinction between the two (i.e., secular versus religious orientation), the literature
points to many commonalities. This article takes up the challenge by analyzing the predictive
power of socioeconomic, ideological, and security threat factors on voting behavior for populist radical right (PRR) parties and for religious fundamentalist (RF) parties. Data collected following the Israeli parliamentary election of 2003 (N = 808) offer a challenge to the conventional, secular wisdom of right-wing extremism. The radical right party family is multifaceted with at least two flanks – a hawkish nationalist flank on the one hand, and a ‘faith-based’ radical flank on the other. Implications of these distinctions for voting behavior scholars and radical right-wing scholars are discussed."
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This study examines the associations between religious affiliation and religiosity and support for political violence through a nationwide sample of Israeli Jews and Muslims. Based on structural equation modeling, the findings show that... more
This study examines the associations between religious affiliation and religiosity and support for political violence through a nationwide sample of Israeli Jews and Muslims. Based on structural equation modeling, the findings show that by and large Muslims are more supportive of political violence than Jews and more religious persons are less supportive of political violence. Deprivation, however, was found to mediate these relations, showing that the more deprived - whether Muslims or Jews, religious or non-religious persons - are more supportive of political violence. The explanatory strength of religion and deprivation combined in this manner was found to be stronger than any of these variables on their own. The findings cast doubt on negative stereotypes both of Islam and of religiosity as promoting political violence. They suggest that governments which want peace at home, in Israel as elsewhere, would do well to ensure that ethnic and religious differences are not translated into, and compounded by, wide socio-economic gaps.
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Israeli society has a long reputation of being intolerant and violent. In this study we chose to look into the role of the education policy in Israel and to ask why do civic education programmes fail in implanting more seeds of tolerance... more
Israeli society has a long reputation of being intolerant and violent. In this study we chose to look into the role of the education policy in Israel and to ask why do civic education programmes fail in implanting more seeds of tolerance and democratic values within the society. The first part of the study presents the subordination of the civic education programmes to the needs of the ethno-national agenda in the early years of the state of Israel, accomplished mainly by marginalizing the field of civics both in terms of contents and instruction hours. Then, we argue that since the 1980s, after the Israeli leadership was exposed to the problematic consequences of the lack of education to democratic values, all the initiatives to promote such agenda collided with the strong non-liberal character of the state which prevented any progress toward a more democratic orientation. We present the nature of this collision by using three levels of analysis: structural, policy making and policy implementation. We conclude by arguing that only a process of real liberalization of the state of Israel has the potential to liberate the education system from the paradoxes inherent to it.
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The article challenges the approach that supports the efficiency of the war model in combating terrorism and shows, by drawing on empirical support, the advantages of using the criminal justice model not only because of its response to... more
The article challenges the approach that supports the efficiency of the war model in combating terrorism and shows, by drawing on empirical support, the advantages of using the criminal justice model not only because of its response to the legal moral issue but also because of its effectiveness. A conceptualization of the term policing terrorism is presented through a general model that defines the role of the police in combating terrorism within a democracy. By analyzing how this model is
implemented in Israel, the article illustrates that police forces are preferable to military ones in three main realms: counterterrorism intelligence, thwarting of terrorist attacks, and restoration of civilian infrastructure after a terrorist attack.
implemented in Israel, the article illustrates that police forces are preferable to military ones in three main realms: counterterrorism intelligence, thwarting of terrorist attacks, and restoration of civilian infrastructure after a terrorist attack.
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Totalistic ideologies are breeding grounds for radicalization. Communities that adhere to such ideologies tend to rally when they feel threatened by powerful outsiders. Under such circumstances, community leaders become central. If they... more
Totalistic ideologies are breeding grounds for radicalization. Communities that adhere to such ideologies tend to rally when they feel threatened by powerful outsiders. Under such circumstances, community leaders become central. If they frame the situation as an existential threat to the community itself or to its most sacred values the will accelerate the radicalization process and subsequently increases the prospects of violent actions by group members.
The shift to violence takes place in the framework of close-knit social networks within the broader radicalized community. These networks consist of individuals that usually live in the same area, and engage in continuous interaction among themselves.
Such interactions bolster their communal commitment and develop a collective mindset that facilitates the slide of some of the individuals into violence. Those who eventually descend into terrorism usually exhibit strong identification with the community’s values and extreme alienation towards the outside world. They also enjoy high levels of biographical availability. We test our hypotheses using the case study of Jewish terrorism in Israel between 1948 and 2006.
The shift to violence takes place in the framework of close-knit social networks within the broader radicalized community. These networks consist of individuals that usually live in the same area, and engage in continuous interaction among themselves.
Such interactions bolster their communal commitment and develop a collective mindset that facilitates the slide of some of the individuals into violence. Those who eventually descend into terrorism usually exhibit strong identification with the community’s values and extreme alienation towards the outside world. They also enjoy high levels of biographical availability. We test our hypotheses using the case study of Jewish terrorism in Israel between 1948 and 2006.
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Research Interests: Policy Analysis/Policy Studies, Public Administration, Social Networks, Middle East Studies, Israel Studies, and 14 moreHealth Care Policy, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Institutional Theory, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Social Network Analysis (SNA), Syria, Middle East Politics, Political Geography, Ethnicity and National Identity, Networks and Public Governance, Policy Analysis and Management, and Public Policy
In recent years, scholars of conflicts have been promoting an alluring proposition. They maintain that in territorial conflicts, sub-state actors who choose non-violent over violent tactics benefit in three main ways. First, they reduce... more
In recent years, scholars of conflicts have been promoting an alluring proposition. They maintain that in territorial conflicts, sub-state actors who choose non-violent over violent tactics benefit in three main ways. First, they reduce the costs and risks of their struggles. Second, they increase the prospects of attaining their short-term objectives. Third, they divert disputes from violent to peaceful paths and thus gain both domestic and international legitimacy that help them in the long run. A review of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the last three decades provides support for the first two propositions. However, with regard to the third proposition, it casts some doubts. In fact, as I will demonstrate in the following sections of the paper, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict illuminates a darker aspect of non-violent tactics, namely their contribution to the perpetuation of conflicts.
