Episode 5: Noam Gidron on Public Support for Democratic Backsliding in Israel

In the fifth episode of “Political Science? No Problem et al.” we
talk to Professor Noam Gidron about democratic backsliding in
Israel. What ideological motivations lie behind the controversial
plans to weaken the Israeli justice system? What attitudes
explain public support for these plans and democratic backsliding
in general? How can Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and its
plans to restructure the justice system be compared with
situations in Poland and Hungary?


We also discussed the role of affective polarization in Israeli
society and how the ongoing war might influence the attempted
erosion of Israel's democratic institutions in the long
term. 


Noam Gidron is an associate professor in the Department of
Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His
previous research is especially known for its findings on
affective polarization and the link between social status and
support for populist parties. 


You can find his website here:
https://en.politics.huji.ac.il/people/noam-gidron  and
follow him on Twitter here: https://x.com/NoamGidron.  Noams
work discussed in the episode can be found here:
https://osf.io/preprints/osf/zxukm and here:
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/900431 . If you'd like to give us
feedback, consider rating the podcast wherever you listen to it
or send us a message on Twitter (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi
& https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt)