Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article explores the prospects of democracy in a future Palestinian state through examination of the relationship between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the media. After providing an overview of the media under Israeli... more
This article explores the prospects of democracy in a future Palestinian state through examination of the relationship between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the media. After providing an overview of the media under Israeli occupation, the author examines their development and transformation under the PA, including the PA's means of control both formal and informal. While noting the PA's vulnerability to outside pressures and the needfor the press itself to be more assertive in claiming its freedom, the author concludes that the PA's record with the media thus far does not bode wellfor a democratic political culture in Palestine. IN AN AGE OF COMMUNICATION, where information technology has multiplied along with methods of indoctrination and censorship, the tension between the media as a public space and the media as a tool of political control has become a hallmark of postcolonial states. This is true of Palestine as well, though the continuation of Israeli overall r...
Research Interests:
Amal Jamal is Professor of Political Science at the School of Political Science, Government, and International Affairs at Tel Aviv University. He was Chair of the Political Science Department (2006–2009) and is co-Editor-in-Chief of the... more
Amal Jamal is Professor of Political Science at the School of Political Science, Government, and International Affairs at Tel Aviv University. He was Chair of the Political Science Department (2006–2009) and is co-Editor-in-Chief of the political science journal The Public Sphere. His books include Arab Civil Society in Israel (2017), The Nakba in Israel’s National Memory (2015), and Arab Minority Nationalism in Israel: The Politics of Indigeneity (2011).
Research Interests:
Israel has been undergoing major changes in the last few decades. One of these major changes is the rise of a very conservative and even messianic ultranationalistic political block that is dominating center stage in the political system,... more
Israel has been undergoing major changes in the last few decades. One of these major changes is the rise of a very conservative and even messianic ultranationalistic political block that is dominating center stage in the political system, and turning its ideology into the official policy of the state. This development, which started decades ago and reached a hegemonic position in the last few years, reflects a process according to which Israel has moved into a NeoZionist era, characterized by an intensive “nationalizing” process, manifested in the legal, judicial, and cultural fields. 1 The process of nationalizing, as described by Rogers Brubaker, “is the tendency to see the state as an ‘unrealised’ nationstate, as a state destined to be a nationstate, the state of and for a particular nation, but not yet in fact a nationstate (at least not to a significant degree); and the concomitant disposition to remedy this perceived defect, to make the state what it is properly and legitimate...
Research Interests:
The following analysis of the Israeli Nation State law reflects on the emerging new constitutional imagination in Israel. It argues that this Zionist imagination mirrors the deep sociological and political changes taking place in Israeli... more
The following analysis of the Israeli Nation State law reflects on the emerging new constitutional imagination in Israel. It argues that this Zionist imagination mirrors the deep sociological and political changes taking place in Israeli society. The hegemonic political elites have transformed the Israeli constitutional identity from one based on constructive legal ambiguity into one rooted in exclusive ethno-theological values. The latter stands in direct negation of the Zionist constitutional formula promoted by the founding fathers of the State as embodied in the 1948 Declaration of Independence. This rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence incorporated liberal values, in spite of the fact that the Labour Zionist political elite of the time was not fully committed to the practical meanings of these values. The current hegemonic elite in Israel views such a veiling strategy as not only unnecessary, but also as hazardous.
Research Interests:
This article examines the complex relationship between state, religion and democratization in Turkey, Egypt and Israel. It demonstrates that binary and static models of separation and integration between state and religion are not... more
This article examines the complex relationship between state, religion and democratization in Turkey, Egypt and Israel. It demonstrates that binary and static models of separation and integration between state and religion are not sufficient to understanding the complex relationship between them and chances of democratization. Based on examining the democratization processes in the three Middle Eastern countries, the article argues that separation or integration between state and religion, although different, does not precondition democratic transformation and democratization. It is the form, the measure and the direction of separation or integration that makes the difference. The article demonstrates that democratization is not a one-dimensional linear model, but rather can take two opposing directions when it comes to religion and state relations. Whereas in some cases the public return of religion and the subsequent representation of religious groups reflect democratization, in other cases, where state and religion are tightly integrated, democratization means the decoupling of state and religion and the downgrading of religious control of public institutions and individual personal status. Moreover, the examination of the three Middle Eastern countries demonstrates that democratization could involve the return of religion to the public sphere, as part of the basic democratic right of social groups to be represented and their right to participate in determining their cultural and ideological environment. It could also involve the deinstitutionalization of religion as exclusive authority and identity in the public sphere and in the private life of individuals. Based on such understanding the article claims that dynamic models of state–religion relations are necessary in order to anticipate the chances of democratization and consolidation.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article deals with state stigmas in the international arena, and addresses the question: why do state-stigmas develop and become sustained in some cases, whereas in other cases they wither away? For parsimonious, analytical purposes... more
This article deals with state stigmas in the international arena, and addresses the question: why do state-stigmas develop and become sustained in some cases, whereas in other cases they wither away? For parsimonious, analytical purposes we view the process of state stigmatisation through two, interrelated stages: the stigma’s development – where transnational civil society activists and the engagement of mainstream international media play an important role; and the stigma’s sustenance where these elements are joined by the target state’s coping strategy. For theoretical consistency, we limit ourselves to exploring states that are (a) involved in conflicts and (b) aspiring to be part of the Western-led ‘club’ of states. Through the analysis of press articles and UN documents relating to two vastly different case studies: South Africa (1985–1994) and Israel (2000–2019), we demonstrate that states in conflictual situations have limited manoeuvring space in dealing with their developi...