Research Interests: Religion, Social Movements, Middle East Studies, Israel Studies, Contemporary History, and 13 moreConflict, Political Science, Political Violence and Terrorism, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Israel/Palestine, Palestine, Conflict Resolution, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Political Geography, Israel, Civil Society, Religious Fundamentalism, and Social Conflict
The association between religion and violence has raised much interest in both academic and public circles. Yet on the individual level, existing empirical accounts are both sparse and conflicting. Based on previous research which found... more
The association between religion and violence has raised much interest in both academic and public circles. Yet on the individual level, existing empirical accounts are both sparse and conflicting. Based on previous research which found that religion plays a role in the support of political violence only through the mediation of objective and perceived deprivations, the authors test Conservation of Resource (COR) theory as an individual level explanation for the association of religion, socio-economic deprivations, and support for political violence. COR theory predicts that when individuals’ personal, social or economic resources are threatened, a response mechanism may include violence. Utilizing two distinct datasets, and relying on structural equation models analysis, the latter two stages of a three-stage study are reported here. In a follow-up to their previous article, the authors refine the use of socio-economic variables in examining the effects of deprivation as mediating between religion and political violence. Then, they analyze an independent sample of 545 Muslims and Jews, collected during August and September 2004, to test a psychological-based explanation based on COR theory. This study replaces measures of deprivation used in the previous stages with measures of economic and psychological resource loss. Findings show that the relationship between religion and support of political violence only holds true when mediated by deprivations and psychological resource loss. They also suggest that the typical tendency to focus on economic resource loss is over-simplistic as psychological, not economic, resources seem to mediate between religion and support of violence.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Political Sociology, Comparative Politics, Political Economy, Political Participation, Political Parties, and 8 moreSocial Identity, Israel Studies, Regional and Local Governance, Political Culture, Local Government, Local Government and Local Development, Ethnicity and National Identity, and Ethnic politics
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We aspired to reexamine the well-established assumption according to which low socioeconomic status, as a comprehensive concept, leads to prejudice and hostile attitudes toward minorities. Hence, we focused on examining the differential... more
We aspired to reexamine the well-established assumption according to which low socioeconomic status, as a comprehensive concept, leads to prejudice and hostile attitudes toward minorities. Hence, we focused on examining the differential effect of each component of SES on one of the most important behavioral aspects of hostile attitudes-social distance. Just as importantly, we examined the assumption according to which threat perception mediates the influence of SES factors on those attitudes. Methods. In field research that took place in Israel in May 2003, attitudes of 383 participants toward three distinct minority groups were tested according to their ascription to four different "socioeconomic status" groups. Results. Contrary to most previous findings, we found that employment status and relative income have very little influence on social distance toward minorities. On the other hand, we found that level of education has a significant effect on social distance and that this effect is mostly mediated by the perception of cultural and economic threat. Conclusions. The subjective perception of threat was found to be a critical mediating "junction" in the evolutionary process of the influence of socioeconomic factors on hostile attitudes. Therefore, only specific SES components that influence the perception of threat have an effect on hostile attitudes toward minorities.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests: Ethnic Studies, Middle East Studies, Israel Studies, Political Violence and Terrorism, Israel/Palestine, and 7 moreLebanon, Political Violence, Survey Research, Syria, Middle East Politics, Political Psychology, Political Behavior, Public Opinion, Survey Research and Experiments, and Ethnicity and National Identity
Research Interests: German Studies, Democratization, Political Violence and Terrorism, Social Capital, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, and 9 morePolice, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Counter Culture, Democracy, Volunteerism, Counter terrorism, Citizenship, Civil Society, and Immigration Status & Nationality
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Environmental parties were founded in the late seventies and early eighties in most western European states. Although their electoral success varies considerably across countries, as well as at the local, regional, and national levels... more
Environmental parties were founded in the late seventies and early eighties in most western European states. Although their electoral success varies considerably across countries, as well as at the local, regional, and national levels within each country, their attainments, as measured by electoral performance, are striking. By the late nineties, on a national level, 19 environmental parties were organized in 15 European party systems, polling on average 3% or more of the vote. Data reveal that environmental parties have participated in 61 national elections over a period of 19 years. They are no longer `flash parties’ representing spasms of political excitement but are a stable and growing phenomenon whose emergence has been the subject of scholarly attention. The sprouting of environmental parties has been attributed to four major factors. The first is economic prosperity, reflected by a high standard of living, educational attainments, and occupational mobility. The second factor is the degradation of the environment and the dwindling of natural resources. The third factor focuses on public awareness of environmental problems and its interest in the issue. The fourth factor relates to the political setting, namely the opportunity available for new parties to emerge on the electoral scene. This article demonstrates how these conditions prevailed in Israel. The country has evinced rapid economic growth, with detrimental environmental consequences. Public awareness of, and concern for, the problems caused by environmental degradation was present, and the political system was favourable to the emergence of new parties. Yet a national environmental party failed to win legislative representation. The main reasons for its absence from the national scene, as suggested by this article, are competing (and overriding) values and rivalling political movements.
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The bitter failure of the extreme right‐wing parties in the Israeli national elections of 1999 led many to believe in the decline of right‐wing extremism in Israeli politics. This article argues that the extreme right has not only not... more
The bitter failure of the extreme right‐wing parties in the Israeli national elections of 1999 led many to believe in the decline of right‐wing extremism in Israeli politics. This article argues that the extreme right has not only not declined but has, in fact, expanded. This premise arises from broader definitions of right‐wing extremism, analysis of the Israeli extreme right and the implementation of a comparative perspective. Furthermore, the article seeks to explain the success and expansion of this political camp and thus offers a ‘pyramid shaped’ explanatory model. The factors introduced in the model start with the very basic foundations of the polity ‐ the political culture, proceeding to the social level, with discussion on the foundations of social cleavages. Towards the top of the pyramid, we address narrower factors ‐structural and political ‐ and at the summit are variables such as the party scene and finally party organization.
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This contribution examines the main factors contributing to settler violence in the territories by using the conceptual framework of vigilante violence. First, we address the concept of vigilantism in order to employ it as a theoretical... more
This contribution examines the main factors contributing to settler violence in the territories by using the conceptual framework of vigilante violence. First, we address the concept of vigilantism in order to employ it as a theoretical framework which will help determine the main catalysts of Jewish settler political violence. Second, we will investigate the development of Jewish political violence in Israel and especially in the territories by evaluating the relevant historical and political factors. Subsequently, we will incorporate major examples of settler vigilantism into our model of vigilante violence in order to analyze and improve our understanding of settler political violence. Finally, we will try to assess future tendencies in the relationship between Jews and Arabs in the territories.
