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 — Friday afternoons are times of high tension. Tens of thousands leave the mosques, where some of the preachers have urged death to the Jews. My last column included a link to one such sermon. The translation is provided by Memri, a respected institution that provides material from Persian and Arabic in Hebrew, […]
Jerusalem intifada seems to be quieting Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Take your pick: which national leader has spoken his way to more damage than benefit? First consider the Palestinians. By all apparent measures, they have been both clumsy intellectually, and damaging to their people. To be sure, we must be wary of explaining Palestinian actions. The cultural divide between us
Foolish statements? Netanyahu and Abbas compete Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The alleged division of Jerusalem.has brought forth a prolonged singing of our national anthem, oy gevalt. In order to deal with the recent wave of violence coming from the most restive of the Arab neighborhoods, exit roads have been staffed with police who search those leaving. Large concrete blocks have
Some divisions in Jerusalem are economic Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The New York Times should do better than Jodi Rudoren. Her screed, presented as a lead article, deals with the suffering of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. It meets the elemental demands of balance by virtue of noting the violence directed by Palestinians at Israeli Jews, but its tilt is heavily
The anti-Israel bias of the New York Times Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Things are looking pretty bad for Israel. The Palestinians embarked on another wave of historical fabrication (the Jews never had a prominent role in Jerusalem), demands for monopoly of holy places (Temple Mount), incitement showing no relation to reality (the Jews are intent in taking the holy place from them),
Jerusalem intifada prompts same old rhetoric Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — We have been in a condition of responding defensively to an increase in violence, similar to how Israel has acted several times when pressed. During those times its officials go through long meetings when they listen to security professionals and ponder the alternatives. They are also building credit with overseas
So far Israel is passive in face of Jerusalem intifada Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — There may be some lessons in the current brawl for those of us trying to understand the larger story of Israel and Palestine. “Maybe” is appropriate, since there is a lot of static in what we see and hear. The lesson may appear in reports that Mahmoud Abbas is trying
Is Abbas realizing violence is counter- productive? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Listening to reputed experts talk on the weekend programs taxed one’s Hebrew and rationality. Sentences merged into one another; themes changed in the midst of what sounded like paragraphs; conclusions backed into one another. One could wonder at the invitation given to a former senior police officer. His analysis was far
Arab, Israeli reactions to current violence are confused Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It’s not easy deciphering the actions of Israel and the Palestinian leadership with respect to the current wave of violence. With respect to the Israeli perspective, one can perceive a clash between two appropriate goals and the actions associated with them. One goal is to dampen this wave of violence
Israel, PA, more moderate in action than in speech Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — “What’s happening?” “What should be done?” There are no sure answers to either of those questions. Both Israelis and Palestinians are arguing–with each other and among themselves–if the current uptick in violence signifies an intifada or something less. Politicians, activists, and security professionals are arguing among themselves and with each
Uptick of violence prompts diverse Israeli responses Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–This is not a time to express certainty, either about what is happening or what is likely to happen. A spate of Arabs throwing stones and homemade firebombs has escalated to two killings. One a shooting in the West Bank that killed a Rabbi and his wife. Another was a stabbing of
Violence increases in Jerusalem and West Bank Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It’s not easy trying to manage the world, or even a small part of it that is outside of one’s own country. Consider the US efforts in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as older adventures in Latin America. Or the Russians’ war in Afghanistan, what my Russian-speaking friends admit
Is Russia biting more than it can chew? Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Two questions have long intrigued me as a student of politics. One has occupied us on several occasions; it concerns the explanation of Israel’s democracy. Another concerns the working of another democracy, and the failure of America’s largest religious group to do better than it has in presidential politics. Neither is
Anomalies of Israeli, American politics Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Tensions, competition, or dust-up–call it what you will–between Russia and the US presents a fascinating subject for analysis. No doubt, the US is stronger by far economically and militarily. It was left standing at the end of the Cold War, while the Soviet Union disappeared. Now Russia is a fragment–albeit a
Russia in Middle East may deter Iran, Hezbollah Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East