This class seeks to guide students in researching, organizing, writing, reviewing and rewriting an original research paper of publishable quality and length (approximately 25 pages long). Students will be encouraged to explore on their own any issue relating to Israeli politics and society that strikes them as compelling: party politics, ethnic cleavages, demographics, religion-state relations, constitution and law, art and culture, industry and trade, gender, race, and class, education, etc.
The secondary goal of this class is to explore key issues in Israeli politics and society. Lectures dedicated to the craft of research and writing will be interspersed with lectures about theoretical and empirical issues relating to the history and contemporary politics of Israel. We will discuss the formation of the state, its geography and history, its political system, and its demographics. Several sessions will be dedicated to Israel’s social and political challenges, to economic opportunities and obstacles, to U.S.-Israel relations, and to the relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. The Arab-Israeli conflict is not a focus of this class (it is a focus of another class of mine, PS124B, “War in the Middle East”) but students are free to address topics of international and national security in their papers for this class if they wish.
Subfield: Either International Relations or Comparative Politics.
Instructor: Eran Kaplan
Interested students should contact erank@berkeley.edu for an enrollment approval request.
Political Science Majors of Junior or Senior Status.
Completion of PS124 or enrollment in Israel Studies minor.