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This study tackles the as yet unaddressed question of the various types of factors related to victims of terrorism. We have explored core assumptions of terrorism and victimization theories by empirically testing both the randomness and... more
This study tackles the as yet unaddressed question of the various types of factors related to victims of terrorism. We have explored core assumptions of terrorism and victimization theories by empirically testing both the randomness and the lifestyle-exposure theories. Specifically, we looked at how characteristics of victims of suicide bombings differ from the characteristics of those who have been casualties of other types of terrorism. Findings obtained via logistic regressions clearly refute the randomness hypothesis that the risk of victimization from terrorism is similar across all segments of society. Furthermore, findings indicate that victimization from suicide vis-à-vis other types of terrorism is related to the basics of lifestyle-exposure theories.
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The appearance of suicide terrorism in the streets of Israel’s cities in the early 1990s demonstrated the changes in the characteristics of terrorism, which Israel and many other countries have had to contend with. The shift in the nature... more
The appearance of suicide terrorism in the streets of Israel’s cities in the early 1990s demonstrated the changes in the characteristics of terrorism, which Israel and many other countries have had to contend with. The shift in the nature of terrorism has had clear ramifications for the way democratic nations counter terrorism and shows that there is a need to focus not only on active offensive methods but, at the same time, to develop defensive methods of dealing with a terror attack. The current study tackles this challenge by introducing a general model, indicating the significant principles of the defensive dimension of countering terrorism. The second part of the study will focus on one of the stages of the model, the management of the terror event, and present a number of salient variables affecting successful implementation. The last part of the study tests the theoretical assumptions by analyzing how Israel has coped with terror event management during suicide attacks in Jerusalem, and empirically evaluate which secondary factors determine management effectiveness during a terror event. The findings emphasize the importance of internal coordination among units operating at the scene, external coordination among municipal bodies and the clarity of the initial description of the situation as important factors in effective management of terror events.
Research Interests: Criminology, Public Administration, Philosophy Of Religion, Public Management, Terrorism, and 19 moreInternational Law, Disaster Studies, Disaster risk management, Governance, Political Violence and Terrorism, Philosophy Of Law, Local Government and Local Development, Disaster Management, Democracy, Counter terrorism, Economic Law, Administrative Law, Civil Society, National Security, Existentialism, Disaster risk reduction, Risk and crisis management, Governance Reforms, and Public Policy
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The main question that we will address in the first part is: Did the election results reflect the triumph of an entire political camp or was it a victory of merely a few parties, and if so, which were the real winners? We will base the... more
The main question that we will address in the first part is: Did
the election results reflect the triumph of an entire political camp or was it a victory of merely a few parties, and if so, which were the real winners? We will base the second question on the first part, namely: What were the causes of this dramatic landslide? A review of the literature indicates three principal approaches which could explain the success of right-wing parties in Israel: Economic Interests, Ideological Proximity, and Psychological Interests. These approaches will be tested through the analysis of both ecological data and a public opinion poll.
the election results reflect the triumph of an entire political camp or was it a victory of merely a few parties, and if so, which were the real winners? We will base the second question on the first part, namely: What were the causes of this dramatic landslide? A review of the literature indicates three principal approaches which could explain the success of right-wing parties in Israel: Economic Interests, Ideological Proximity, and Psychological Interests. These approaches will be tested through the analysis of both ecological data and a public opinion poll.
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attitude: truly accurate and impactful cross-regional data on terrorism can only be achieved through collaboration across projects, disciplines, and fields of expertise. The creators of event databases are encouraged to adopt the high... more
attitude: truly accurate and impactful cross-regional data on terrorism can only be achieved through collaboration across projects, disciplines, and fields of expertise. The creators of event databases are encouraged to adopt the high standards of transparency, replicability, data-sharing, and version control that are prevalent in the STEM sciences and among software developers. More than anything, they need to acknowledge that without good and rigorous qualitative work during the stage of data collection, there can be no good quantitative work during the stage of data analysis.
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Even though settlers constitute a minority whose goals are not shared by the majority of Israelis, their settlements’ project still thrives. This chapter strives to explain this paradox by providing three complementary explanations for... more
Even though settlers constitute a minority whose goals are not shared by the majority of Israelis, their settlements’ project still thrives. This chapter strives to explain this paradox by providing three complementary explanations for the success of the settlers’ movement in overcoming their limited representation within the political system, as well as changes in Israel’s political and strategic environment. It attributes the impressive success of the settlers to their ability to establish effective networks of influence within the Israeli public administration; their successful branding, which associated the settlements with the traditional Zionist ethos; and their movement into the mainstream of the political system. After setting the stage for its analysis with a brief overview of the origins and evolution of the settlements’ project, the chapter presents explanations and elucidates how they complement each other effectively to allow the settlers to bypass, or overcome, various...
Suicide terrorism has captured considerable attention since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Governments offered unprecedented support for scholars who were willing to research the phenomenon. One result has been a tremendous growth in... more
Suicide terrorism has captured considerable attention since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Governments offered unprecedented support for scholars who were willing to research the phenomenon. One result has been a tremendous growth in the volume of research on terrorism. The research has also become more diverse. Until 2001, 84% of the articles appeared within the disciplines of political science and international relations. Since 2002, though, only 53% of articles belonged to these disciplines. Meanwhile, other areas (most notably economics) increased in prominence. Despite the growth in the volume and diversity of the research, important aspects of the phenomenon remain largely unexplored. This is particularly evident when it comes to studies of suicide terrorism. Two areas requiring further attention include the “theater of terrorism” and the role of culture. The case of ISIS demonstrates the significant roles of the mass media and culture in explaining contemporary suicide te...
