Proportionality in Public Policy: The Balance between Rights and Public Interests in Decision Making

Sunday, May 19th

9:30 | Gathering and Registration

10:00 | Greetings

Yohanan Plesner, President, Israel Democracy Institute
Mordechai Kremnitzer, Head of the Proportionality in Public Policy Research Project

10:30-12:00 | Book Panel: "Proportionality in Action - an Empirical Study of the Judicial Practice in Six Apex Courts"

Chair: Moshe Cohen-Eliya, College of Law and Business

Speakers: Niels Petersen, University of Munster

Liora Lazarus, Oxford University

Former Chief Justice Aharon Barak, IDC, Herzliya  

Responses: Mordechai Kremnitzer, Israel Democracy Institute

Talya Steiner, Israel Democracy Institute

Andrej Lang, University of Halle-Wittenberg & Israel Democracy Institute

12:00-13:00 | Lunch

13:00-14:30 | Experimental Panel: Empirical Analysis of the Proportionality Doctrine

Chair: Keren Weinshall, The Hebrew University

Presenters: "Facts, Preferences and Doctrine: An Empirical Analysis of Proportionality Judgement"

Raanan Sulitzeanu-Kenan, Israel Democracy Institute & The Hebrew University (with Mordechai Kremnitzer & Sharon Alon)

"Experts' Application of the Proportionality Principle in War"

Daniel Statman, University of Haifa (with Raanan Sulitzeanu Kenan, Micha Mandel, Michael Skerker & Stephen De Wijze)

"Balancing versus Necessity: The Effects of Proportionality's Subtests on the Level of Rights Protection"

Liat Netzer, Israel Democracy Institute (with Talya Steiner & Raanan Sulitzeanu Kenan)

Commentators:

Eyal Zamir, The Hebrew University

Amichai Cohen, Israel Democracy Institute & Ono Academic College

14:30-15:00 | Coffee Break

15:00-16:30 | Panel of Experts from the Field: Critical Reflections on the Day-to-Day Application of Proportionality

Moderator: Suzie Navot, College of Management Academic Studies

Participants: Former Chief Justice, Dorit Beinisch

Mike Blass, Former Deputy to the Israeli Attorney General

Gur Bligh, Legal Advisor to the Knesset Constitution, Law & Justice Committee

Eli Bahar, Former Legal Advisor to the Israeli Security Agency

16:30-17:00 | Coffee Break

17:00-18:00 | Key Note Speech by Professor Mattias Kumm, New York University, WZB Berlin & Humboldt University

"Rights, proportionality and courts under unfavorable circumstances: Some observations on history and judicial strategy"

Monday, May 20th

9:30 | Gathering

10:00-11:00 | Key Note Speech by Professor Paul Slovic, University of Oregon

"The Prominence Effect and Disproportionate Policy Making"

11:00-11:30 | Coffee Break

11:30-13:00 | Experimental Panel: Behavioral Effects on Decision Making involving Rights Limitations

Chair: Ilana Ritov, The Hebrew University

Presenters: Does the Civil Rights Discourse Moderate or Escalate Political Bias? Contrasting Effects in Israel and Canada

Raanan Sulitzeanu Kenan, Israel Democracy Institute & The Hebrew University (with Lior Sheffer, Talya Steiner & Shiran Barzilai)

The Effect of Sequence on Repeated Proportionality Decisions

Ori Plonsky, The Technion (with Daniel Chen, Liat Netzer, Talya Steiner & Yuval Feldman)

Decisions' Residue: Coherence Effects following the Balancing of Rights and Public Interests

Liat Netzer, Israel Democracy Institute (with Andreas Gloeckner, Raanan Sulitzeanu Kenan & Talya Steiner)

Commentators:

Andreas Gloeckner, University of Cologne

13:00-14:00 | Lunch

14:00-15:30 | Case Studies Panel: The Consideration of Rights within the Policy Process

Chair: Gila Stopler, College of Law and Business

Presenters: The Consideration of Rights in the Development of the Israeli Combatting Terror Act

Lila Margalit, Israel Democracy Institute

Rights and Proportionality in the Making of the Anti-Terrorism Data Base and the Data Retention Legislation

Andrej Lang, University of Halle-Wittenberg & Israel Democracy Institute

Commentators:

Paul Yowell, Oxford University

Richard Stacey, University of Toronto.  

15:30-16:00 | Coffee Break

16:00-17:30 | Proportionality in Public Policy – Conclusions and Future Directions: Discussion with Project Directors

Moderator: Yuval Shany, Israel Democracy Institute & The Hebrew University

Discussants: Mordechai Kremnitzer, Raanan Sulitzeanu Kenan, Yuval Feldman, Talya Steiner

17:30 | Dinner