The Twilight of the Two-State Solution in Israel-Palestine: Shared Sovereignty and Nonterritorial Autonomy as the New Dawn

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-356
Author(s):  
Ephraim Nimni

AbstractThis article analyzes the international consensus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that there should be a two state solution and finds it unworkable on several counts. The conflict has no territorial solution: high population density makes partition impossible without leaving unwanted pockets of one people in the territory of the other; it is not possible for any Israeli government to dismantle settlements in the West Bank without causing a civil war; and in such a small and overcrowded territory, it is not feasible to have monocultural nation-states when the population is now evenly divided between the two conflicting national communities that reside in overlapping areas. Demographic forecasts show in the short term, a decrease in the proportion of Israeli Jews and an increase in the proportion of Palestinians. In the face of this stalemate, the article recalls the 90-year-old proposal by enlightened Jewish personalities to create a binational state under the modality of national-cultural autonomy. Furthermore, and paradoxically, in a reversal of the situation 90 years ago, Palestinian Israeli citizens are slowly creating a bottom-up series of autonomous communal organizations that provide self-government without territorial control, a model for nonterritorial autonomy in a manner that reminds of the earlier proposals of the Jewish personalities. The article concludes that this could potentially be a way out of this stalled and protracted conflict. A plurinational state in Israel-Palestine based on the model of National Cultural Autonomy with shared sovereignty and collective rights for all communities.

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
Joanna Kulska

The increasingly acknowledged post-secular perspective has resulted in the emergence of some new approaches theorizing this phenomenon. One such approach has been the concept of religious engagement, which calls for the redefinition of the perception of religious non-state actors towards including them as important partners in the process of identifying and realizing political goals. According to this view, due to the multidimensional role played by religious communities and non-state religious actors, they need to be recognized as pivotal in creating a new form of knowledge generated through encounter and dialogue of the political decision-makers with these subjects. Among numerous others, the challenge of migration calls for enhanced debate referring to both political and ethical issues. When such a perspective is applied, the question is raised of the duties and limits of nation-states using more or less harsh political measures towards refugees and migrants based on the concept of security, but also short-term political goals. In the face of a state’s lack of will or capacity to deal with the problem of migration, the question of religion serving not only as the service-provider but also as the “trend-setter” with regard to fundamental ethical questions needs to be considered.


Author(s):  
Claudius Härpfer

In recent times we find many plebiscitary acts that seek to democratically legitimize political processes in any direction. They have in common that they interrupt the normal routine of representative democracies to a certain degree and create an extra-daily state of affairs, which entails not only direct but also indirect consequences. The text attempts to systematize some of these mechanisms from a Weberian perspective using Brexit as an example. After a brief overview of Weber’s short-term politically inspired statements on plebiscitary democracy, the text systematizes Weber’s understanding of the state as a bureaucratic apparatus that requires any kind of leader to be controlled. Subsequently, the text discusses the relationship between domination, legality, and rationality in order to finally point out the danger of erosion of truth and legality through the emergence of competing consensus communities in the face of competing conceptions of order.


2021 ◽  
pp. 019459982110042
Author(s):  
Jenny X. Chen ◽  
Shivani A. Shah ◽  
Vinay K. Rathi ◽  
Mark A. Varvares ◽  
Stacey T. Gray

Graduate medical education (GME) is funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through both direct and indirect payments. In recent years, stakeholders have raised concerns about the growth of spending on GME and distribution of payment among hospitals. Key stakeholders have proposed reforms to reduce GME funding such as adjustments to statutory payment formulas and absolute caps on annual payments per resident. Otolaryngology departmental leadership should understand the potential effects of proposed reforms, which could have significant implications for the short-term financial performance and the long-term specialty workforce. Although some hospitals and departments may elect to reduce resident salaries or eliminate positions in the face of GME funding cuts, this approach overlooks the substantial Medicare revenue contributed by resident care and high cost of alternative labor sources. Commitment to resident training is necessary to align both the margin and mission of otolaryngology departments and their sponsoring hospitals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Abrams ◽  
Fanny Lalot ◽  
Michael A. Hogg

COVID-19 is a challenge faced by individuals (personal vulnerability and behavior), requiring coordinated policy from national government. However, another critical layer—intergroup relations—frames many decisions about how resources and support should be allocated. Based on theories of self and social identity uncertainty, subjective group dynamics, leadership, and social cohesion, we argue that this intergroup layer has important implications for people’s perceptions of their own and others’ situation, political management of the pandemic, how people are influenced, and how they resolve identity uncertainty. In the face of the pandemic, initial national or global unity is prone to intergroup fractures and competition through which leaders can exploit uncertainties to gain short-term credibility, power, or influence for their own groups, feeding polarization and extremism. Thus, the social and psychological challenge is how to sustain the superordinate objective of surviving and recovering from the pandemic through mutual cross-group effort.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Ruth Schmidt ◽  
Katelyn Stenger

