Assaf Shapira

Assaf Shapira received a PhD in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2015-16 he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was teaching at the Department of Political Science at the same university. Assaf holds a M.A. (with honors) in political science from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a B.A. (with high honors) in Politics & Government and Middle East Studies from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He also served as a co-editor of Politika – The Israeli Journal of Political Science and International Relations (2014-16) and worked as a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute (2009-2016).

Research Interests

Assaf's research largely focuses on the representation and participation of citizens and various social groups, especially minorities and other marginalized communities, in politics and particularly in Israeli politics. He has previously worked on issues relating to the representation of women in politics and expanding immigrants' citizenship rights, among others. During his stay at the CEE, Assaf intends to develop and use the Intra-Party Democracy (IPD) Index, which he recently designed (together with Prof. Gideon Rahat) as a tool enabling the evaluation of the level of internal democracy of political parties.

Key Publications

Itzkovich-Malka, Reut, and Assaf Shapira, 2016 (forthcoming). "Legal Gender Quotas in Israel: Why has all Attempts for reforms Failed?," in Michal Shamir, Hanna Herzog, and Naomi Chazan (eds.), Gender Gaps in Politics (Jerusalem: Van-leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibuz Hameuchad) [Hebrew].

Rahat, Gideon and Assaf Shapira, 2016. “An Intra-Party Democracy Index: Theory, Design and a Demonstration,”Parliamentary Affairs, published online January 23, doi:10.1093/pa/gsv068.

Shapira, Assaf, 2016. “Immigrants and Citizenship in Israel – The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law in Comparative Perspective,” in Sara Ozacky-Lazar and Yousef T. Jabareen (eds.), Conditional Citizenship (Haifa: The Jewish-Arab Center and Pardes Publishing House) [Hebrew], pp. 437-458.

Shapira, Assaf and Gideon Rahat, 2015. “The Intra-Party Democracy Index: Development, Implementation, and Results,” in Michal Shamir (ed.), The Elections in Israel – 2013 (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers).

Shapira, Assaf, Ofer Kenig, Chen Friedberg, and Reut Itzkovitz-Malka, 2013. The Representation of Women in Israeli Politics: A Comparative Perspective (Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute) [Hebrew].

Kremnitzer, Mordechai, Assaf Shapira, and Hanan Cidor, 2013. Regulation of Lobbying in Israel (Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute) [Hebrew].

Shapira, Assaf, 2013. “Parties on their Way to the Knesset: Pre-Elections Coalition,” in Gideon Rahat, Shlomit Barnea, Chen Friedberg, and Ofer Kenig (eds.), Reforming Israel’s Political System (Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute), pp. 237-250 [Hebrew].

Shapira, Assaf, 2013. “Party Switching under Changing Parliamentary Environment,” in Gideon Rahat, Shlomit Barnea, Chen Friedberg, and Ofer Kenig (eds.), Reforming Israel’s Political System (Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute), pp. 274-283 [Hebrew].

Oren, Amiram, Oren Barak, and Assaf Shapira, 2013. “How The Mouse Got His Roar: The Shift to an Offensive–Defensive Military Strategy in Israel in 1953 and its Implications,” International History Review, vol. 35, no.