Amit Avigur-Eshel – författare

This ground-breaking book goes beyond conventional arguments to explore how and why populists are able to hold power for long periods. It illustrates that exclusionary populist movements maintain power whenever they succeed in stabilizing social structures around a political project promoted as an alternative to the current hegemony.Dani Filc and Amit Avigur-Eshel employ a neo-Gramscian framework grounded in the distinct analytical concepts of ideology, historical blocs, and economic growth models to examine the long rule of Israel’s Likud party during 2009–2019. Exemplifying how public policies are crucial to exclusionary populists retaining power, they find that the combination of neoliberal and heterodox socio-economic policies and the exploitation of Israel’s export-led growth model to improve the material welfare of 'the people', as well as deals struck with non-populist forces based on ideological commonalities were pivotal in Likud’s decade-long reign. Looking beyond Israel, Filc and Avigur-Eshel apply this analytical framework to successful exclusionary populist parties across Asia and Europe to emphasize the importance of understanding the interrelationship between populist historical blocs, their worldviews and growth models. A pioneering study of populism, this book will appeal to students and scholars of political economy, political sociology, international and comparative politics, political parties, public policy, and governance. Policymakers and researchers interested in the relationship between populism and growth models will also find it beneficial.

This ground-breaking book goes beyond conventional arguments to explore how and why populists are able to hold power for long periods. It illustrates that exclusionary populist movements maintain power whenever they succeed in stabilizing social structures around a political project promoted as an alternative to the current hegemony.

Dani Filc and Amit Avigur-Eshel employ a neo-Gramscian framework grounded in the distinct analytical concepts of ideology, historical blocs, and economic growth models to examine the long rule of Israel’s Likud party during 2009–2019. Exemplifying how public policies are crucial to exclusionary populists retaining power, they find that the combination of neoliberal and heterodox socio-economic policies and the exploitation of Israel’s export-led growth model to improve the material welfare of ''the people'', as well as deals struck with non-populist forces based on ideological commonalities were pivotal in Likud’s decade-long reign. Looking beyond Israel, Filc and Avigur-Eshel apply this analytical framework to successful exclusionary populist parties across Asia and Europe to emphasize the importance of understanding the interrelationship between populist historical blocs, their worldviews and growth models.

A pioneering study of populism, this book will appeal to students and scholars of political economy, political sociology, international and comparative politics, political parties, public policy, and governance. Policymakers and researchers interested in the relationship between populism and growth models will also find it beneficial.

Digital protest and activism in reaction to the consequences of neoliberalism in public education have become a global phenomenon in the second decade of the 21st century, emerging in countries such as the US, UK, France, and Israel. Teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in education are increasingly using digital media in their protest and activism efforts, yet these efforts have hardly been investigated to date.This book addresses this gap and employs an empirical exploration of the way in which Internet-based protest activity concerning public education issues is constructed, mobilised, and carried out. In doing so it provides key insights for the study of educational politics in the digital age. It shows how digital media is used by teachers and parents to create a bottom-up politics, spanning a common divide in the study of education politics between the macro (policymaking) and the micro (school) levels. The authors propose a novel taxonomy of uses of social media by digital activists, and argue that Internet-based social mobilisations develop different patterns of use of social media, based on the lived experience of their members and potential supporters. Finally, the book situates the rise of digital activism in education within the neoliberal restructuring of national education systems and the rise of neoliberal discourse of competition, budget discipline, and measurable achievements. The authors highlight three cases of Internet-based mobilisations in Israel, in which teachers and parents successfully affected public education policy.  By providing a case-study driven analysis of digital protest and activism in education, this book will prove an invaluable text for researchers, leaders and practitioners in the field of education policy and comparative education.

Digital protest and activism in reaction to the consequences of neoliberalism in public education have become a global phenomenon in the second decade of the 21st century, emerging in countries such as the US, UK, France, and Israel. Teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in education are increasingly using digital media in their protest and activism efforts, yet these efforts have hardly been investigated to date.This book addresses this gap and employs an empirical exploration of the way in which Internet-based protest activity concerning public education issues is constructed, mobilised, and carried out. In doing so it provides key insights for the study of educational politics in the digital age. It shows how digital media is used by teachers and parents to create a bottom-up politics, spanning a common divide in the study of education politics between the macro (policymaking) and the micro (school) levels. The authors propose a novel taxonomy of uses of social media by digital activists, and argue that Internet-based social mobilisations develop different patterns of use of social media, based on the lived experience of their members and potential supporters. Finally, the book situates the rise of digital activism in education within the neoliberal restructuring of national education systems and the rise of neoliberal discourse of competition, budget discipline, and measurable achievements. The authors highlight three cases of Internet-based mobilisations in Israel, in which teachers and parents successfully affected public education policy.  By providing a case-study driven analysis of digital protest and activism in education, this book will prove an invaluable text for researchers, leaders and practitioners in the field of education policy and comparative education.