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 — It seems like a head to head competition, verbal and political combat, with one of the participants vastly outweighing the other in the resources that usually determine such outcomes. Nobody in the world has been more powerful than the President of the United States since the end of World War […]
Netanyahu, Obama in head- to- head competition Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — What South Korea, Japan, and Israel have in common is some considerable degree of dependence on the United States, reinforced by pledges of unfaltering loyalty. South Vietnam might also be added to the list, but with a difference. The US paid a high price for its defense, but was not
As went North Korea, could go Iran Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–It isn’t yet a deal, but an oral recitation of principles. That there isn’t something to be signed is potentially significant, to be tested over the next 80 days or so during which the agreement is supposed to be finalized. Among what we hear is that the Farsi version does not square
Perceptions of N- deal vary greatly Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Passover and Easter are upon us, or Pesach (פסח) in Hebrew and Pascha for the Christian holiday in a number of languages other than English. Although the vast majority of Jews and Christians celebrate their feasts without a overt recognition of their dependence, there would be no Easter without Passover. The similarity
Passover and Easter linkages Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Jewish ReligionBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Barack Obama had some nasty comments about Netanyahu’s election day call that Arabs were going to the polls “in droves,” which the President saw as Bibi’s eroding the meaning of democracy. In a post-election meeting with Arabs, Netanyahu said “I know that the things I said a few days ago
Was Bibi’s election rhetoric any different than others’? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It’s not easy–it may not be possible–to identify the real Barack Obama. We can say the same about other–perhaps all–politicians who reach the top of a steep climb. Yet the Obama puzzle is especially daunting, given his position at the head of the most powerful country of them all. His
Decoding Barack Obama Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Among the features of life in Israel in this age of Internet is a busy mailbox. It reflects Israel’s place in the world’s media, and recalls those old maps that put Jerusalem in the center of it all. Now it comes with the ease of putting one’s thoughts–whether profound, interesting,
Internet letter writers do not lack for opinions Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Comments by Benyamin Netanyahu and Yair Garbuz, said to be the “racism” of right and left, remind us that Israelis, like the voters of numerous other countries, bring their family backgrounds with them to the polls. Ethnicity, religiosity, and social class explain a good deal of recent voting, but not all of
How Israelis divided their votes Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The Huffington Post received a lot of coverage for its interview with President Barack Obama. It covered a good deal of territory, but what’s in its headline are the President’s judgments about Benyamin Netanyahu and Israel. Insofar as this is the President who preached democracy and equality in Cairo,
Comparing democracy in Israel and the U.S. Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Gevalt! This is not meant to mourn the election results, but the month or more of haggling and babbling that will surround us until there is a new government. Several times a day we’ll be hearing commentators speculating about who gets what ministries. Just as often we’ll hear the self-appointed “ranking”
In Israel, U.S., leaders face their constraints Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The New York Times is as far away from a realistic view of things Middle East as the Obama White House. It’s post election analysis was some element of bitter grapes, and dreaming about possibilities that do not exist. Its emphasis on deep wounds resulting from a bitter Israeli election campaign
Post- election opinions? Everyone seems to have one Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The 70-80 percent of eligible Israelis who vote selected one of 26 slips with party symbols, or a blank that could serve as a protest against all of the 26 others with or without writing on it. They placed one slip in an official envelope, and put that envelope in
Israel’s elections saw last- minute maneuvers Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM —The Economist ranks as one of the best of the English language news magazines, even while calling itself a newspaper. It provides coverage of a wide range of places and issues, recalling the extent of what was once the Empire ruled from the magazine’s home town of London. Among those places favored
In attacking Bibi, ‘Economist’ may have helped him Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–An opinion poll published in Friday’s Yedioth Aharonoth provides an insight into the Arab population of Israel. Along with surveys of Palestinians, it should be viewed with a bit more salt than is usually taken with survey research. Arabs are less inclined than us blabbermouth Jews and other westerners to reveal their attitudes
Israeli Arabs, Palestinians diverge in views Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East