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Suicide terrorism has captured considerable attention since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Governments offered unprecedented support for scholars who were willing to re search the phenomenon. One result has been a tremendous growth in... more
Suicide terrorism has captured considerable attention since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Governments offered unprecedented support for scholars who were willing to re search the phenomenon. One result has been a tremendous growth in the volume of re search on terrorism. The research has also become more diverse. Until 2001, 84% of the articles appeared within the disciplines of political science and international relations. Since 2002, though, only 53% of articles belonged to these disciplines. Meanwhile, other areas (most notably economics) increased in prominence. Despite the growth in the vol ume and diversity of the research, important aspects of the phenomenon remain largely unexplored. This is particularly evident when it comes to studies of suicide terrorism. Two areas requiring further attention include the "theater of terrorism" and the role of cul ture. The case of ISIS demonstrates the significant roles of the mass media and culture in explaining contemporary suicide terrorism.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In a landmark article, Sammy Smooha, a prominent scholar of Israel's regime, argued that as an ethnic democracy, Israel was unlikely to witness the emergence of "Europeanstyle" radical right-wing populism. The gist of the argument was... more
In a landmark article, Sammy Smooha, a prominent scholar of Israel's regime, argued that as an ethnic democracy, Israel was unlikely to witness the emergence of "Europeanstyle" radical right-wing populism. The gist of the argument was that in ethnic democra cies the state already occupies the ideological spaces that radical right-wing parties fill in liberal democracies, leaving such ideologies no room to evolve. In contrast to Smooha, this chapter considers ethnic democracies as fertile grounds for the growth of radical right politics. It maintains that such regimes facilitate the entrenchment of radical-right sentiments within significant parts of the population and political system, and conse quently further facilitate the radicalization of radical-right parties that seek to distinguish themselves from other political actors. The chapter tests this argument via an analysis of the various ideological pillars of the Israeli radical right.
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attitude: truly accurate and impactful cross-regional data on terrorism can only be achieved through collaboration across projects, disciplines, and fields of expertise. The creators of event databases are encouraged to adopt the high... more
attitude: truly accurate and impactful cross-regional data on terrorism can only be achieved through collaboration across projects, disciplines, and fields of expertise. The creators of event databases are encouraged to adopt the high standards of transparency, replicability, data-sharing, and version control that are prevalent in the STEM sciences and among software developers. More than anything, they need to acknowledge that without good and rigorous qualitative work during the stage of data collection, there can be no good quantitative work during the stage of data analysis.
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Scholarly interest in the study of suicide attacks and terrorism has grown markedly in the post-9/11 era. In this chapter, we draw attention to the main conceptual, methodological, and theoretical issues and debates within the research... more
Scholarly interest in the study of suicide attacks and terrorism has grown markedly in the post-9/11 era. In this chapter, we draw attention to the main conceptual, methodological, and theoretical issues and debates within the research on the subject. In the process, we highlight gaps in the literature and questions that have yet to be answered.
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Suicide bombing has become the most potent weapon in the arsenal of terrorist groups in the Middle East, South Asia, and elsewhere. This analysis traces the weapon’s history, both ancient and modern to the present day. It includes... more
Suicide bombing has become the most potent weapon in the arsenal of terrorist groups in the Middle East, South Asia, and elsewhere. This analysis traces the weapon’s history, both ancient and modern to the present day. It includes commentary on the benefits and costs of suicide attacks as well as the motives of the ‘martyrs’ themselves and the organizations that send them on their
way. Finally, the analysis pays attention to countermeasures, policies at the disposal of the authorities to stop or at least inhibit so-called ‘martyrdom operations.’
way. Finally, the analysis pays attention to countermeasures, policies at the disposal of the authorities to stop or at least inhibit so-called ‘martyrdom operations.’
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Research Interests:
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Research Interests:
Research Interests: International Relations, Multiculturalism, Terrorism, International Law, Human Rights, and 14 moreIsrael Studies, International organizations, International Security, Conflict, Security, Political Violence and Terrorism, Nationalism, Israel/Palestine, Diplomacy, Ethnicity, Counter terrorism, Minority Rights, Peace, and Freedom
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Research Interests:
Research Interests: International Relations, Multiculturalism, Middle East Studies, International Law, Human Rights, and 19 moreIsrael Studies, Democratic Theory, International organizations, Conflict, Security, Race and Ethnicity, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Nationalism, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Diplomacy, Syria, Democracy, Middle East Politics, Ethnicity, Minority Rights, Peace, Freedom, and Ethnicity and National Identity
In this article, we propose a solution to the challenges of working with digital primary and secondary sources in political research. Thanks to the increasingly rapid pace at which sources are created and digitized, we have at our... more
In this article, we propose a solution to the challenges of working with digital primary and secondary sources in political research. Thanks to the increasingly rapid pace at which sources are created and digitized, we have at our disposal an unprecedented volume of empirical data on past events, processes, and ideas. Recent hardware and software developments allow political scientists to access, organize, and search these sources more easily and accurately than ever. At the same time, the proliferation of online sources has exacerbated the problem of information overload. To alleviate it, we propose using the new generation of personal knowledge management software (PKMs) to create a networked database of sources and annotations and link them to one another. These accessible digital tools allow for the easy and intuitive retrieval and comparison of pertinent details in our sources without losing touch with the sources' broader context and ‘thick’ description.
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Research Interests:
course of Arab-Jewish relations from their beginnings in the pre-Islamic period. The inevitably telegraphic account will benefit non-specialized readers or introductory classes in comparative history. Part Two, "Israel as a Middle... more
course of Arab-Jewish relations from their beginnings in the pre-Islamic period. The inevitably telegraphic account will benefit non-specialized readers or introductory classes in comparative history. Part Two, "Israel as a Middle Eastern Country," consists of three chapters. The first aims to prove that Israel is neither an alien creation, nor an intrusion, in the Arab world. To this end, Rejwan employs a two-fold strategy: he first highlights the undoubtedly remarkable Judeo-Arabic symbiosis and then circumvents most of the misdeeds of the European Zionists since their landing in Palestine. Hence, the chapter becomes as polemic as the texts it counter-argues. The second chapter in Part Two, "Ideology, Politics and Culture," addresses themes in the post-1948 Israeli domestic scene, of which the most crucial is the rift between the largely upper-class Ashkenazi Jews of European descent and the largely working-class Jews of Middle Eastern/Arab descent. Rejwan's elaboration on Israel's ethno-class divide is superior to the accounts that were offered by the uncritical sociologists whose prolonged grip over the field has been loosened during the last decade. Unlike them, Rejwan is neither interested in providing academic rationalizations on behalf of the Ashkenazidominated Israeli state to explain away the inferior socioeconomic position of non-Europeans in Israel, nor does Rejwan blame the victims for their subordination. Yet, precisely because of these accomplishments it is unfortunate that in describing non-European Jewish Israelis Rejwan utilizes archaic designations such as Orientals or Sephardic Jews while escaping the more appropriate term: Mizrahim. Furthermore, his discussion provides little new information to those who studied the work of scholars such as Eliyahu Eliachar, Abraham Shama, Raphael Shapiro, Ilan Halevi, Shlomo Swirski, Ella Habiba Shohat, G. N. Giladi, Sami Shalom Chetrit, Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Oren Yiftachel, or Henriet DahanKalev (none of whom are cited by Rejwan). The best element in the book's concluding chapter, "A Postnationalist Middle East," is the author's intimate familiarity with both the Arab and Israeli domestic scenes. It surveys some of the more troubling aspects within Jewish and Arab nationalisms and their democratic prospects. The governing objective of Israel's Place in the Middle East'ss to affirm Israel's normalcy in the Middle East. In so doing, Rejwan overrates the explanatory status of culture, temperament, or demography and undervalues the role of interests and policies. This trend is best exemplified in the little attention that Rejwan pays to the profoundly dissimilar historical relationships of the Jewish and Arab national movements/states to Western powers. The question of Israel's normalcy in the region should perhaps be tested against Israel's interests, policies, and strategic geopolitical alliances rather than against its culture, temperament, or demography.