Research Interests:
This chapter examines the debates about the conceptualization and practices of resistance in Palestinian society in Israel. It does so in light of two important developments that have had major repercussions for this homeland minority:... more
This chapter examines the debates about the conceptualization and practices of resistance in Palestinian society in Israel. It does so in light of two important developments that have had major repercussions for this homeland minority: the social and political upheavals in the Arab Spring states on the one hand and the growing nationalist extremism in Israel, culminating in the passing of the nation-state law in 2018 and the delegitimization of the Joint List in the 2019–2020 elections, on the other. Examining the debates taking place about resistance helps us understand how political subjects active in this community define themselves and others and the meaning and implications of such definitions. Furthermore, it assists in demonstrating how Palestinians in Israel utilize the opportunities inherent in their institutional environment and the tools provided by that environment to facilitate an alternative political ethos that will guarantee it full civil equality and human dignity.
Research Interests:
Civil society in Israel has been undergoing a growing conflict that mirrors broader trends taking place in Israeli society, namely the conflict between the rising conservative nationalist social forces and the dwindling liberal and... more
Civil society in Israel has been undergoing a growing conflict that mirrors broader trends taking place in Israeli society, namely the conflict between the rising conservative nationalist social forces and the dwindling liberal and humanist camp represented by human rights organizations (HROs). There has been a clear rise in the power of conservative nationalist civil society organizations (CSOs), which receive firm support from politicians who have influential positions in the Israeli government. These organizations have been leading aggressive political and media campaigns against HROs, especially those involved in defending the rights of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and under siege in the Gaza Strip. The conservative nationalist CSOs accuse HROs of being anti-patriotic and cooperating with the enemies of society and the state. They utilize three strategies to promote their agenda. The first is delegitimizing HROs through naming and shaming tactics...
Research Interests: Human Rights, Political Science, Politics, Nationalism, Conservatism, and 15 moreLegitimacy, Israel, Human Rights Violation, Civil Society, Politikwissenschaft, Political Strategy, politische Strategie, Legitimität, Campaign, Menschenrechte, Domestic Policy, Nationalismus, Non Governmental Organization, Konservatismus, and Innenpolitik
Introduction: Understanding the Politics of Indigenous National Minority 1. The Theory and Epistemology of Indigeneity 2. Politicizing Arab Indigeneity in Israel 3. The Changing Modes of Patriotism and Longing for the Homeland 4.... more
Introduction: Understanding the Politics of Indigenous National Minority 1. The Theory and Epistemology of Indigeneity 2. Politicizing Arab Indigeneity in Israel 3. The Changing Modes of Patriotism and Longing for the Homeland 4. Internally Displaced Palestinians and the Dialectics of Presence and Absence 5. Arab-Palestinian Leadership in Israel and the Politics of Contention 6. Reframing the Future through Presencing the Past: Visionary Documents and Political Mobilization 7. Civil Society and the Challenges of Empowerment Development and Democratization 8. Reframing Arab Political Thought in Israel: Azmi Bishara and Beyond. Epilogue: Future Visions and Horizons of Expectations in State-Minority Relations in Israel
Research Interests:
... in Israel Amal Jamal TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY This ... Arab minority. It is claimed that Arab patterns of communicative behavior may lead to 'dou-ble consciousness' among the Arab minority (Du Bois, 2003; Manning, 1986). Double ...
