Osnat Akirav
Biographic Data
| ID | 4122637 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Osnat Akirav |
| GIVEN NAMES | Osnat |
| FAMILY NAME | Akirav |
| SIGNATURE | AKIRAV O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Galilee College |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6270-6963 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 100 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Determinants of government duration: Correcting for hyper inflating measures
Recent years have seen growing scholarly attention to the role of intra-coalition partisan change. Yet, Shomer et al. (2022) critiqued the common definition of government termination that regards any partisan change as a government termination, arguing that it inflates the number of governments and distorts scholarly understanding of government duration—particularly in certain countries. This research note examines whether, and to what extent, ad…
Ethics on the edge: Outlier legislators, political crises, and sanctioning dynamics in the Israeli Knesset (1984–2024)
This study examines an overlooked aspect of legislative behaviour in Israel: the ethical conduct of Knesset members and the parliament’s responses to it. Drawing on 224 sanctioning decisions issued by the Ethics Committee between 1984 and 2024, it introduces an initial model distinguishing external factors – critical events, affective polarisation, and populist rhetoric – from internal factors, including outlier legislators, chairperson seniority…
Populism and legislative backsliding
Introduction This study presents a comprehensive set of measurements for assessing legislative backsliding and authoritarian populist rhetoric. Methods I demonstrate the use of these measures by comparing the discussions involved in passing three Basic Laws in Israel. One was enacted in the 20th Knesset term, whereas the other two were passed during the current 25th Knesset that began in 2022. Results and discussion The findings indicate more leg…
The narrative of women’s political ambition
Legislative–Executive Relations in Israel: Constitutional Crisis 2023–2024
among the two smaller coalition partners (i.e., the Greens and the FDP).Reactions to Russia's war on Ukraine led to visible conflict, when individual MPs from within the majority publicly positioned themselves against their PPGs' positions and the chancellor.The heat thus further intensified.We observe current "hot politics" in a system that values "cold politics
What Political Scientists Owe Democracy
This essay explores the distinctive role of political scientists in defending democracy during democratic crises, emphasizing their professional responsibility to safeguard democratic institutions. Drawing upon the engagement of Israeli political scientists in widespread protests against democratic backsliding, beginning in January 2023, it proposes a model of scholarly activism that integrates collective initiatives with coordinated individual e…
The rise of populism as a factor in Mezey’s explanation of legislative vulnerability
Democratic backsliding and the constitutional blitz
The aim of this paper is to analyze the acceleration of the democratic backsliding Israel experienced between January 2023 and April 2023 during the first session of the 25th Knesset and the 37th government in Israel. We explore the factors that contributed to this process. Our goal is to determine whether there are any elements that are unique to Israel in this regard that distinguish it from other countries that have experienced such backslidin…
From a peripheral town to the Silicon Valley of northern Israel
This article examines how the small peripheral town of Yoqneam became one of the largest high-tech centres in Israel. It does so by using official data analysis and in-depth interviews with key figures to construct a holistic model that explains the town's phenomenal success in upgrading its socioeconomic level from 3 to 7 in 25 years. Four major success anchors have been identified: a) Employment opportunities that include high paying jobs in in…
Investiture rules and the formation and type of government in Israel and Italy
This paper investigates the seemingly puzzling situation in which legislators vote against a government of which they will become a part. Why are legislators from the coalition parties not fully disciplined in the investiture vote? Is it because of the type of government when the characteristics of the investiture vote is similar (a simple majority and an ex-post vote)? Using Israel and Italy as case studies, we demonstrate that when the type of …
Termination of parliamentary governments: Revised Definitions and Implications
The literature on government coalitions uses a common definition of when governments terminate and new ones form. This terminology is convenient and has served empirical coalitions studies quite well. This article challenges this terminology on the ground that it risks inflating the number of governments and, at least in some countries, severely distorts scholarly understanding of government duration and durability. Specifically, this article cri…
