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

U.S.-Israel relations decline as Jerusalem apartment units climb

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Things are not happy on the US-Israel front. Ha’aretz has taken the unusual step of putting a cartoon in the upper middle of its first page. It shows Bibi pushing a wheelbarrow full of construction material to his meeting with a scowling Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. There were two meetings in […]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Orthodox in Israel struggle with allegations of sexual abuse by Rabbi Elon

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–An Orthodox rabbi appeared on a prime time television news program to explain his rationale as one of numerous rabbis who signed a statement reiterating that sexual relations between men was a violation of the Torah, but indicating that homosexuals should be welcome in the community of believers. They should be allowed

Orthodox in Israel struggle with allegations of sexual abuse by Rabbi Elon Read More »

Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Checks and balances–American and Israeli styles

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The Marker, the economic supplement of Ha’aretz, celebrated the first year of the Netanyahu government with a front page story comparing the prime minister’s promises and accomplishments. The headline deals with the most recent great idea, to extend rail and improved road networks to the far corners of this small

Checks and balances–American and Israeli styles Read More »

Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Targeted killings as instruments of Israeli and U.S. policy

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Israel radio announced that The Times of London was accusing Israel of “waging covert war across the Middle East.” The worry was that this would be the start of another campaign to condemn and delegitimize Israel, recruit support for boycotts of its exports and its academics, and arrange arrest warrants for officials

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

U.S. more generous to Palestinians than to some Americans

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–In several of these columns I have described the United States as a laggard among wealthy democracies in its support of social services. Anti-tax individualism shows itself in one of the lowest indicators among this group of countries for government outlays as a percentage of national resources. President Obama’s disappointment in health reform

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

American Wealth and International Affairs

By Ira Sharkansky   JERUSALEM–Money, money everywhere, but not enough. That’s the message from the massive deficit already apparent and projected for the United States. It comes from too many wars, too many tax cuts, too many entitlement programs, and too much exploitation by highly paid capitalists who forced the government into unprecedented bail-outs. Who’s

American Wealth and International Affairs Read More »

Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Evidence of Palestinian corruption should put brakes on U.S. Mideast push

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Here is something that President Obama and his advisers should consider before spending any more of their time nudging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to negotiate a peace. http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=167194 The details are not entirely clear, but reinforce the larger story of corruption in high places of the Palestine Authority, the lack

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Obama's State of the Union proves again he's a speaker, but can he also be a doer?

JERUSALEM–President Obama’s State of the Union address dealt almost entirely with domestic issues, despite American troops active in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Yemen, as well as highly touted efforts with respect to Israel-Palestine and Iran. Also, the focus was heavily on the economy, and lightly on what had been his iconic health initiative. The

Obama's State of the Union proves again he's a speaker, but can he also be a doer? Read More »

Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Just how 'enlightened' is Europe?

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–One of my internet friends objects to my calling Europe the enlightened continent. “What in the blazes are you talking about.? Europe, the hot-bed of modern antisemitism…enlightened? The Netherlands with a de facto, maybe de jure euthanasia policy! France being so overrun with rebellious Muslims that there are scores of areas throughout the country

Just how 'enlightened' is Europe? Read More »

Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

U.S. insurance companies put profits ahead of health

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–For those who are not sure that the devil is in the details, here’s an example. An American insurance company and hospitals are arguing about an administrative procedure. It has reached the point where one state legislature has enacted a law about the clerical details to be allowed in its jurisdiction, patients are being

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA