State Management of Unpopular Religious Public Policies in Israel
A Comparative Outlook
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Abstract
What strategies do state institutions use to maintain their existing unpopular policies? To what extent are citizens content with these strategies? This article presents a model classifying the various methods state institutions use to manage unpopular policies while keeping these core policies intact. The model demonstrates that state institutions manage unpopular policies by using three strategies, adjusted accordingly to counteract societal discontent: (1) disregard, (2) accommodation of under-the-legislative-threshold alternatives, and (3) partial institutional modification. To test this model, I compare three religion-based policies in Israel: marriage, public transportation on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), and kosher food inspection in public institutions. Each policy is an example of the different measures taken by state institutions to mitigate societal discontent without changing the core of the policy.
Contributor Notes
NIVA GOLAN-NADIR is a research fellow at the Institute for Liberty and Responsibility, Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy & Strategy, Reichman University, where she further heads the Honors Workshop in Applied Politics, and a research Associate at the Center for Policy Research, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy, The University at Albany, SUNY. Her main research interests are within the realm of comparative politics, state religion-relations and Public Administration. Her recent book, Public Preferences and Institutional Designs: Israel and Turkey Compared (2022, Palgrave Macmillan), has been awarded “final list and honorary mention” (second place) by the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies and Concordia University Library. E-mail: niva.golan@post.runi.ac.il