Intersectional Representation Between Gender, Religion, and Nationality
Immigrants who came to Europe in recent decades (work immigrants and/or refugees) grapple with intersectional identities, such as religion, nationality and gender, yet current political research addresses these issues only in part. To address these omissions, I conducted a content analysis of all parliamentary questions Muslim representatives raised in their parliamentary activities in three Western countries. I also investigated whether the repr…
Women's Leadership in Local Government
In the last two decades the number of women involved in politics locally and nationally has increased. Nevertheless, there is limited empirical work investigating the increase in the number of female candidates for the position of mayor. To fill this gap in the literature, we conducted interviews with 57 of the 72 female candidates for mayor in Israel before the October 2018 elections, and 37 of the 72 female candidates for mayor after the electi…
The Frequency of Use of Legislative and Non-Legislative Tools in Five Countries
This study analyzes the use of legislative and non-legislative tools, which has rarely been done simultaneously. I collected data about the frequency of use of legislative tools (presenting and passing legislation) and non-legislative tools (making one-minute speeches, written and oral parliamentary questions and motions for the agenda) in five countries: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and Israel. The results confirm my three hypotheses. Legis…
Using non-legislative tools when legislation is hard: A comparison of the Canadian, UK, and Israeli parliaments
The agenda power of non-legislative tools
How do we assess the power of governments to control and set the agenda in parliaments? How do we assess the power of oppositions to present their agenda? Cox and McCubbins’ cartel model used a roll rate analysis of legislation, while Krehbiel suggested the use of non-legislative tools. Based on this advice, this article investigates the use of a non-legislative tool – motions for the agenda – in the Israeli Knesset, or more specifically: ‘the ag…
The Role of Joint Lists and the New Political Rhetoric in Israel, 2015–2020
In 2014, Israel changed its electoral rules, requiring political parties to obtain at least 3.25 percent of the popular vote to gain a seat in the Knesset. We investigated the role that this change played in the creation of joint lists of several parties in the four ensuing elections, and found that the platforms and statements of joint lists were less ideological than those of their constituent parties. Our argument is that the trend of inter-pa…
Gender and parliamentary activity
A new approach to measuring legislators’ activity
How do we measure the activity of legislators? I argue that, in addition to using measures such as how many bills they pass, we must also consider activities such as parliamentary questions, early day motions, motions for the agenda and one-minute speeches. One means for doing so is Akirav’s activity scale developed in Israel. I use this scale to measure legislators’ activity in two additional political systems – the United States and the United …
Measuring the formation of a new government: The case of the Israeli parliament 1949–2016
We test three criteria for recording data about the formation of a new government and the allocation of its portfolios using the case of Israel. We then analyse Gamson's Law and compare our results to the conclusions of four other datasets. With regard to theory, we suggest that studies (1) include cases in which MPs leave the government and take their seats with them, (2) include the number of seats of the support parties in the total number of …
Assessing the parliamentary activities of UK MPs
Electoral Rules and Legislators’ Productivity
Over the years, there have been a variety of changes to candidate selection methods for the Israeli Knesset. As a result, there have been changes in the way the Knesset functions. This study investigates whether these changes have made legislators more productive. To explore this issue, we used Akirav’s (2016) legislative productivity scale with data from the 14th, 16th and 19th Knesset (Israel’s parliament) terms to test several hypotheses. We f…
Candidate Selection Methods, Cooperation and Legislative Effectiveness
This study investigates whether differences in candidate selection methods and/or the changes in the Israeli political system affect cooperation between parliament members and whether such cooperation explains legislative effectiveness. To examine these issues, we discuss different types of cooperative strategies using a scale we devised that defines three options for cooperation: 1) uncooperative, 2) cooperation within the party and 3) cooperati…
The Formateur’s Bonus in European Constitutional Monarchies, 1901–99
In this article, we examine bonuses garnered by government formateurs in all European democracies that began the 20th century as constitutional monarchies. Using a new data set on how portfolios were allocated in each democratic coalition cabinet formed 1901–99, we show that formateurs’ bonuses were positive and significant when the monarch still exercised discretion in choosing them but declined after the monarch’s role was constrained. Relatedl…
