in complementary and harmonious manners. Thus, concurrent to my 1991 appointment at the Hebrew University I joined the small group of scholars who established the Israel Democracy Institute. In addition, I serve as occasional expert or advisor to various parliamentary committees on issues pertaining to regime and constitutional change.
When I figured out that we cannot fix Israeli democracy without ensuring that we have a citizenry that is (a) informed about the basics of democratic citizenship and (b) speaks the same civic language, I founded in 2001 the Gilo Center for Citizenship, Democracy & Civic Education at Hebrew U. The center developed academic and pedagogical programs that reflected my practical understanding of dialogue and of language. These programs paid special attention to groups not granted sufficient voice and pedagogical attention in the democratic discourse of Israeli society – Arab/Palestinian Israelis and religious Jews.
My current research (see "projects") reflects my experience as a person, a citizen and a scholar, who tries to be as much "himself" as humanly possible.
Welcome to my website!
I am a political theorist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I was awarded a PhD from UC Berkeley in 1990, and my first appointment (1989) was at Stanford University. The truth is that I turned to academia in order to study, not in order to become a professional scholar. Indeed, prior to my graduate studies I had a managerial career in private and public sectors: founding-COO of an Israeli news weekly, Koteret Rashit, and CEO of the Jerusalem International Book Fair, working with legendary Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek. At that time my undergraduate and graduate studies at Hebrew U were just one additional dimension of my life.
In due course I found myself enjoying being a teacher and scholar. So I persevered in this path despite being attracted to additional ways of being in the world. My academic career reflects my ongoing attempt to develop