Fany Yuval

Public attitudes towards the welfare state and public policy: the Israeli experience

This article provides data and insights into Israeli public opinion about the welfare state and social policy. The study included 940 respondents who reported their attitudes towards various issues related to the welfare state. The study was conducted in spring 2008 prior to the current economic crisis. The findings show that, to a large extent, the Israeli public justifies state intervention in the supply of public services, supports public investment in services related to the welfare state, and recognizes the obligation to support those in need. As for various policy areas, the Israeli public regards education as a top priority, believing that investment in public education is likely to lead to achievements in other areas such as security and health. However, when asked about their willingness to pay more taxes for services related to the welfare state, respondents tended to be less enthusiastic. The research points to a significant gap between the social and economic policies in the past decade and the attitudes of large parts of Israeli society towards the welfare state. We provide possible explanations for that gap.

Minorities in democracy and policing policy: from alienation to cooperation

Tense relations between the Israeli police and the Arab citizens of Israel have been a major concern in recent years. Policing provides a challenge in democracies with diverse societies where cultures, religions and competing national identities challenge the existing order, and where the police in many cases have yet to develop the capabilities to engage with diversity and overcome its own biases and prejudices in order to better serve minorities. While police officers and policy-makers may be aware of the need to initiate reform in order to succeed, they need to identify the actual needs of minorities. In this study of police reforms in Israel vis-à-vis the Arab minority we propose a bottom-up study of the potential impact of three types of reforms: recruitment of Arab citizens to the police, cultural training of police officers and institutionalising police-community relations. Our findings are based on two complementary stages of research, four focus groups and a comprehensive research survey of a representative sample of 1006 adult Arab citizens.

Value for money: Political consumerism in Israel

Studies of political consumerism and of political consumers tend to ask general questions about motivations and tendencies among specific segments of society and investigate the likelihood of the political attitudes of specific social identities to affect consumer choices. In contrast, we examine how political consumerism is influenced by both individual characteristics and the communities in which these individuals live. In addition, we explore whether specific issues of political consumerism – environmental concerns, social justice, and religion – exist independently of general political consumerism. Finally, we attempt to determine the relationship between these different focuses of political consumerism. Based on a survey conducted in August 2010 in Israel of a random sample of 603 adult Jewish Israelis, we delineate the general trends of political consumerism. We then present a regression model to further explore the different paths of political consumerism. This article concludes with a model developed using structural equation modeling in which the different factors and paths are brought together in order to understand the relationship between the three paths of political consumerism.

Municipal subsidiary policy toward professional sports teams A democratic deficit in the local government

Purpose – Local authorities around the world provide different forms and different amounts of direct and/or indirect assistance to professional sport teams, which in most cases are owned by private business entrepreneurs. Findings from various studies indicate that professional sports teams do not make a significant contribution to a city in terms of its economy, tourism or even image. The purpose of this paper is to explore and question, from a local public policy standpoint, the justification for financial assistance from the local authority to privately owned professional sports teams that provide a public service or a public good.Design/methodology/approach – In order to shed light on the process, a two‐staged study was used: an examination of the financial subsidies of ten cities in Israel, focusing in particular on Herzliya, an affluent community north of Tel Aviv. In the second stage, a representative sample of Herzliyas adult residents (18 years old and above) was surveyed with regard to the city...

Between the quality of the environment and the quality of the performances in Israeli local government

According to the current Local Authorities Act in Israel 2000, once the municipal government fails to function financially, the Ministry of the Interior should intervene to appoint a professional team to help the municipality recover from its crisis. This law contains no wording ordering the local authorities to provide any local services. In the absence of a clear demand from the central government to provide certain public goods at the local level, what motivates the heads of local authorities to provide such goods? Given that local environmental issues are mostly identified as local services, and that peoples satisfaction with the quality of the local environmental services is an effective predictor for the re-election of an incumbent head in almost all Israeli municipalities, the way local authorities deal with these services constitutes a case study with which to examine their incentive for providing local services. This study seeks to explain the empirical nature of the major political motivations of the heads of local authorities for providing environmental services. The environmental and sustainability literature offers economic and civic motivations as an answer to this question. In contrast, this article suggests public choice theory as an alternative answer to this question.

Information theory and municipal policy in sport: empirical evidence from an Israeli case study

Information theory1 explains how leaders attain a net electoral advantage when adopting a policy that favours the interests of the knowledgeable minority at the expense of the uninformed minority, even though the consequent loss incurred by the public exceeds any advantage accrued by the interested minority. This study investigates the empirical implications of the theory through a case study in Israel. The study focuses on the disproportionately large subsidies granted by local authorities to privately owned professional sports teams (PSTs). These grants are made despite the preference of municipal residents and professional administrators for spending more on popular sports rather than professional sports. In the belief that such actions occurred due to an asymmetry in information that favoured the interested minority, we collected information about the subsidies for PSTs and made it publically available. We then documented the process by which the subsequent changes in the municipal policy developed.

Race, racism, and policing: Responses of Ethiopian Jews in Israel to stigmatization by the police:

Immigrants who believe they suffer from stigmatization and discrimination may still demonstrate positive attitudes toward government authorities. We explore this trust–discrimination paradox by examining perceptions about police and policing among Ethiopian Jews in Israel, an immigrant racial minority. Drawing on data collected from focus groups and survey results, we find that levels of trust in the police among Israelis of Ethiopian descent are equal to or higher than among veteran Jewish Israelis. Nevertheless, Ethiopian Israelis also report negative perceptions of the police that are rooted in strong feelings of stigmatization by these government agents. While trust in the police may reflect Ethiopian Jews’ desire for integration, participation, and inclusion as legitimate and equal members of nation and state, we demonstrate that they use various de-stigmatization strategies whose aim is to downplay the importance and depth of their discrimination by the police. These strategies, we argue, allow Ethiopian Israelis to maintain positive attitudes toward the police.