MACMILLAN The Privatization of Israel: The Withdrawal of State Responsibility

The book is the first to cover all areas of privatization in Israel and one of the first to do so in general, including state infrastructure, immigration policy, land, health, education, welfare, regulation, and policy design. As such, it offers a comprehensive volume for students, policy makers, and scholars interested in the economic, sociological, political, and legal perspectives of a major policy trend that has changed the face and character of the modern state. In addition, it is a vital contribution to those who have an interest in changes in Israeli society, politics, and economy. Review “This indispensable volume offers the first comprehensive survey of privatization, a major driver of the transformation of Israel’s political-economic landscape over the last three decades. Core substantive chapters document and analyze privatization in all of the main branches of Israel’s welfare state. They are complemented by studies of other areas that range from land management to labor services to the crafting of public policy itself. Many other valuable contributions, not only for scholars of Israel, are found in the thoughtful and wide-ranging introduction and conclusion and chapters on the causes and consequences of privatization.” (Michael Shalev, Visiting Professor, Political Science, UC Berkeley & UCLA, USA, and Emeritus, Sociology & Political Science, Hebrew University, Israel) “Israel stands out as one of the countries in which the privatization process has been most radical. In the last twenty years public expenditures out of GDP declined by more than 12 percent. Many public services were transferred to contractors. The share of unionized workers declined from 80 percent to 24 percent. These drastic changes make Israel an interesting case to analyze in order to understand privatization. The book teaches us a number of lessons. One is the importance of political support for privatization from all main parties. The second lesson is that living in a conflict lends support to privatization for various reasons. Hence, this interesting book is important not only to Israelis, but to others as well, as to all socially minded readers.” (Joseph Zeira, Professor of Economics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) From the Back Cover The book is the first to cover all areas of privatization in Israel and one of the first to do so in general, including state infrastructure, immigration policy, land, health, education, welfare, regulation, and policy design. As such, it offers a comprehensive volume for students, policy makers, and scholars interested in the economic, sociological, political, and legal perspectives of a major policy trend that has changed the face and character of the modern state. In addition, it is a vital contribution to those who have an interest in changes in Israeli society, politics, and economy. About the Author Amir Paz-Fuchs is Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at University of Sussex, UK, and Co-Director of the Privatization and State Responsibility Project at The Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, Israel Ronen Mandelkern is a Lecturer in the School of Political Science, Government, and International Relations at Tel Aviv University, Israel, and Researcher at The Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, Israel Itzhak Galnoor is Herbert Samuel Professor of Political Science (Emeritus) at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and Senior Fellow at The Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, Israel