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245 Soviet Union's repression of religion. Islam was suppressed during the Soviet era throughout the Central Asian region, which Deonna implies explains the recent increase of support for Islam in parts of the region after the fall of... more
245 Soviet Union's repression of religion. Islam was suppressed during the Soviet era throughout the Central Asian region, which Deonna implies explains the recent increase of support for Islam in parts of the region after the fall of the Soviet Union. This rather impressive start is followed by a glimpse at Iranian literature, modern film making, journalism and caricature art. She interviews members of the elites of art, journalism and politics. However, some of the interviews are problematic. For example, Deonna's interview of a war victim who supports political Islam actually serves to reinforce Western stereotypes of 'Muslim fanatics.' Deonna's book represents a viewpoint that an international observer would normally take. In sharp contrast to books of apparently similar type such as Honeymoon In Purdah (New York: St. Martin's, 2000) by Alison Wearing and Neither East nor West (New York: Pocket Books, 2001) by Christiane Bird, it is written from the perspective of a Western woman from the UN who has traveled to Iran. The basis of her analysis is her interviews with members of the elite and officials rather than ordinary Iranians of working class and peasant background. Unlike Wearing and Bird she mainly moves around Iran as an official while Wearing and Bird traveled mainly with public transport and put their assumptions behind them and attempted to report what ordinary Iranians told them. The book is written in a very accessible language and the style of writing is very pleasant. It is certainly a suitable style for members of international agencies whose time is often limited. One can pick up the book at any time and start anywhere as instead of chapters she has small passages, which together bring to light different parts of the whole. However using the book for courses may reinforce stereotypes about Iran rather than breaking them, as a reader with little or no background on Iran will receive the type of information that the mainstream media offers.
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Terrorism, Economic Development and Political Openness. Edited by Keefer Philip and Loayza Norman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 326p. $75.00. The Faces of Terrorism: Social and Psychological Dimensions. By Smelser Neil J.. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. 292p. $29.95.more
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Facing barriers to change, policy entrepreneurs often shift their activities to a more favourable venue. In the new venue they either pressure the system from the outside, leading to policy punctuation, or make incremental changes within... more
Facing barriers to change, policy entrepreneurs often shift their activities to a more favourable venue. In the new venue they either pressure the system from the outside, leading to policy punctuation, or make incremental changes within the existing system which over time will accumulate to a significant change in the status quo. This article aims to expand our understanding of policy entrepreneurs' role in the policy process by examining the strategies they use in the incremental path. Specifically, it focuses on one gradual change strategy, conversion – redirection of existing institutions to new purposes. Based on the case of policy entrepreneurs in the Holy Basin of Jerusalem, the findings indicate that when the entrepreneurs shift the venue to the bureaucracy they can establish cooperative relations with the government that will provide them with the needed capacities to exploit the gaps in the existing rules and redirect them to serve their aim.
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ABSTRACT Intrastate conflicts, such as civil wars and ethnic confrontations, are the predominant form of organized violence in the world today. But internal strife can destabilize entire regions, drawing in people living beyond state... more
ABSTRACT Intrastate conflicts, such as civil wars and ethnic confrontations, are the predominant form of organized violence in the world today. But internal strife can destabilize entire regions, drawing in people living beyond state borders—particularly those who share ideology, ethnicity, or kinship with one of the groups involved. These nonstate actors may not take part in formal armies or political parties, but they can play a significant role in the conflict. For example, when foreign volunteers forge alliances with domestic groups, they tend to attract other foreign interventions and may incite the state to centralize its power. Diasporan populations, depending on their connection to their homeland, might engage politically with financial support or overt aggression, either exacerbating or mitigating the conflict. Nonstate Actors in Intrastate Conflicts takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the ways external individuals and groups become entangled with volatile states and how they influence the outcome of hostilities within a country's borders. Editors Dan Miodownik and Oren Barak bring together top scholars to examine case studies in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, and Turkey and explore the manifold roles of external nonstate actors. By shedding light on these overlooked participants whose causes and consequences can turn the tide of war, Nonstate Actors in Intrastate Conflicts provides a critical new perspective on the development and neutralization of civil war and ethnic violence. Contributors: Oren Barak, Chanan Cohen, Robert A. Fitchette, Orit Gazit, Gallia Lindenstrauss, Nava Löwenheim, David Malet, Dan Miodownik, Maayan Mor, Avraham Sela, Gabriel (Gabi) Sheffer, Omer Yair.
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Since 2001, unprecedented resources have been invested in research into global terrorism, resulting in a dramatic rise in the number of academic publications on the topic. Works by scholars from predominantly quantitative disciplines... more
Since 2001, unprecedented resources have been invested in research into global terrorism, resulting in a dramatic rise in the number of academic publications on the topic. Works by scholars from predominantly quantitative disciplines predominate in this literature, and the unfolding development of data science and big data research has accentuated the trend. Many researchers in global terrorism created event databases, in which every row represents a distinct terrorist attack and every column a variable (e.g., the date and location of the attack, the number of casualties, etc.). Such event data are usually extracted from news sources and undergo a process of coding—the translation of unstructured text into numerical or categorical values. Some researchers collect and code their data manually; others use an automated script, or combine the efforts of humans and software. Other researchers who use event data do not collect and process their data at all; rather, they analyze other scho...
