IDI News: June 2011 - The Israel Democracy Institute

June, 2011

IDI Convenes the 19th Caesarea Economic Policy Planning Forum

Panel at the 19th Caesarea Economic Forum

On June 19-20, 2011, IDI convened the 19th Caesarea Economic Policy Planning Forum. Widely recognized as Israel’s most influential economic conference, this year's Forum, which was conducted at the College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon Letzion, focused on the following topics: Israeli Young Adults Aged 18-22, The Internet Economy in Israel, Bureaucracy in Israel, and The Global Economy and Israel. Abstracts of the working group recommendations and full video coverage of the event are available on the IDI website in both Hebrew and English.

Visit the main page of the 2011 Caesarea Economic Forum

Read highlights of Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer's "State of the Economy" address

View the video interview with Minister of Finance Dr. Yuval Steinitz

See what Harvard's Prof. Niall Ferguson said about Israel and the global economy

Find out what Google and McKinsey reported on Israel's internet economy

IDI Hosts International Conference on Religion and Nationality

Worshippers draped in the Israeli flag at the Western Wall

On June 19–20, IDI Senior Fellow Prof. Anita Shapira, head of the Nation State project, hosted an international conference that explored the interplay between religious identity and national identity in Israel, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Eastern Europe, France, Canada, and the United States. Full video coverage of this event, which was conducted mostly in English, is available. Find out more

More Events at IDI

Roundtable: The Study of Civics in Israel
The Israeli society of tomorrow is being formed in today's civics classes. But what should be taught in those classes? On June 15, 2011, three former Education Ministers joined a panel of experts in discussing this question at IDI's Roundtable Forum. Find out more

IDI Young Leadership Forum Hosts Final of Annual Speech Contest
On June 13, 2011, IDI hosted the final of the speech contest of its Young Leadership Forum, a division of IDI's Forum for Political Reform in Israel that is designed to engage Israel's younger generation in public discourse and the political sphere. Find out more

Roundtable: Ultra-Orthodox Leadership – Past and Future
On June 30, 2011, IDI marked the publication of Dr. Benjamin Brown's book on the democratization of haredi leadership by hosting a panel on the nature of ultra-Orthodox leadership in the past and possible directions for the future. Find out more

More News and Analysis from IDI

Crossing the Syrian Border: The Israeli Response

Crossing the Israeli-Syrian border, June 2011

Is deadly force an appropriate response to the crossing of borders by civilians? In this op-ed, IDI Senior Fellow Prof. Yuval Shany analyzes the army's response to the recent disturbances on the Israeli-Syrian border, and distinguishes between situations of war, on the one hand, and riots or disturbances, on the other.

Read the op-ed

Video Interview: Prof. Yedidia Stern on the Role of Rabbis

What are the central challenges facing the Israeli rabbinate today? IDI Vice President of Research Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern, co-editor of a new Hebrew anthology on rabbis and the rabbinate, shares his thoughts on the role and relevance of rabbis in today's Israel.

View the interview

Israel Takes Another Step Towards a Biometric Database On June 2, 2011, the Knesset took another step towards issuing "smart" identity cards and establishing a biometric database of Israeli citizens. Find out about the issues raised by this move in an article by Dr. Nitzan Lebovic and Avner Pinchuk.		Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer Warns of "Democracy on a Diet" In a recent Der Spiegel article entitled "The Politics of Stasis: Israelis Increasingly Resigned to Life without Peace," IDI Vice President of Research Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer is quoted extensively about the dangers confronting Israeli democracy.

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