Israel's socio-economic discourse faces a relevancy gap. A nuanced national discourse between the two main socio-economic ideologies that combines an understanding of academic knowledge and popular will is a prerequisite for achieving the ISRAEL 15 Vision.
In this context, Larry Bartel's recent book Unequal Democracies is relevant. Quoted on Dani Rodrik's blog, Princeton's Bartel claims that recent evidence from the United States shows that Democratic presidents provide better growth and more equality than Republic presidents. The Democratic vision, tempered by the powerful and loyal opposition of American style conservatism in Congress, produces policies that enrich and equalize society.
While no center-right party in the rich world comes close to the low-taxes/small-government policies of America's Republicans, Bibi Netanyahu and the civil servants in the Finance Ministry are their closest ideological siblings in Israel.
On the other side of the spectrum, Israel has no answer to the Democratic Party's combination of populism and sound economic thinking. The guiding principles of Israel's center-left parties lack the intellectual rigor of American or European social-democracy. The leading intellectuals in the field, such as Avia Spivak, Nathan Zussman, and Avishay Braverman, are sidelined politically.
Consequently, Israel's socio-economic discourse faces a relevancy gap. Whereas US experience shows that social-democracy tempered by powerful strains of conservatism is an effective means of providing growth and equality, Israel's center-left parties lack any credible social-democratic voice to confront the dominant conservative ideology.
Gidi Grinstein is founder and president of the Reut Institute. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Reut Institute.
For additional information regarding BloGidi see his original post: A Link in the Chain.