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
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — If radical Islam truly is the greatest threat faced by civilized people, then all should join in opposing it with all the means at our disposal. However, it is Muslims that are the major targets of radical Islam, and westerners have a poor record in pacifying the Middle East. Muslims are […]
West should limit its forays into intra- Muslim battles Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Among the explanations for the success of Donald Trump in the U.S. elections is the frustration of Americans with politics as usual. His typical voter is not highly educated or well-to-do. There are lots of struggling Americans born into the middle class or aspiring to do it, and not all that
Israeli agenda items in advance of U.S. elections Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It’s easy to criticize Barack Obama for weakening the posture of the United States, and furthering the mess that George W. Bush created in the Middle East. Obama’s responsible for the ascendance of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, giving the Russians a leg up in Syria, and insisting that he
Big powers seem stymied in the Middle East Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — One of the more problematic stories associated with the present wave of Palestinian violence is that of an attack on a security guard at a shopping mall in Maale Adumim. A video shows repeated blows with an ax, directed at the head of the security guard, which continue despite the
Shopping center attack fans Jewish distrust of Arabs Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Recent articles in the New York Times suggest a comparison between the leaderships of Palestine and the American Republican Party. One article details the miserable position of Mahmoud Abbas, old, weak, rejected by a substantial portion of Palestinians, and dithering between supporting and opposing the current wave of violence against
Israel’s problems: The P.A.’s President, next U.S. one Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The British Prime Minister David Cameron upset quite a few of us with this. “I am well known for being a strong friend of Israel, but I have to say the first time I visited Jerusalem and had a proper tour around that wonderful city and saw what had happened
British PM’s Jerusalem comments disturb Israelis Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Several of our headlines have dealt with an issue that is always in the near background: Who are the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs? How do they think? Is there any chance of living in a condition of peace, or at least reasonable quiet? One of the headlines came from responses
The clash and confluence of Jewish, Arab cultures Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — When I used to think that baseball was important, I knew that you couldn’t tell the players without a scorecard. There isn’t a scorecard for Syria. There are experts who can say who are the key players, and what drives them. What they cannot tell us is what will emerge
Hard to tell ‘who’s on first’ in Syria Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The stabbing intifada began in September, some 32 Israelis have been killed, along with perhaps 150 Palestinians or Israeli Arabs who attacked, with about a third of the attackers young teenagers or pre-teens. What has not happened is any escalation to planned, large scale incidents of terror of the kind that
Abbas can’t control stabbing intifada Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — A few days ago the IDF Commander in chief told a group of high school students that he didn’t like a soldier emptying his magazine against a 13 year old girl with a pair of scissors.” The storm was quick in coming. Rightists, accused him of disarming Israel’s capacity to
Arabs’ hatred not largest cause of deaths in Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Israel’s Declaration of Independence proclaimed: “the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz Israel . . . will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on
Case- study problems of being a Jewish democracy Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Jews and others who lament that there were not more effective efforts to combat the Holocaust may learn something from the limited concern thus far shown by western governments for the carnage in Syria. It qualifies for the label of a mini-Holocaust, with what may be half a million killed
World ignores Syrian refugees as it did the Jews Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It isn’t all about great ideas, inspiring movements, massive rallies, calls for salvation or death. There is also reason to think about some curiosities, that may or may not be significant. Most prominent on my radar is a curious slice of gerontocracy competing for the presidency of the world’s most
Symbolic change versus change with real meaning Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Brit Shalom (Peace Treaty, 1925) is a landmark in the continuing activity of Jews talking among themselves about what kind of accommodation they should, and can reach, then with Arab and now with Palestinian neighbors. What has become characteristic is the prominence in Brit Shalom of Jews from Europe and
The long and futile history of M.E. peace plans Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East