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ABSTRACT The study explores the nexus of violence and mass media, and the ability of terrorists to enhance their influence and resources via effective marketing of their actions. We utilized a dataset of 242 IS propaganda videos in order... more
ABSTRACT The study explores the nexus of violence and mass media, and the ability of terrorists to enhance their influence and resources via effective marketing of their actions. We utilized a dataset of 242 IS propaganda videos in order to examine how the Islamic State employed visual propaganda to enhance the effectiveness of a low-cost, high-impact terrorist campaign, by reconstructing the theater of terror. Our findings illustrate the positive relationship between the IS territorial control and the quality of its media production, thus the IS uses propaganda to develop a relatively low-cost avenue to global media attention. Prior acts of terrorism were risky, high cost, and required news media to cover the incidents. For IS, a steady stream of battle imagery allowed it to develop highly efficient low-cost propaganda. Additionally, we identified associations between the video’s thematic components, including between level of depicted violence and the tendency of the videos to be critical or to include religious symbols, as well as their production value. It reflects the importance that terrorist groups place in maximizing the symbolic impact of their violent videos which intend to depict their military capabilities, and capacity to retaliate against their enemies.
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In a landmark article, Sammy Smooha, a prominent scholar of Israel’s regime, argued that as an ethnic democracy, Israel was unlikely to witness the emergence of “European-style” radical right-wing populism. The gist of the argument was... more
In a landmark article, Sammy Smooha, a prominent scholar of Israel’s regime, argued that as an ethnic democracy, Israel was unlikely to witness the emergence of “European-style” radical right-wing populism. The gist of the argument was that in ethnic democracies the state already occupies the ideological spaces that radical right-wing parties fill in liberal democracies, leaving such ideologies no room to evolve. In contrast to Smooha, this chapter considers ethnic democracies as fertile grounds for the growth of radical right politics. It maintains that such regimes facilitate the entrenchment of radical-right sentiments within significant parts of the population and political system, and consequently further facilitate the radicalization of radical-right parties that seek to distinguish themselves from other political actors. The chapter tests this argument via an analysis of the various ideological pillars of the Israeli radical right.
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At least 80 percent of all data in the world are unstructured, existing as scattered texts, audio clips, video files, etc. Nonetheless, most political scientists who study big data rely on sources that are structured to some extent. While... more
At least 80 percent of all data in the world are unstructured, existing as scattered texts, audio clips, video files, etc. Nonetheless, most political scientists who study big data rely on sources that are structured to some extent. While these structures enable researchers to analyze data statistically, the processes that create them entail a considerable loss of historical detail and context that are crucial to addressing political questions. We begin this article by examining both the discussion and use of big data in the discipline. While the term “big data” has yet to pervade political science mainstream literature, many scholars in the discipline have been analyzing structured big data without referring to them as such. Following these findings, we urge political scientists to take advantage of the great potential of unstructured big data as well. In particular, the research tradition of historical institutionalism and the method of process tracing would benefit immensely from the abundance of historical evidence in unstructured big data, which can provide political scientists with more nuanced contextual information and insight into causal relationships. We conclude by outlining the challenges of using such data and proposing solutions to these challenges.
Research Interests: International Relations, Social Research Methods and Methodology, Data Mining, Research Methodology, Data Analysis, and 15 morePolitical Science, Causation, Historical Institutionalism, Quantitative Research, Qualitative Research, Elections, Databases, Digital methods, Computational Social Science, Big Data, Process Tracing, Bibliometric and citation analysis, Data Structures, Process Tracing and Qualitative Research, and Public Policy
Replicability in political science is on the rise, as disciplinary journals have been placing a growing emphasis on data access and research transparency (DA–RT) practices and policies. As a result, nearly every article that is published... more
Replicability in political science is on the rise, as disciplinary journals have been placing a growing emphasis on data access and research transparency (DA–RT) practices and policies. As a result, nearly every article that is published today in leading political science journals offers an online appendix that includes data, code, and methodological explanations necessary for replication. While these developments are laudable, many appendices still do not enable satisfactory replication because they are inaccessible, compartmentalized, and difficult to understand. In this article and in its accompanying online appendix, we demonstrate this problem and make the case for more accessible and comprehensive appendices whose contribution can fulfill and go beyond mere replicability. We propose several ways in which authors and journals can produce better appendices, namely, by making appendices more intuitive, integrated, and standardized, and by choosing an adequate online platform on w...
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innovation. Nevertheless, the book usefully invites study of organizational and military change through three careful delimitations. First, Jensen states that he is concerned less with whether doctrinal reform is effective than whether... more
innovation. Nevertheless, the book usefully invites study of organizational and military change through three careful delimitations. First, Jensen states that he is concerned less with whether doctrinal reform is effective than whether and how it occurs. However, if the purpose of major doctrinal reform is to imagine a potential future necessitating a dramatically revised military posture, at some point scholars will have to drop the author’s delimitation and assess whether the military professional is capable of effective military innovation or whether the profession requires the prompting and oversight of civilian intervention. A focus on the adequacy of the military professional’s intellectual work would inform assessments of an institution central to Jensen’s concern, that is, how well the military classroom prepares officers to participate in incubators and advocacy networks so as to generate insightful thinking about future warfare. Second, Jensen’s work provides encouragement for scholars to study incubators and advocacy networks as dependent variables. It is clear that his causal mechanisms play important roles in those cases wherein major doctrinal change arises from within the profession of arms. But a related and critical concern is what explains the variation in the occurrence and influence of incubators and networks. Jensen’s four cases highlight the central role of four army generals, including William DePuy, Donn Starry, Gordon Sullivan, and David Petraeus, each of whom played key roles in the establishment of incubators and the advocacy of new ideas. The author does posit that senior leaders play a crucial role in protecting new ideas; however, Jensen’s text also gestures toward the role that senior military leaders play in either establishing incubators or allowing their bottom-up existence to flourish. It becomes clear that the leader’s role in advancing organizational complexity, which Jensen equates with the existence of untidy organizational diagrams wherein incubators are allowed to exist, might be capable of explaining the existence of incubators and the degree to which they flourish. Perhaps it is not merely the case that incubators and networks arise from the profession of arms as a matter of course, but that particular leaders’ personalities and ideas determine—at least partially—whether incubators exist, yield influence, and flourish. Finally, Jensen limits his study to the military professional’s focus on the shape that future war might take. Two questions arise. First, is doctrine the best proxy for measuring change, or its absence, among military professionals? Second, what explains the balance between endogenous reform motivated by indifferent analysis, on the one hand, and civilian-generated reform, on the other, with respect to such contemporary, non-martial issues as the military’s handling of female integration into traditionally male-dominated specialties, the integration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender service members, and the mitigation of sexual harassment and assault? Ultimately, the practical effect of this important study may be to prompt military leaders toward the vigorous promotion of intellectual safe spaces as a way to improve performance not only on the battlefield but also in the protection and care of those who fight the wars.