The talk–listen–respond (TLR) model of representatives on Twitter
Despite the existing research on how elected representatives use Twitter, there are few comparative studies and none that considers Israel, a country that differs from most democracies in its electoral system. This study has two levels of analysis. The first is the country level, in which the author compares and explains how representatives in four countries – the US, Canada, Australia and Israel – use the talk, listen and respond model to achiev…
Candidate Selection and a Crowded Parliament: The Israeli Knesset, 1988–2006
Candidate selection reform has its consequences. This article examines Israel as a case study in order to understand the changes in parliamentary activity (legislation, parliamentary questions and motions for the agenda) that resulted from the adoption of primaries as a candidate selection reform by the Labour Party in 1992 and later by three more parties: Likud, Meretz and Tzomet. The findings show that there has been a significant increase in p…
Agenda Control in the Israeli Knesset during Ariel Sharon's Second Government
How do multi-party coalition governments share agenda power? In principle, coalitions might allocate agenda power among their members by distributing special proposal rights, distributing special blocking rights, or both. The literature has prominent models embodying each polar possibility, with Laver and Shepsle's model envisaging that each party in a coalition has the ability to propose any bill(s) it wishes within the jurisdiction of a ministr…
What do representatives produce? Work profiles of representatives
Legislative effectiveness and legislators’ productivity are important issues in parliamentary life. The literature about legislative effectiveness and legislators’ productivity deals mainly with the characteristics of its use, while that on legislation attempts to define and measure the productivity of legislators. The main objective of this research is to develop a new productivity scale, reflecting a new way of looking at productivity. The scal…
The use of parliamentary questions in the Israeli parliament, 1992–96
This article examines the use of parliamentary questions in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) as a means of controlling the government during the years 1992–96 through an analysis of 1041 parliamentary questions on the basis of four criteria: efficiency (how long it takes to be answered); effectiveness (achieving its goals); the need for a supplementary question; and the publicity surrounding the minister's answer. It shows that although in the 13…
Termination of parliamentary governments: Revised Definitions and Implications
The literature on government coalitions uses a common definition of when governments terminate and new ones form. This terminology is convenient and has served empirical coalitions studies quite well. This article challenges this terminology on the ground that it risks inflating the number of governments and, at least in some countries, severely distorts scholarly understanding of government duration and durability. Specifically, this article cri…
Re-election: Different Skills for Different Roles
The current research examines the ability of legislators to be re-elected through fulfilling their three roles: legislation, oversight and representation. This study also re-examines Mayhew's claim (1974) that most legislators are motivated by a desire to be re-elected, and that this desire drives their legislative activity through its utility in advertising, credit claiming and position taking. We argue that the skills required for selection and…
Electoral Rules and Legislators’ Productivity
Over the years, there have been a variety of changes to candidate selection methods for the Israeli Knesset. As a result, there have been changes in the way the Knesset functions. This study investigates whether these changes have made legislators more productive. To explore this issue, we used Akirav’s (2016) legislative productivity scale with data from the 14th, 16th and 19th Knesset (Israel’s parliament) terms to test several hypotheses. We f…
Catch-22: Arab Members of the Israeli Parliament
We maintain that Arab MKs in the Israeli parliament face a catch-22 in their role as representatives. Both the Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel see the Arab MKs as representing mainly the Palestinians who are not citizens of Israel rather than their Arab constituents. In order to investigate this seeming contradiction, we use qualitative and quantitative data from four databases—one-minute speeches, interviews, video calling cards and the votin…
Democratic backsliding and the constitutional blitz
The aim of this paper is to analyze the acceleration of the democratic backsliding Israel experienced between January 2023 and April 2023 during the first session of the 25th Knesset and the 37th government in Israel. We explore the factors that contributed to this process. Our goal is to determine whether there are any elements that are unique to Israel in this regard that distinguish it from other countries that have experienced such backslidin…
