Daniel Polisar

Daniel Polisar is among the founders of the Shalem Center and has served during the past decade as Research Director, Academic Director, Editor-in-Chief of the Center's journal, Azure, and, since 2002, president. Previously, he was founder and director of Peace Watch, a non-partisan Israeli organization that monitored Israeli and Palestinian compliance with the Oslo Accords, and he headed the Peace Watch observer team during the January 1996 Palestinian elections. Polisar received his BA in politics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in government from Harvard University, where he was the recipient of Truman and Fulbright scholarships, and of a Mellon Fellowship. In between earning those degrees, he spent two years studying at Yeshivat Darchei Noam, in Jerusalem.

Polisar's research, writing, and teaching focuses on Israeli constitutional development, Zionist history, Jewish political thought, and economic policy. He has testified before the Knesset Constitution Committee on Israel's character as a Jewish state, and is a member of the Presidential Commission on Governmental Reform. In February 2006, he was appointed by the Prime Minister to chair the National Herzl Council, responsible for commemorating the legacy of Theodor Herzl.

He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and six children.

Bibliography

Books

Edited with Yitzhak Klein, Choosing Freedom: Economic Policy for Israel, 1997-2000 (Jerusalem: Shalem Center, 1997)

Electing Dictatorship: Why Palestinian Democratization Failed (Dissertation: Harvard University, 2001)

Select Publications

With Yoram Hazony and Michael B. Oren, The Quiet Revolution in the Teaching of Zionist History: A Comparative Study of Education Ministry Textbooks on the 20th Century (Jerusalem: Shalem Center, 2000)

"We Jews Love Life: A Tribute to Dvir Emanuelof", PowerLine (January 13, 2009)

"Israel's Constitutional Moment," Azure 20 (Spring 2005)

"Towards a Common Judaism," Azure 17 (Spring 2004)

"Death by Taxes," Azure 15 (Summer 2003)

"Yasser Arafat and the Myth of Legitimacy," Azure 13 (Summer 2002)

"On the Quiet Revolution in Civilian Education," Azure 11 (Summer 2001)

"Making History," Azure 9 (Spring 2000)

"Is Iran the Only Model for a Jewish State?" Azure 7 (Spring 1999)

Courses Taught

Israel's Constitution in Theory and Practice