The Unusual World of Israeli Democracy (with Rachel Gur)

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

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Summary

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East but it seems a lot more alien and chaotic than many of the older democracies of the West. Hear Rachel Gur of Reichman University explain to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how the Israeli political system works and sometimes, doesn't work. The conversation brings into relief the challenges all democracies face and the ways that political minorities can wield power or be ignored depending on the political rules of the game.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:07.9	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Sholem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:13.8	Go to EconTalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this episode, and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.5	You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to 2006.
0:26.7	Our email address is mail at econTalk.org.
0:30.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:36.8	Today is February 12th, 2025.
0:39.2	And my guest is Rahal Gura of Reikman University.
0:42.5	She has served in senior positions in the Israeli government,
0:45.9	including legislation advisor to the Knesset Coalition Chairman,
0:49.4	senior advisor to the deputy foreign minister.
0:52.1	Raquel was director of public policy for Lobby 99.
0:56.1	Rahal, welcome to Econ Talk. Thank you very much. Our topic is the peculiar and sometimes
1:02.8	problematic and sometimes controversial Israeli system of government. It's a democracy,
1:09.9	the only one in the Middle East. We have no
1:11.8	constitution. Before October 7th, there was a very controversial judicial reform that could only
1:17.8	happen in Israel and the fight over that. And that set in motion here a conversation about what
1:23.4	democracy is that goes beyond the borders of this country. I think there are similar
1:27.8	issues about the role of the judiciary and the power of other branches of government
1:31.3	that's coming to the United States soon or maybe is already here in February of 2025.
1:37.3	I thought it would be useful to explore the fundamentals of the Israeli system and consider some of the
1:41.9	incentives that produces. And I think that will give us some
	...

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