This study examines the policy concept of addressing poor-performing municipalities in Israel as reflected by the new Municipalities Bill-2007, and compares legislation and experience in this field in other countries, most particularly in Britain. The central dilemma which the study addresses is the paucity of the Municipalities Bill and its questionable ability to accelerate recovery processes in local government under crisis. The Bill reflects the governing perception in the country on addressing poor-performing localities, which is rigid, limited and based on an economic paradigm. This, despite the experience of other western countries, which includes policy, legislation and wide accommodating measures to challenge the under-performance of public organizations.

In recent years personal liability in local government has become a major issue in central-local government relations as well as in the public discourse. Its main thrust is a focus on ingraining norms of good governance in the public sector in general and in local government in particular. This publication serves as a foundation for an academic discussion on the issue.

This study focuses on the migration to Jerusalem by young Palestinian-Israeli women from Arab localities in Israel and on their eventual choice to settle in the city rather than return to their native localities. The study examines the considerations that determine their initial decision to migrate to Jerusalem, usually for the purpose of studies or employment. The characteristics of these young women are examined, as are those unique characteristics of Jerusalem as a migration-absorbing city. Their choice to reside in neighborhoods within Jerusalem and shifts in their socio-economic status resulting from the move are also explored.

This study examines the perspectives of decision-makers in the city of Ashdod concerning public participation in cultural issues, against the background of various active models of participatory democracy in Israel and overseas. Activating a model of participatory democracy significantly enhances the involvement of citizens in the democratic process, to their own advantage. It is important to create a mechanism that will enable citizens to realize their needs and desires by applying their capacity to influence or take part in decision-making processes.

The choice of Ashdod, the fifth largest city in Israel, is not arbitrary in light of the numerous waves of migration which form its residential fabric and generate contrasting cultural needs.

This study examines the distribution of the local property tax (Arnona) burden in Israel by analyzing the household expenditure surveys for the years 1997-2005. A new analytical approach reveals the advantages and flaws of the current taxation system in order to propose improving measures of the existing mechanism.

This publication examines the Sakhnin-Misgav land dispute in the Galilee as a test case for one of the main issues of majority-minority relations in Israel. The study outlines the various forces involved, directly or indirectly, in the protracted debates held by a special committee nominated by the Minister of the Interior on requests by the Sakhnin municipality to extend its municipal boundaries. The study mainly focuses on analyzing the characteristics of the discourse among the various factors involved in planning and lands uses, both in this particular case and on an overall national level. The analysis highlights the rise of new powers in the planning arena and the ongoing land discourse, and most particularly the appearance of civil groups and organizations.  Concurrently, central government does not relinquish its hold or influence on these issues, at times applying covert practices which endorse the inequitable spatial division.

This essay presents a vision of a strengthened Jerusalem that can hopefully endure any geopolitical scenario.  In order to achieve this goal several strategic steps are essential, all  to be accompanied by a growing involvement of the central government of Israel in the affairs of the city and its surrounding region, so as to not only allocate generously resources to support housing, employment and infrastructure but also generate planning tools that enable urban development. All the strategies suggested in this essay share the notion of connectedness.

This study examines the customs and social accommodations governing Arab society on issues of land management, among them: identifying boundaries, parceling land, land uses and land holding. All these developed in a rural society in which land passed on from one generation to the next. The development of land legislation in Israel and its impacts on land management under conditions of urbanization are also examined. The differences between the two systems (customs versus regulations) from social, economic, cultural and political aspects and considers their planning implications on land uses and spatial development.

This study pursues the roots of conflict in Haredi society against instituting general studies in Haredi High School Yeshivas. Whereas a silent consent exists for colleges and vocational frameworks which provide such education, the few Yeshivas promoting them are faced with an all-out war. These Yeshivas were established in recent decades to address the growing demand for training ultra-orthodox married men to earn a living, by integrating general education in their religious curriculum. The conflict is associated with ideological justifications, which present the introduction of such studies at this stage in life as prohibited from the very outset. Haredi leadership prefers to present this breach as a new phenomenon, born in Israel, and condemned. Dr. Lupu's study adds historic perspective to the conflict showing that it has plagued Haredi society since its "golden era" of Eastern European Yeshivas even prior to the inception of the State of Israel, and that integrating general studies in the religious curriculum was endorsed by some of the Torah sages in Haredi society.

This study examines the issue of regional government as an efficient means for governing sub-national regions in Israel, particularly peripheral regions. Against a background of territorial disparities and a malfunctioning regional governance, a new tier of governance is required, one which relies on political empowerment and a prudent devolution of authority.

In the last two decades the National-Haredi (ultra-orthodox) community has become a central part of the religious public in Israel. This research shows how the national-haredi community recently identifies with extreme right wing political trends and is often reviewed in the general media. Despite that, it has neither been clearly defined nor has it justified an in-depth examination of its cultural, social and spiritual characteristics.

This research is a first attempt of its kind to define the characteristics of this group, highlight significant milestones in its development and the way in which it influenced the religious public and its relationship with the Israeli public at large. It analyzes the transformations witnessed by the religious public which gave rise to this phenomenon, as well as endeavors to predict its future course.

This study examines the relationship between nationalism and democracy in Israel and offers several scenarios on the issue of future relations between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority in Israel. The study focuses on the following cardinal questions:

* What is the ratio between nationalism and democracy in Israel?
* What are the factors shaping this ratio in Israel?
* What are the possible scenarios on the issues of nationalism and democracy and minority-majority relations in Israel?
* What can be done in light of the future possibilities described in the scenarios?

This study presents the views and perceptions of Arab and Jewish residents on the separation fence built in proximity to or actually on the "Green Line," as a result of the brutal terrorist attacks conducted by Palestinian organizations against Jewish localities. The study is based on interviews with residents of Arab and Jewish localities near and west of the "Green Line". In these interviews the researchers sought the plethora of views, conceptions, feelings, experiences and their analysis as to the impact of the separation fence on residents.

This study examines collective educational rights within the framework of an in-depth review of the relations between the Jewish majority and the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel. The study offers examples of minority educational systems elsewhere, highlighting similarities and differences between them and the Arab-Palestinian minority. The study also touches upon the investment in resources and the commensurate achievements as well as on the organizational framework of the Arab educational system in Israel.

Summarizing the Second Annual Local Government of The Harold Hartog School of Governance and Policy, this publication consists of three parts: The first unfolds the concept of Democratic Deficit and explains how it is formed, the dangers embodied in it  and how we may overcome i and establish the democracy correctly. The second part presents the discussion among the panel members and the third part contains the questions asked by the audience and the answers given by the speakers.