Research Interests:
This article explores the dynamics of Jewish sovereignty when dealing with the massive presence of millions of Palestinians in its sphere of power. It does so by looking at foundational Israeli documents. Two of the best to serve our goal... more
This article explores the dynamics of Jewish sovereignty when dealing with the massive presence of millions of Palestinians in its sphere of power. It does so by looking at foundational Israeli documents. Two of the best to serve our goal are the Israeli Declaration of Independence (IDI), adopted in 1948, and the Basic Law—Israel: The Nation State of the Jewish People (Nation-State law) enacted in 2018. The aim is not to compare and contrast the two documents as much as to deduce the deep meaning of Jewish sovereignty embedded in them, and its ramifications on the Palestinian presence in the land this sovereignty dominates. It is argued that the two foundational documents establish an underlying differentiation between dissimilar realms of existence. Whereas they construct Jewish presence as dynamically sovereign, they render Palestinians as threatening strangers who should be subordinated or silenced to be tolerated. This means that the documents explicate the main characteristics ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article explores Hannah Arendt’s conceptualization of half-statelessness, theorized as the partial invasion of citizenship by characteristics of statelessness. It is a process of dehumanizatio...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article seeks to enhance the understanding of ontological counter-securitization and the constitution of securitized subjects in the context of asymmetrical power relations. It builds on the available critique of the... more
This article seeks to enhance the understanding of ontological counter-securitization and the constitution of securitized subjects in the context of asymmetrical power relations. It builds on the available critique of the conceptualization of counter-securitization and the differentiation between physical and ontological securitization in order to facilitate a better understanding of the identity formation of securitized subjects as resistance. It argues that whereas the current literature deals with the differentiation between physical and ontological dimensions of securitization and recently with the meaning of counter-securitization, nonetheless the treatment of the later as a resistance is limited. It remains in the realm of the physical dimensions of securitization, rendering ontological ones unaddressed. The article argues that ontological counter-securitization emerges as an analytical category when the mismatch between the physical and ontological securitization policies is ...
Research Interests:
This article examines the rise and key characteristics of Neo-Zionist political thought in Israel and its relationship with mainstream Zionist thought. It argues that despite the radical and repulsive discourses of Neo-Zionism and the... more
This article examines the rise and key characteristics of Neo-Zionist political thought in Israel and its relationship with mainstream Zionist thought. It argues that despite the radical and repulsive discourses of Neo-Zionism and the critique expressed by liberal Zionists towards it, the former has always been embodied in classical Zionism. The justifications provided by Neo-Zionists are based on principles propagated by central leaders of mainstream Zionism. Utilising new perspectives in Settler-Colonial Studies, the article demonstrates how both strands encapsulate the Zionist continuum and continuous expansionist drive for new settlements in Palestine based on ‘Biblical right’ of Jews over the land of Palestine. Both advocate supremacist, exclusivist, and volkish rights for Jews with disastrous consequences for the indigenous people of Palestine. The convictions and practices of the Neo-Zionists in the post 1967 period help unveil the camouflaged motivations, justifications and ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Through the Lens of Israel: Explorations in State and Society, Joel Migdal. New York: State of New York University Press, 2001. ix + 194 pages. Notes to p. 218. Bibl. to p. 232. Index to p. 237. $19.95 paper. Reviewed by Amal Jamal... more
Through the Lens of Israel: Explorations in State and Society, Joel Migdal. New York: State of New York University Press, 2001. ix + 194 pages. Notes to p. 218. Bibl. to p. 232. Index to p. 237. $19.95 paper. Reviewed by Amal Jamal Through the Lens of Israel is the title of an absorbing book which, metaphorically as well as literally, captures the central idea of its author. The book examines comparative political theory through the exploration of state-society relations in Israel. Joel Migdal, a well-known political theorist, demonstrates his comprehensive theoretical state-in-society approach by examining the interdependence between state and society in Israel. Besides the contribution to comparative political theory that this book makes, Migdal's treatment of Israeli politics is eloquent, intelligent, and wide-ranging. Migdal turns the study of state-society relations in Israel into a tool for raising important theoretical observations about the impact of social struggle on the nature and the legitmacy of the state. The book challenges theoretical approaches that depict the capabilities of the state in absolute, rather than in relative terms. It establishes the degree of "stateness" as a dependent variable that could be explained by socio-historical forces, including local, as well as global actors. Migdal demonstrates that despite the fact that individuals, especially leaders such as David Ben Gurion, play a role in socio-political dynamics, there is no straight line between their political and social designs on one hand, and actual outcomes on the other. Migdal's observations in this regard clash with the dominant scholarship of Israeli politics and historiography. He clearly demonstrates that the construction and reconstruction of the state is the result of a struggle between social agents that are themselves transformed during their efforts to shape the process of rule-making in society. A central claim of the book is that the study of state formation cannot be detached from the contention between different social rule-makers in society and world historical forces. Another important claim Migdal makes is that the British Mandate opened political and social spaces for the Jewish community in Palestine to develop an institutional infrastructure that became the basis for the future Israeli polity. After introducing his main theoretical and empirical parameters, Migdal turns his attention to the process of state consolidation and the role played by the British Mandate on the one hand and by Zionist leaders, especially Ben Gurion, on the other. …