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Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger, world experts on the study of terror and security, propose a theory of violence that contextualizes not only recent acts of terror but also instances of terrorism that stretch back centuries. Beginning with... more
Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger, world experts on the study of terror and security, propose a theory of violence that contextualizes not only recent acts of terror but also instances of terrorism that stretch back centuries. Beginning with ancient Palestine and its encounters with Jewish terrorism, the authors analyze the social, political, and cultural factors that sponsor extreme violence, proving religious terrorism is not the fault of one faith, but flourishes within any counterculture that adheres to a totalistic ideology. When a totalistic ...
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Research Interests: Social Work, Forensic Science, Terrorism, International Terrorism, Middle East Studies, and 13 moreInternational Security, Political Science, Security Studies, Political Violence and Terrorism, Police, Political Violence, Social Network Analysis (SNA), Criminal Psychology, Counter terrorism, War on Terror, Police and Policing, Criminal profiling, and Public Administration and Policy
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Page 1. AMIPE DA HZUR The ISRAELI SECRET SERVICES & THE STRUGGLE AGAINST TERRORISM Page 2. The IsraelI secreT servIces and The sTruggle agaInsT TerrorIsm columbIa sTudIes In Terrorism and irregular Warfare Page... more
Page 1. AMIPE DA HZUR The ISRAELI SECRET SERVICES & THE STRUGGLE AGAINST TERRORISM Page 2. The IsraelI secreT servIces and The sTruggle agaInsT TerrorIsm columbIa sTudIes In Terrorism and irregular Warfare Page 3. ...
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Totalistic ideologies are breeding grounds for radicalization. Communities that adhere to such ideologies tend to rally when they feel threatened by powerful outsiders. Under such circumstances, community leaders become central. If they... more
Totalistic ideologies are breeding grounds for radicalization. Communities that adhere to such ideologies tend to rally when they feel threatened by powerful outsiders. Under such circumstances, community leaders become central. If they frame the situation as an existential threat to the community itself or to its most sacred values, they will accelerate the radicalization process and subsequently increase the prospects of violent actions by group members. The shift to violence takes place in the framework of close-knit social networks within the broader radicalized community. These networks consist of individuals who usually live in the same area and engage in continuous interaction among themselves. Such interactions bolster their communal commitment and develop a collective mindset that facilitates the slide of some of the individuals into violence. Those who eventually descend into terrorism usually exhibit strong identification with the community’s values and extreme alienation...
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... Hobfoll, Stevan and Zaidise, Eran. Journal Name ... Journal of Peace Research http://jpr.sagepub. com/ Much Ado about Religion: Religiosity, Resource Loss, and Support for Political Violence Daphna Canetti, Stevan E. Hobfoll, Ami... more
... Hobfoll, Stevan and Zaidise, Eran. Journal Name ... Journal of Peace Research http://jpr.sagepub. com/ Much Ado about Religion: Religiosity, Resource Loss, and Support for Political Violence Daphna Canetti, Stevan E. Hobfoll, Ami Pedahzur and Eran Zaidise Journal of Peace ...
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Research Interests: Engineering, American Politics, Comparative Politics, Terrorism, Middle East Studies, and 15 moreDemocratic Theory, Political Science, Political Violence and Terrorism, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Lebanon, Populism, Counterterrorism Law, Syria, Middle East Politics, German Politics, Counterterrorism policing, Counter terrorism, Radical Right, Ethnicity and National Identity, and Israel Palestine
Research Interests: Political Sociology, Ethnic Studies, Middle East Studies, Political Psychology, Israel Studies, and 14 moreRace and Racism, Political Science, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Stereotypes, Stereotypes and Prejudice, Lebanon, Survey Research, Syria, Middle East Politics, Ethnic Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies Terrorism and Media, Xenophobia, Ethnicity and National Identity, and Israel Palestine
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Research Interests: Sociology, Criminology, Political Sociology, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and 15 moreSocial Networks, International Terrorism, International Studies, International Security, Political Violence and Terrorism, Network Analysis, Middle East Politics, Organizational Effectiveness, Israel, Organizational structure, Suicide Terrorism, Social forces, Social Network Analysis, Arab Israeli conflict, and Social Network
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This study examines the associations between religious affiliation and religiosity and support for political violence through a nationwide sample of Israeli Jews and Muslims. Based on structural equation modeling, the findings show that... more
This study examines the associations between religious affiliation and religiosity and support for political violence through a nationwide sample of Israeli Jews and Muslims. Based on structural equation modeling, the findings show that by and large Muslims are more supportive of political violence than Jews and more religious persons are less supportive of political violence. Deprivation, however, was found to mediate these relations, showing that the more deprived – whether Muslims or Jews, religious or non-religious persons – are more supportive of political violence. The explanatory strength of religion and deprivation combined in this manner was found to be stronger than any of these variables on their own. The findings cast doubt on negative stereotypes both of Islam and of religiosity as promoting political violence. They suggest that governments which want peace at home, in Israel as elsewhere, would do well to ensure that ethnic and religious differences are not translated ...
