Neoliberalism as a State Project - Changing the Political Economy of Israel

In only a few decades, Israel was radically transformed from a developmental political economy to a neoliberal regime. This book asks why and how these transformations were made possible.

This book explores the politics, institutional dynamics, and outcomes of neoliberal restructuring in Israel. It puts forward a bold proposition: that the very creation of a neoliberal political economy may be largely a state project. Correspondingly, it argues that key political conflicts surrounding the realization of this project may occur within the state. Neoliberal restructuring and the institutionalization of permanent austerity are dependent on reconfigured power relations between state actors and are manifested in a new institutional architecture of the state. This architecture, in turn, is the context in which efforts to change social and employment policies play themselves out.

The volume frames the coming of neoliberalism in Israel as a set of concrete and far-reaching changes in the power and modes of operation of the key players in the political economy. These changes undermined and neutralized veto players and enabled the ascendance of two state agencies - th e Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank - which gained greatly augmented authority and autonomy. These reconfigurations were set in motion by state initiatives that combined punctuated and incremental change. The volume comprises case studies of changes in specific social and labor market policies, revealing a close elective affinity between programmatic neoliberal changes on the one hand, and on the other the proactive drive of the Ministry of Finance to enhance its control over public spending and policy design. The book explores successful neoliberal reforms but also reforms that were blocked, undermined, or overturned by opposition, emphasizing the importance of reformers' capacity to translate temporary achievements into entrenched strategic advantages.

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Foreword: Israel, Neoliberalism and Comparative Political Economy
1: Asa Maron and Michael Shalev: Introduction
Part 1. Transformations of the Key Actors
2: Lev Grinberg: Paving the Way to Neoliberalism: The Self-Destruction of the Zionist Labor Movement
3: Daniel Maman: Big Business and the State in the Neoliberal Era: What Changed, What Didn't?
4: Daniel Maman and Zeev Rosenhek: The Reconfigured Institutional Architecture of the State: The Rise of Fiscal and Monetary Authorities
5: Ronen Mandelkern: Institutionalizing the Liberal Creed: Economists in Israel's Long Journey towards Political-Economic Liberalization
Part 2. Neoliberalism and Social Policy Reform
6: Michal Koreh and Michael Shalev: Pathways to Neoliberalism: The Institutional Logic of a Welfare State Reform
7: Sara Helman and Asa Maron: Wisconsin Works' In Israel? Imported Ideas, Domestic Coalitions, And The Institutional Politics Of Re-Commodification
8: Sharon Asiskovitch: Bureaucrats , Politicians, and the Politics of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Reforming Child Allowances and Healthcare
Part 3. Neoliberalism and the Casualization of Employment
9: Michal Tabibian-Mizrahi and Michael Shalev: Precarious Employment in the Public Sector: How Neoliberal Practices Preceded Ideology
10: Guy Mundlak: Contradictions in Neoliberal Reforms: The Regulation of Labor Subcontracting
11: Asa Maron and Michael Shalev: Conclusion