Measuring the formation of a new government: The case of the Israeli parliament 1949–2016
We test three criteria for recording data about the formation of a new government and the allocation of its portfolios using the case of Israel. We then analyse Gamson's Law and compare our results to the conclusions of four other datasets. With regard to theory, we suggest that studies (1) include cases in which MPs leave the government and take their seats with them, (2) include the number of seats of the support parties in the total number of …
The Formateur’s Bonus in European Constitutional Monarchies, 1901–99
In this article, we examine bonuses garnered by government formateurs in all European democracies that began the 20th century as constitutional monarchies. Using a new data set on how portfolios were allocated in each democratic coalition cabinet formed 1901–99, we show that formateurs’ bonuses were positive and significant when the monarch still exercised discretion in choosing them but declined after the monarch’s role was constrained. Relatedl…
What Political Scientists Owe Democracy
This essay explores the distinctive role of political scientists in defending democracy during democratic crises, emphasizing their professional responsibility to safeguard democratic institutions. Drawing upon the engagement of Israeli political scientists in widespread protests against democratic backsliding, beginning in January 2023, it proposes a model of scholarly activism that integrates collective initiatives with coordinated individual e…
Gender and parliamentary activity
Assessing the parliamentary activities of UK MPs
The talk–listen–respond (TLR) model of representatives on Twitter
Despite the existing research on how elected representatives use Twitter, there are few comparative studies and none that considers Israel, a country that differs from most democracies in its electoral system. This study has two levels of analysis. The first is the country level, in which the author compares and explains how representatives in four countries – the US, Canada, Australia and Israel – use the talk, listen and respond model to achiev…
The rise of populism as a factor in Mezey’s explanation of legislative vulnerability
From a peripheral town to the Silicon Valley of northern Israel
This article examines how the small peripheral town of Yoqneam became one of the largest high-tech centres in Israel. It does so by using official data analysis and in-depth interviews with key figures to construct a holistic model that explains the town's phenomenal success in upgrading its socioeconomic level from 3 to 7 in 25 years. Four major success anchors have been identified: a) Employment opportunities that include high paying jobs in in…
Using non-legislative tools when legislation is hard: A comparison of the Canadian, UK, and Israeli parliaments
The agenda power of non-legislative tools
How do we assess the power of governments to control and set the agenda in parliaments? How do we assess the power of oppositions to present their agenda? Cox and McCubbins’ cartel model used a roll rate analysis of legislation, while Krehbiel suggested the use of non-legislative tools. Based on this advice, this article investigates the use of a non-legislative tool – motions for the agenda – in the Israeli Knesset, or more specifically: ‘the ag…
A new approach to measuring legislators’ activity
How do we measure the activity of legislators? I argue that, in addition to using measures such as how many bills they pass, we must also consider activities such as parliamentary questions, early day motions, motions for the agenda and one-minute speeches. One means for doing so is Akirav’s activity scale developed in Israel. I use this scale to measure legislators’ activity in two additional political systems – the United States and the United …
Agenda Control in the Israeli Knesset during Ariel Sharon's Second Government
How do multi-party coalition governments share agenda power? In principle, coalitions might allocate agenda power among their members by distributing special proposal rights, distributing special blocking rights, or both. The literature has prominent models embodying each polar possibility, with Laver and Shepsle's model envisaging that each party in a coalition has the ability to propose any bill(s) it wishes within the jurisdiction of a ministr…
Candidate Selection and a Crowded Parliament: The Israeli Knesset, 1988–2006
Candidate selection reform has its consequences. This article examines Israel as a case study in order to understand the changes in parliamentary activity (legislation, parliamentary questions and motions for the agenda) that resulted from the adoption of primaries as a candidate selection reform by the Labour Party in 1992 and later by three more parties: Likud, Meretz and Tzomet. The findings show that there has been a significant increase in p…
The use of parliamentary questions in the Israeli parliament, 1992–96
