Ira Sharkansky

Ira Sharansky

Ira Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science and public administration at Hebrew University.

His books, which are available on Amazon, include:

*Alternative federal solutions to the problem of the administered territories
*Ambiguity, Coping, and Governance: Israeli Experiences in Politics, Religion, and Policymaking
*Ancient and Modern Israel: An Exploration of Political Parallels
*Coping with Terror: An Israeli Perspective
* Governing Israel: Chosen People, Promised Land and Prophetic Tradition
*Governing Jerusalem: Again on the World’s Agenda
* Israel and its Bible: A Political Analysis
* Maligned States: policy accomplishments, problems and opportunities
* Policy Analysis in Political Science
* Policy and Politics in American Governments
* Policy Making in Israel: Routines for Simple Problems and Coping with the Complex
* Politics and Planning in the Holy City
* Politics and Policymaking in Search of Simplicity
* Public Administration: Agencies, Policies, and Politics
* Public Administration Policy Making in Government Agencies
* Public Administration (2nd Edition): Policy Making in Government Agencies
* Regionalism in American Politics
* Rituals of Conflict: Religion, Politics, and Public Policy in Israel
* Spending in the American States
* The Policy Predicament: Making and Implementing Public Policy
* The Political Economy of Israel
* The Politics of Religion and the Religion of Politics
*The Politics of Taxing and Spending
* The Routines of Politics
* The United States: A Study of a Developing Country
* The United States Revisited: A Study of a Still Developing Country
* Urban Politics and Public Policy [Robert Lineberry]
* What Makes Israel Tick: How Domestic Policy-Makers Cope with Restraints
* Wither the State: Politics and Public Enterprise in Three Countries

All or nothing solutions are unrealistic in Middle East

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Responses to my column on negotiations for a prisoner swap indicate it is time for comments about relations between Israelis and Palestinians. “The question I have is what has Israel done to make it completely out of the question for any enemy group to ever think of capturing an Israeli soldier again […]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

A comparison of the U.S. and Israel — and their democracies

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Israel attracts attention like a magnet. Some years ago, at the height of the Cold War, there were said to be more foreign correspondents in Jerusalem than in any other capital except Washington and Moscow. The weight of Muslims in international forums assures a chronic rate of condemnations. Being the Holy Land

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Obama could learn from Israel's mistakes with Palestinians, Lebanese

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The New York Times followed President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan with an article that is devastatingly skeptical. It seems to have been prepared largely before the speech, on the basis of details discussed for days. The article  details the corruption high and low in Afghanistan that depends on narcotics, and the dismal

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Inertia, rather than conscious policy, often influences the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM—What has Israel contributed to the impasse in the peace process, and to the suffering of Palestinians? That is a question several have asked me, often with a follow up charging that I have not responded. I have responded, more than once. Those convinced of Israeli culpability either have not understood my

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Some hard realities of negotiations and politics

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–In response to a recent column, an American friend wrote the following:   “In other words, you are saying that the Israeli gesture is not a good faith effort to restart peace talks. Isn’t that what the Israelis have done before when they offered “concessions” they knew were inadequate and not acceptable

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Israel has image problems; anti-Israel professors have scholarship problems

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM—Israel’s image in the world is less than desirable. How bad? is difficult to answer. There have been no serious threats of sanctions by major governments. The efforts of academics to declare boycotts have failed due to more reasonable colleagues. None the less, it is troubling to know about shouting against Israelis

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Cessation of Israeli construction not very probable

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM— One should never say never. However, Probably not is a fair guess. Closest to me is one more round in the endless conversations among officials about peace between Israel and Palestine. The latest we hear is that Israel is willing to stop building settlements, stop taking Palestinian land, and will remove

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Israeli commentary on Obama increasingly views him in Palestinian camp

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–There has been a worrisome shift in Israeli commentary on President Obama’s efforts to force peace between Israel and Palestine.   A prominent emphasis had focused on the President’s naivete, what one called a “childish” assumption that his engagement could bring the parties to positions they had not taken on their own.  

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Is President Obama the new George McGovern?

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Remember George McGovern? His clone is sitting in the Oval Office.   The 2008 campaign differed in several ways from 1972 that explain Obama’s victory. His speaking ability excels that of other politicians, including McGovern. Obama was running against a ticket with an intellectually handicapped vice presidential candidate, whereas McGovern was embarrassed

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Peace recedes as Obama policies harden Palestinian positions

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Barack Obama was six years old when the Jordanian army opened fire on Jerusalem as its part in the 1967 war. Shortly after the fighting, Israel expanded the city’s boundaries. Four years later it began construction the Gilo neighborhood. Gilo was in the news early in the intifada that began in 2000, when

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

State Department bias favoring Palestinians shows in report on international religious freedom

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM—More than 40 years ago I chose public administration as my specialty in political science. I still poke at it, despite being interested in other things as well. Here I will poke at the 2009 Report on International Religious Freedom published by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Washington Post chooses wrong commentators on Middle East

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The Washington Post has published two views, claiming to be contrasting expressions of Israeli and Palestinian despair for peace. http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/11/israeli_despair_for_peace.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/11/palestinian_despair_for_peace.html   Neither is what the headlines claim. They are not expressions by Israelis or Palestinians, but by Americans or individuals affiliated with American institutions (Simon Wiesenthal Center, and the American Task

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA