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

Peace may be at standstill but West Bank economy on the move

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Two recent articles is the New York Times provide an accurate picture of our surroundings. A description of Gaza provides all we need to produce a mood of hopeless despair. There is plenty to eat, but no work, and no hope for the the growing population of young people who can neither […]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Seemingly, little of substance in Obama-Netanyahu meeting

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–As expected, the White House meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu was an occasion for mutual admiration and pledges of cooperation. It was much different from the image conveyed by their previous meeting, when the White House had blasted the timing of an Israeli planning committee’s announcement about

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Two greatest disruptors of life in Jerusalam: Obama and Moskowitz

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Cities are places where people of different backgrounds and outlooks come together and make do with one another. Jerusalem is no different, but it is also different. Prominent groups in the population are Arabs, about 30 percent, and ultra-Orthodox Jews, about 30 percent of the Jewish population.  For Jerusalemites who are neither

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

McChrystal affair points up wisdom of punishing enemy but not occupying its territory

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The dismissal of General Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan is not as seismic as some are contending, but it is significant. The comparison  with Truman and MacArthur is not appropriate. MacArthur acted against presidential policy, and helped create the military and political disaster of Chinese entry into the Korean War. McChrystal and his

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Ira Sharkansky, USA

Can Haredim be governed by Israel's secular authorities?

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–It is appropriate to ponder the significance of one hundred thousand ultra-Orthodox demanding independence from the Israeli judiciary. While the Sephardim suffer discrimination in the ultra-Orthodox communities, only a few of their leaders made that point. It was more common for prominent Sephardi rabbis and politicians to join hands with the Ashkenazim,

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Ashkenazi Haredim promise demonstration against taking Sephardic girls into thier schools

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The ultra-Orthodox (or Haredim=God fearing) promised the “Mother of all demonstrations.”  This does not signal the spread of feminism. The expression may have come  from Saddam Hussein’s proclamation of the “Mother of all Battles” when the United States invaded Iraq in 1991. The guess is problematic, insofar as the Haredim assert that

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Arabs, Orthodox Jews and secular Jews often vie in Jerusalem

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –This city’s population is 764,000. Groups with high political salience are 269,000 Arabs (35 percent), and an estimated 155,000 ultra-Orthodox. The Arabs have great prominence among overseas watchers of Jerusalem, but opt out of local politics by boycotting municipal elections. Almost none of them accepted Israeli citizenship when it was offered

Arabs, Orthodox Jews and secular Jews often vie in Jerusalem Read More »

Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Poll shows Israelis support Gaza blockade

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Of Israel’s major newspapers, Ha’aretz is the least friendly to the present government. It is also the most likely to criticize the lack of empathy for Palestinian interests that it finds among officials and the population.  The journalist who wrote a long article in the weekend edition could have been referring to colleagues when

Poll shows Israelis support Gaza blockade Read More »

Ira Sharkansky, Middle East