This article examines the use of parliamentary questions in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) as a means of controlling the government during the years 1992–96 through an analysis of 1041 parliamentary questions on the basis of four criteria: efficiency (how long it takes to be answered); effectiveness (achieving its goals); the need for a supplementary question; and the publicity surrounding the minister's answer. It shows that although in the 13…
Catch-22: Arab Members of the Israeli Parliament
We maintain that Arab MKs in the Israeli parliament face a catch-22 in their role as representatives. Both the Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel see the Arab MKs as representing mainly the Palestinians who are not citizens of Israel rather than their Arab constituents. In order to investigate this seeming contradiction, we use qualitative and quantitative data from four databases—one-minute speeches, interviews, video calling cards and the votin…
Re-election: Different Skills for Different Roles
The current research examines the ability of legislators to be re-elected through fulfilling their three roles: legislation, oversight and representation. This study also re-examines Mayhew's claim (1974) that most legislators are motivated by a desire to be re-elected, and that this desire drives their legislative activity through its utility in advertising, credit claiming and position taking. We argue that the skills required for selection and…
What do representatives produce? Work profiles of representatives
Legislative effectiveness and legislators’ productivity are important issues in parliamentary life. The literature about legislative effectiveness and legislators’ productivity deals mainly with the characteristics of its use, while that on legislation attempts to define and measure the productivity of legislators. The main objective of this research is to develop a new productivity scale, reflecting a new way of looking at productivity. The scal…
The talk–listen–respond (TLR) model of representatives on Twitter
Despite the existing research on how elected representatives use Twitter, there are few comparative studies and none that considers Israel, a country that differs from most democracies in its electoral system. This study has two levels of analysis. The first is the country level, in which the author compares and explains how representatives in four countries – the US, Canada, Australia and Israel – use the talk, listen and respond model to achiev…
Candidate Selection Methods, Cooperation and Legislative Effectiveness
This study investigates whether differences in candidate selection methods and/or the changes in the Israeli political system affect cooperation between parliament members and whether such cooperation explains legislative effectiveness. To examine these issues, we discuss different types of cooperative strategies using a scale we devised that defines three options for cooperation: 1) uncooperative, 2) cooperation within the party and 3) cooperati…
The Formateur’s Bonus in European Constitutional Monarchies, 1901–99
In this article, we examine bonuses garnered by government formateurs in all European democracies that began the 20th century as constitutional monarchies. Using a new data set on how portfolios were allocated in each democratic coalition cabinet formed 1901–99, we show that formateurs’ bonuses were positive and significant when the monarch still exercised discretion in choosing them but declined after the monarch’s role was constrained. Relatedl…
Assessing the parliamentary activities of UK MPs
Electoral Rules and Legislators’ Productivity
Over the years, there have been a variety of changes to candidate selection methods for the Israeli Knesset. As a result, there have been changes in the way the Knesset functions. This study investigates whether these changes have made legislators more productive. To explore this issue, we used Akirav’s (2016) legislative productivity scale with data from the 14th, 16th and 19th Knesset (Israel’s parliament) terms to test several hypotheses. We f…
The Role of Joint Lists and the New Political Rhetoric in Israel, 2015–2020
In 2014, Israel changed its electoral rules, requiring political parties to obtain at least 3.25 percent of the popular vote to gain a seat in the Knesset. We investigated the role that this change played in the creation of joint lists of several parties in the four ensuing elections, and found that the platforms and statements of joint lists were less ideological than those of their constituent parties. Our argument is that the trend of inter-pa…
Gender and parliamentary activity
A new approach to measuring legislators’ activity
How do we measure the activity of legislators? I argue that, in addition to using measures such as how many bills they pass, we must also consider activities such as parliamentary questions, early day motions, motions for the agenda and one-minute speeches. One means for doing so is Akirav’s activity scale developed in Israel. I use this scale to measure legislators’ activity in two additional political systems – the United States and the United …