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aimed primarily at mitigating the vulnerability felt by minorities. As the author places her faith in politically engineered conditions for reducing minorities’ vulnerability, the omission of social policy is surprising. Redistributive... more
aimed primarily at mitigating the vulnerability felt by minorities. As the author places her faith in politically engineered conditions for reducing minorities’ vulnerability, the omission of social policy is surprising. Redistributive policies are indeed addressed in a well-substantiated argument demonstrating that ethno-cultural diversity erodes the support to redistribution. However, since the discussion of trust-building conditions offered is not predicated on available societal support to trust-inducing policies, there is no reason for the author to overlook the utility of social policy enabling social mobility as an institutional mechanism to foster trust-building. As I have argued, multicultural policies have been failing not simply because diversity allegedly erodes support for redistribution, but because the lack of what I have called “a political economy of trust” (a political economy that dis-aligns social class and cultural background) prevents the politicization of cultural difference in the categories of threat to livelihoods (“Against the Politics of Fear: On Deliberation, Inclusion, and the Political Economy of Trust”, Philosophy and Social Criticism 37 [2011]: 401–412). The laudable methodological realism of Lenard is a strange bedfellow for the commitment to democracy that drives this investigation. The proposed solution of designing trust-generating practices of social cooperation in the absence of trust sits uncomfortably with the formula of democracy deployed here, according to which trust is a constitutive feature, or foundational element, of a democratic political community. One cannot but wonder what kind of political regime the author tacitly entrusts with the implementation of trust-generating policies—this is obviously not a democracy. Yet, this is more of an entertaining contradiction than a concern, as it does not dent the argument that well-designed institutions fostering social cooperation can engender trust—and along with this—a stronger allegiance to democracy. Spanning political philosophy and the social history of ideas, the two volumes combined offer a panoramic perspective on the contemporary debates about pluralism, without imposing a totalizing master-narrative. Highly informative as well as rich in insightful contradictions, these books are an invitation to endorse pluralism not as a final horizon or a political telos, but as a policy tool and a heuristic device with emancipatory powers.
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ABSTRACT
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Research Interests: Demography, Comparative Politics, Political Parties, Middle East Studies, Israel Studies, and 12 moreReligion and Politics, Political Science, Political Culture, Political Extremism/Radicalism/Populism, Lebanon, Populism, Syria, Middle East Politics, Public Administration and Policy, Ethnicity and National Identity, Israel Palestine, and Mediterranean Politics
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any... more
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without ...
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Research Interests: Ethnic Studies, Middle East Studies, Israel Studies, Political Science, Political Violence and Terrorism, and 13 moreLebanon, Political Violence, Ethnic minorities, Syria, Middle East Politics, Relative Deprivation, Civil wars, Ethnicity and National Identity, Ethnic Minorities, Israel Palestine, Point of View, Public Policy, and Minority Group
Research Interests: Comparative Politics, Political Parties, Political Science, Ideology, Content Analysis, and 10 moreElectoral Systems, Elections and Voting Behavior, Quantitative analysis, Case Study, Political System, Integrated Approach, Public Administration and Policy, Quantitative Analysis, Party System, and Israel Palestine
Both scholarly and public interest in democracy were dramatically challenged in November 1932 when the German National Socialist Party secured one-third of the total vote in the German general elections, paving the way for the appointment... more
Both scholarly and public interest in democracy were dramatically challenged in November 1932 when the German National Socialist Party secured one-third of the total vote in the German general elections, paving the way for the appointment of Adolf Hitler, the party's leader, to the post of chancellor. Hitler wasted little time putting an end to the fragile democratic regime known as the Weimar Republic, and installed in its place what is by now the icon of authoritarianism as well as of evil itself. This event, which became one of the ...
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V iolent attacks against civilians for the purpose of terror constituted an integral part ofthe strategies carried out by both Jewish and Arab factions in Palestine during the years of the British Mandate, especially after 1936... more
V iolent attacks against civilians for the purpose of terror constituted an integral part ofthe strategies carried out by both Jewish and Arab factions in Palestine during the years of the British Mandate, especially after 1936 (Kimmerling and Migdal 2002; Lachman 1982; Lustick 1995). The founding of the Israeli state on May 14, 1948, led to a war between Israel and its neighboring Arab countries that lasted for more than a year. By the end of the war, the new State of Israel controlled much more land than was initially allocated in accordance with ...
Research Interests: International Relations, Multiculturalism, International Law, Human Rights, Israel Studies, and 15 moreInternational organizations, International Security, Conflict, Security, Political Science, Political Violence and Terrorism, Nationalism, Diplomacy, Ethnicity, Counter terrorism, Minority Rights, Peace, Freedom, International Organizations, and Israel Palestine
At the beginning of 1999, the future looked bright for the new Israeli Center Party. According to opinion polls, party leader Yitzhak Mordechai was the only candidate who could defeat the Likud leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,... more
At the beginning of 1999, the future looked bright for the new Israeli Center Party. According to opinion polls, party leader Yitzhak Mordechai was the only candidate who could defeat the Likud leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in head-to-head elections. The party called on Labor voters to desert the Labor candidate, Ehud Barak, and to unite behind Mordechai. As for the party itself, this group of well-known political figures, who had left their political homes in Likud and Labor, promised a new dawn in Israel's political life: no more ...
Israel's national security doctrine necessitates a citizen's army ("nation-in-arms") based on universal conscription, requiring citizens to serve in the military reserves for many years. This reserve army is the mainstay... more
Israel's national security doctrine necessitates a citizen's army ("nation-in-arms") based on universal conscription, requiring citizens to serve in the military reserves for many years. This reserve army is the mainstay of Israel's military. The willingness of citizens to serve in the army is analyzed here, using four approaches: the individual level, the institutional or organizational levels, competing commitments, and social conditions. This is the first empirical study to be published on this topic based on a representative sample of the relevant Israeli population.
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A study in English of the two ideologies of Jewish fundamentalism. The belief that the people of Jewish faith are special before God is considered along with the consequences of this belief in the light of political influence and... more
A study in English of the two ideologies of Jewish fundamentalism. The belief that the people of Jewish faith are special before God is considered along with the consequences of this belief in the light of political influence and fundamentalist power. The differences between the ...
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This book is the definitive guide to the topical issue of the relationship between political parties that embrace the democratic process and terrorist groups which eschew the legal and procedural strictures of democracy. The fully revised... more
This book is the definitive guide to the topical issue of the relationship between political parties that embrace the democratic process and terrorist groups which eschew the legal and procedural strictures of democracy. The fully revised edition continues to provide the most detailed theoretical and empirical analysis of this controversial issue, highlighting the fluid nature of boundaries between terrorist organisation and legitimate political party. Drawing on a vast array of data, the authors examine a large number of international case ...