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This study aims to explore Palestinian-Israeli actors’ and actresses’ experiences in the Israeli TV market and their understanding of the rationalization/racialization processes taking place in the global television industry, which is... more
This study aims to explore Palestinian-Israeli actors’ and actresses’ experiences in the Israeli TV market and their understanding of the rationalization/racialization processes taking place in the global television industry, which is dominated by Streaming Video On Demand platforms. The study is based on observations and interviews. The observations were conducted on the set of the internationally successful action drama Fauda during its second season. Fauda is a co-production of Netflix and the Israeli satellite conglomerate YES. It portrays the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in a way that some see as Zionist and hegemonic. The interviews were conducted with the Palestinian-Israeli actors and actresses. Our analysis of their experiences on the set of Fauda shows a dialectical and complex reality in which self-exploitation, which results in justifying playing terrorists and villains for the sake of money or art, resolves itself into an antithesis of subversion.
Research Interests:
This article contributes to the theorization of hope in the cultural industries in conflict zones. Although the merits of hope in explicating the behavior of creative workers in cultural production in western countries has won some... more
This article contributes to the theorization of hope in the cultural industries in conflict zones. Although the merits of hope in explicating the behavior of creative workers in cultural production in western countries has won some attention, the literature has fallen short of addressing the impact of conflict on the meaning of hope for minority creative workers in this field. To fill this lacuna, we explore the experience of Palestinian creative workers in Israeli cultural industries, which are very functional in national identity making and branding. Our evidence is helpful in illuminating the temporal dimension of hope, as a resource and a form of passive action that takes place in the present in order to keep the horizon open for a better future, also when this future does not entail a clear referent. It also sheds light on the affinity of hope with ethical agency claiming in the cultural industries.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT The cultural industries are major fields of producing, distributing and reflecting national icons and norms. They form major sites of contestation and conflictual self-categorization, especially in conflict zones. Our article... more
ABSTRACT The cultural industries are major fields of producing, distributing and reflecting national icons and norms. They form major sites of contestation and conflictual self-categorization, especially in conflict zones. Our article explores the intersection between nationality and gender in cultural production in such contexts. It examines the engagement of Palestinian women filmmakers within the Israeli cultural industry, seeking to facilitate a better understanding of national minorities in the field of cultural production in conflict zones. Palestinian women filmmakers in Israel have introduced new themes that do not only address national issues that stand in tension between the Palestinian experience of oppression and the hegemony of the Zionist narrative in the Israeli cultural industries, but also challenge the prevalent patriarchal social values in Palestinian society. Exploring their experience allow us to better explicate the intersection of professional, gender and national factors in conditioning the cultural production of creative labour in conflict zones.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article advances the theorization of creative labor in cultural production in conflict zones. It argues that exploring minority creative workers’ behavior in media production in conflict zones helps to reveal patterns of othering of... more
This article advances the theorization of creative labor in cultural production in conflict zones. It argues that exploring minority creative workers’ behavior in media production in conflict zones helps to reveal patterns of othering of minorities and the coping strategies they develop to deal with being caught in the dominant narrative facilitated by the cultural industry. This venture is framed within postcolonial theorization, which contributes to revealing the unique impact of the interconnection between economic and symbolic factors on the behavior of creative labor. It also allows us to join other scholars in de-Westernizing creative labor studies and challenging the thesis of the silenced subaltern. To that end, we explore the meaning of “circumscribed agents” and “subaltern agency” through an analysis of ethnographic observations conducted during the production of the Israeli television series, Fauda. Examining the patterns of behavior of Palestinian–Israeli creative worker...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Palestinian Arab citizens of the state of Israel are increasingly demanding collective rights, besides their traditional struggle for equal individual citizenship rights. Several Palestinian intellectuals and politicians have begun... more
Palestinian Arab citizens of the state of Israel are increasingly demanding collective rights, besides their traditional struggle for equal individual citizenship rights. Several Palestinian intellectuals and politicians have begun reframing the Arab struggle for equality and refocusing their search for full citizenship in Israel by emphasizing the obligation of the state to recognize them as an indigenous national minority. In the past, the Arab demand for equality was based mainly on distributive justice and individual liberal philosophy, according to which the state should integrate its Arab citizens as equal participants in society and state.
