In our projects economists and social experts develop socio-economic solutions for Israel which are subsequently presented to policy makers.
Social justice on the basis of equal social rights and standards is a central pillar of our work. In our work we incorporate approaches from a broad spectrum of viewpoints to cope with Israel’s huge social and economic challenges.
As a result of the latent military threat to the country, social politics still don’t play a decisive role in Israel. It is not an easy task to shift the focus from high expenses for the military to topics of social politics. Israel’s political system is marked by encrusted bureaucratic structures which hinder the implementation of policies. In addition, the short-lived terms of parliament and government often only allow political concepts to be developed on paper, whereas an apparatus of public servants controls their implementation or non-implementation.
This paralysis is coinciding with a tense social situation. While Israel’s economic performance satisfies OECD levels, the social situation acuminates. The social gap widens and poverty rates stay high. Since the end of the social democratic hegemony at the end of the seventies the economic discourse is marked by neoliberalism. Although this development was mostly stopped over the last years by inserting social democratic ideas into government policies, social justice is still not a basic value in Israel’s policies.
Therefore, we want to:
- Develop socially just concepts of policy and position them in public discourse.
- Establish workers’ rights according to the “Decent work” standards of the ILO.
- Foster the trade unions’ functional and political capabilities.
- Create a contrary discourse to the dominating concepts of neoliberalism in both Israeli politics and society, followed by formulating concrete matching policies.
Hence in 2014 we organized events for young adults as well as professional audiences which dealt with several aspects of this topic. Amongst them were: the concept of a welfare state, the correlation between military expenses and social security, decreasing the inequality of income, corporate social responsibility, the Israeli tax system and cooperative public systems of supply and maintenance.
Read our latest publications in the field of SOCIAL JUSTICE!
Overview of our previous and upcoming Events in the field of SOCIAL JUSTICE!
