Ezrahi was known for his work on relations between modern science, the rise of the modern liberal democratic state and the uses of political science and authority.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: JANUARY 31, 2019 01:18YARON EZRAHI(photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
Yaron Ezrahi, a highly influential political scientist and commentator on Israeli democracy, died on Tuesday at age 78.One of Israel’s leading liberal thinkers, Ezrahi was a political science professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as well as a former senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. He cofounded The Seventh Eye, Israel’s magazine for press criticism noted for guarding professional standards of journalism.Ezrahi was known for his work on relations between modern science, the rise of the modern liberal democratic state and the uses of political science and authority. His books have been translated into German and Chinese.Ezrahi was born in Tel Aviv, and completed a degree in political science and philosophy at Hebrew University in 1964, receiving his master’s degree in political science in 1966 and his PhD in political science at Harvard in 1972.As a doctoral student, Ezrahi served as an adviser on scientific policy at the White House in 1970, and the OECD (1969-1970). Upon returning to Israel from his studies, he joined the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Israel (1973-1983).In Ezrahi’s publications from the 1970s through the 1990s, he established the impact of the scientific revolution concerning the rise of the instrumental concept of politics in the modern democratic state, analyzing its commitments to the transparency and accountability of power, the ideological neutrality of the state, deliberative public discourse and the rationality of public policy.Ezrahi also later served as a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) from 1993-2003, during which time he co-founded The Seventh Eye.At the IDI, Ezrahi joined a small committee of scholars headed by former chief justice Meir Shamgar, which wrote the most recent draft of the Israeli constitution. He co-wrote the book Israel: Toward a Constitutional Democracy.His book, Rubber Bullets: Power and Conscience in Modern Israel, examined the ways Zionism had come to devalue liberal democratic ideals of individual happiness and self-realization. The book provides a candid, critical examination of the implications of the mounting tensions between nationalism and liberalism for Israel’s attitudes toward military violence, political rhetoric, education and culture.Ezrahi’s recent publications include Imagined Democracies: Necessary Political Fictions; The Voice of the Many and the Voices of the Individual in Music and Politics with his wife, musicologist Ruth HaCohen-Pinczower; and the forthcoming Can Democracy Recover: The Roots of the Crisis of Democratic Faith.Ezrahi appeared frequently in Israeli and international media, commenting on Israeli politics and democracy, and wrote columns for The New York Times and Haaretz.