Measuring the formation of a new government: The case of the Israeli parliament 1949–2016
We test three criteria for recording data about the formation of a new government and the allocation of its portfolios using the case of Israel. We then analyse Gamson's Law and compare our results to the conclusions of four other datasets. With regard to theory, we suggest that studies (1) include cases in which MPs leave the government and take their seats with them, (2) include the number of seats of the support parties in the total number of …
Intersectional Representation Between Gender, Religion, and Nationality
Immigrants who came to Europe in recent decades (work immigrants and/or refugees) grapple with intersectional identities, such as religion, nationality and gender, yet current political research addresses these issues only in part. To address these omissions, I conducted a content analysis of all parliamentary questions Muslim representatives raised in their parliamentary activities in three Western countries. I also investigated whether the repr…
Women's Leadership in Local Government
In the last two decades the number of women involved in politics locally and nationally has increased. Nevertheless, there is limited empirical work investigating the increase in the number of female candidates for the position of mayor. To fill this gap in the literature, we conducted interviews with 57 of the 72 female candidates for mayor in Israel before the October 2018 elections, and 37 of the 72 female candidates for mayor after the electi…
The Frequency of Use of Legislative and Non-Legislative Tools in Five Countries
This study analyzes the use of legislative and non-legislative tools, which has rarely been done simultaneously. I collected data about the frequency of use of legislative tools (presenting and passing legislation) and non-legislative tools (making one-minute speeches, written and oral parliamentary questions and motions for the agenda) in five countries: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and Israel. The results confirm my three hypotheses. Legis…
Using non-legislative tools when legislation is hard: A comparison of the Canadian, UK, and Israeli parliaments
The agenda power of non-legislative tools
How do we assess the power of governments to control and set the agenda in parliaments? How do we assess the power of oppositions to present their agenda? Cox and McCubbins’ cartel model used a roll rate analysis of legislation, while Krehbiel suggested the use of non-legislative tools. Based on this advice, this article investigates the use of a non-legislative tool – motions for the agenda – in the Israeli Knesset, or more specifically: ‘the ag…
Investiture rules and the formation and type of government in Israel and Italy
This paper investigates the seemingly puzzling situation in which legislators vote against a government of which they will become a part. Why are legislators from the coalition parties not fully disciplined in the investiture vote? Is it because of the type of government when the characteristics of the investiture vote is similar (a simple majority and an ex-post vote)? Using Israel and Italy as case studies, we demonstrate that when the type of …
Termination of parliamentary governments: Revised Definitions and Implications
The literature on government coalitions uses a common definition of when governments terminate and new ones form. This terminology is convenient and has served empirical coalitions studies quite well. This article challenges this terminology on the ground that it risks inflating the number of governments and, at least in some countries, severely distorts scholarly understanding of government duration and durability. Specifically, this article cri…
From a peripheral town to the Silicon Valley of northern Israel
This article examines how the small peripheral town of Yoqneam became one of the largest high-tech centres in Israel. It does so by using official data analysis and in-depth interviews with key figures to construct a holistic model that explains the town's phenomenal success in upgrading its socioeconomic level from 3 to 7 in 25 years. Four major success anchors have been identified: a) Employment opportunities that include high paying jobs in in…
The rise of populism as a factor in Mezey’s explanation of legislative vulnerability
Democratic backsliding and the constitutional blitz
The aim of this paper is to analyze the acceleration of the democratic backsliding Israel experienced between January 2023 and April 2023 during the first session of the 25th Knesset and the 37th government in Israel. We explore the factors that contributed to this process. Our goal is to determine whether there are any elements that are unique to Israel in this regard that distinguish it from other countries that have experienced such backslidin…
Political science (27 works) · Law (26 works) · Law (26 works) · Politics (26 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (19 works) · Economics (17 works) · Public Administration (15 works) · Public Administration (15 works) · Parliament (13 works) · Government (linguistics (12 works)