The latest episode of the Democracy in Question podcast, hosted by Central European University (CEU) President and Rector Shalini Randeria, features Yehouda Shenhav-Shahrabani, Senior Research Fellow at the Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Tel Aviv University.
Shenhav-Shahrabani has taught at Stanford, Princeton and Columbia Universities, among others. He is the editor-in-chief of Van Leer's "Maktoob" series of translations from Arabic, and the editor-in-chief of the "Theory and Criticism in Context" series. He was head of advanced studies at Van Leer and edited its journal, "Theory and Criticism." He also chaired the Horowitz Institute for Social Research and is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the Nantes Institute for Advanced Study in France.
His English language books include "The Arab Jews" (2006) and "Beyond the Two State Solution" (2012). Born in an Iraqi-Jewish family, Yehouda is one of the founders of the Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow Coalition, an extra-parliamentary movement which has sought to challenge the ethnic structure of Israeli society.
In this episode, "Yehouda Shenhav-Shahrabani on Israel: Democracy on the Defensive" published April 19, Randeria and her guest explore what kind of democracy is being defended in Israel today. Who are the supporters of the ruling coalition and what explains the popular appeal of the right-wing parties? Listen to a discussion with a wide historical context about the present political crisis, which many scholars have called a constitutional coup.
Series six of Democracy in Question is produced in partnership with the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy at the Graduate Institute in Geneva (AHCD) where Randeria is a Senior Fellow. ACHD and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna co-produced seasons one and two of the podcast.