Abstract Despite widespread recognition that behavioral public policy (BPP) needs to move beyond nudging if the field is to achieve more significant impact, problem-solving approaches remain optimized to achieve tactical success and are evaluated by short-term metrics with the assumption of stable systems. As a result, current methodologies may contribute to the development of solutions that appear well formed but become ‘brittle’ in the face of more complex contexts if they fail to consider important contextual cues, broader system forces, and emergent conditions, which can take three distinct forms: contextual, systemic, and anticipatory brittleness. The Covid-19 pandemic and vaccination rollout present an opportunity to identify and correct interventional brittleness with a new methodological approach – strategic BPP (SBPP) – that can inform the creation of more resilient solutions by embracing more diverse forms of evidence and applied foresight, designing interventions within ecosystems, and iteratively developing solutions. To advance the case for adopting a SBPP and ‘roughly right’ modes of inquiry, we use the Covid-19 vaccination rollout to define a new methodological roadmap, while also acknowledging that taking a more strategic approach may challenge current BPP norms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay J. Minuti ◽  
Charlee A. Corra ◽  
Brian S. Helmuth ◽  
Bayden D. Russell

The ability of an organism to alter its physiology in response to environmental conditions offers a short-term defense mechanism in the face of weather extremes resulting from climate change. These often manifest as multiple, interacting drivers, especially pH and temperature. In particular, decreased pH can impose constraints on the biological mechanisms which define thermal limits by throwing off energetic equilibrium and diminishing physiological functions (e.g., in many marine ectotherms). For many species, however, we do not have a detailed understanding of these interactive effects, especially on short-term acclimation responses. Here, we investigated the metabolic plasticity of a tropical subtidal gastropod (Trochus maculatus) to increased levels of CO2 (700 ppm) and heating (+3°C), measuring metabolic performance (Q10 coefficient) and thermal sensitivity [temperature of maximum metabolic rate (TMMR), and upper lethal temperature (ULT)]. Individuals demonstrated metabolic acclimation in response to the stressors, with TMMR increasing by +4.1°C under higher temperatures, +2.7°C under elevated CO2, and +4.4°C under the combined stressors. In contrast, the ULT only increased marginally in response to heating (+0.3°C), but decreased by −2.3°C under CO2, and −8.7°C under combined stressors. Therefore, although phenotypic plasticity is evident with metabolic acclimation, acute lethal temperature limits seem to be less flexible during short-term acclimation.


The western hype over Abraham Accords is evident from their exploitation of the overused phrase “historical moment” in international relations. A shift in Arab-Israeli relations has been stamped with the signing of Abraham Accords, whereby the Arab veto over the recognition of the Palestinian state, in return for Israeli recognition, is practically over. The unexpected shift of alliances in Middle East have defined new battle lines. Israel has joined forces with UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia – against perhaps Iran and Turkey. Despite the commitment to halt further settlements, Palestine is the ultimate victim. The two-state solution, in spirit, is all but buried. Comprehensive peace processes are multi-level and multi-layered and involve pragmatic efforts to build the widest consensus possible around a shared future. However, Abraham Accords lacks just that; it is both elitist and imposed. The paper is an attempt to explore the changing ground realities by exploring both history and the contemporary scenario. It examines both long-term and short-term impact of the accords on the stakeholders and the regional players.


Author(s):  
Anne Hardy

As nation states became concerned about disease in the later eighteenth century, government actors joined the age-old human fight against disease. Given the limitations of medicine’s curative powers before the 1890s, preventive models of disease control were prioritized, and constituted the first line of defense. This changed during the brief era from about 1945-1980, the age of the “therapeutic revolution.” Since then, new strategies of disease control and prevention have been constructed according to the economic and political pressures shaping state policies, and by a new cultural environment where health is linked to lifestyle and individual subjectivity. In the “new public health” environment, state intervention appears permissible only in the face of dire, external epidemic treat. Prevention efforts are limited to attempted manipulations of individual lifestyle choices.


Author(s):  
Soledad Torrecuadrada García-Lozano ◽  
Vladimir Aguilar Castro ◽  
Carlos Grimaldo Lorente

In this chapter, the authors attempt to demonstrate that respect for cultural identity of all human groups should be seen as a fundamental right. Ignoring Collective rights of indigenous peoples, those related to their cultural traditions, generally causes the lack of respect. Thus, knowledge of the cultural manifestations and their origin and meaning (as part of the history of the territories they inhabit) can conquer this respect on a par with its defense. This obviously with comprehensive training aimed to sensitize the general population in the positive assessment it deserves it different. The actions of nation-states governments with strong indigenous population has been characterized, until recently, by a remarkable disregard for indigenous cultures, having as a result the result of which such attitude, today from the non - indigenous perspective indigenous cultural manifestations are reduced to colorful folklore shows, when not seen as backward and primitive traditions. This chapter delves deeply into the legal framework for the protection of collective and cultural rights of indigenous peoples. The authors also attempt to show the weaknesses of the law and how states should act to strengthen them. Proposed article does emphasis on indigenous traditional knowledge and not in a wider debate on the topic of knowledge in general.


2020 ◽  
pp. 336-362
Author(s):  
Peter Ferdinand

This chapter focuses on democracies, democratization, and authoritarian regimes. It first considers the two main approaches to analysing the global rise of democracy over the last thirty years: first, long-term trends of modernization, and more specifically economic development, that create preconditions for democracy and opportunities for democratic entrepreneurs; and second, the sequences of more short-term events and actions of key actors at moments of national crisis that have precipitated a democratic transition — also known as ‘transitology’. The chapter proceeds by discussing the different types of democracy and the strategies used to measure democracy. It also reviews the more recent literature on authoritarian systems and why they persist. Finally, it examines the challenges that confront democracy in the face of authoritarian revival.


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