Research Interests:
The cultural industries are major fields of producing, distributing and reflecting national icons and norms. They form major sites of contestation and conflictual self-categorization, especially in conflict zones. Our article explores the... more
The cultural industries are major fields of producing, distributing and reflecting national icons and norms. They form major sites of contestation and conflictual self-categorization, especially in conflict zones. Our article explores the intersection between nationality and gender in cultural production in such contexts. It examines the engagement of Palestinian women filmmakers within the Israeli cultural industry, seeking to facilitate a better understanding of national minorities in the field of cultural production in conflict zones. Palestinian women filmmakers in Israel have introduced new themes that do not only address national issues that stand in tension between the Palestinian experience of oppression and the hegemony of the Zionist narrative in the Israeli cultural industries, but also challenge the prevalent patriarchal social values in Palestinian society. Exploring their experience allow us to better explicate the intersection of professional, gender and national fact...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Cultural industries, television among them, are industries that exemplify harsh working conditions and precariousness. Recently, there has been greater attention paid to the specific experiences of ethnic and racial minorities in the... more
Cultural industries, television among them, are industries that exemplify harsh working conditions and precariousness. Recently, there has been greater attention paid to the specific experiences of ethnic and racial minorities in the creative industries in general and on television specifically. However, the study of minorities in television has generally focused on content analysis and not on the daily experiences of workers in the precarious television labor market itself. This paper offers an in-depth examination of the work process and conditions of ethnic-national minority (Israeli-Palestinians) versus majority creative workers (Jewish Israelis) in a television production, using observations conducted on the set of the Israeli TV series, Fauda ("Chaos" in Arabic) as a case study. Our study's conclusions emphasize the way groups' experiences reproduce social hierarchies based on ethnicity, nationality, and gender.
Research Interests:
This article explores the complexity of minority creative workers in the media industry. It challenges the common notion in the literature that minority creative workers are fully submissive to the dominant power structure and examines... more
This article explores the complexity of minority creative workers in the media industry. It challenges the common notion in the literature that minority creative workers are fully submissive to the dominant power structure and examines whether such workers could still be conceived as active agents by resisting submission and marginalization even when they cannot influence their own representation in hegemonic media texts. To answer this question, it explores the performances of minority creative workers in a hegemonic cultural industry. To determine whether one can speak of subaltern agency and, if possible, examine how it manifests itself in reality, it addresses the daily performances of Palestinian creative workers during the production of the second season of the Israeli television series, Fauda. Observations conducted during production demonstrate that since in such contexts minority creative workers cannot avoid being projected in negative roles in the media text, they adopt c...
Research Interests:
In 2018, the state of Israeli citizenship completed a long-anticipated transformation. The passage of the Nation-State Law represented a formal and substantial reordering of the Israeli political sphere and the long-held contention that... more
In 2018, the state of Israeli citizenship completed a long-anticipated transformation. The passage of the Nation-State Law represented a formal and substantial reordering of the Israeli political sphere and the long-held contention that it prioritized democratic citizenship. Redefining the Israeli state in exclusively ethnic terms, the new law places its Palestinian citizenry in a precarious position, neither fully stateless, nor fully citizen, and in a state which dangerously approaches 'inhuman.' Drawing on the works of Jewish humanist philosopher, Hannah Arendt, we further develop the conceptual category to which she alludes in The Human Condition and Origins of Totalitarianism-'half-statelessness.' Applying Arendt's arguments to the Palestinian case, we deepen previous analyses of the new Basic Law and citizenship studies more broadly, demonstrating how Israeli citizenship's continuous evolution has reached its legislative apex and produced a phenomenon which transcends the typical prototypes of citizen and state and effectively de-humanizes its Palestinian citizens.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This essay analyzes the political motivations behind the Jewish Nation-State Bill introduced in the Knesset in November 2014, shedding light on the ascendancy of the Israeli political establishment's radical right wing. It argues that... more
This essay analyzes the political motivations behind the Jewish Nation-State Bill introduced in the Knesset in November 2014, shedding light on the ascendancy of the Israeli political establishment's radical right wing. It argues that there were both internal and external factors at work and that it is only by examining these thoroughly that the magnitude of the racist agenda currently being promoted can be grasped. The essay also discusses the proposed legislation's long history and the implications of this effort to constitutionalize what amounts to majoritarian despotism in present-day Israel.