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Child Allowances in Israel: The Effectiveness of Biopolitical Processes in Controlling Israel's Population


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1 California State University - Long Beach, United States
     

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Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, crafting a population that best serves the interests of the 'Jewish State' has been a high priority for every Israeli government administration. This article explores how child allowances in Israel are part of a biopolitical process that attempts to shape Israel's population in ways most advantageous to Jewish-Israelis. To understand how this works, the paper analyzes the most salient newspaper articles from 1999-2000 that address the issue of child allowances in the online English language version of the daily Israeli newspaper "Ha'aretz." The stories in the newspaper articles reveal how shaping populations can be a messy process. So even when there is consensus among state actors about population goals - as is the case with the Israeli state wanting to maintain a large Jewish-Israeli population majority over Israel's Palestinian citizens - it is often difficult to achieve them because shifting political priorities and ideological differences deprioritize biopolitical processes to the point where they become of secondary importance.

Keywords

Political Demography, Biopolitics, Child Allowances.
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  • Child Allowances in Israel: The Effectiveness of Biopolitical Processes in Controlling Israel's Population

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Authors

Steven Rousso-Schindler
California State University - Long Beach, United States

Abstract


Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, crafting a population that best serves the interests of the 'Jewish State' has been a high priority for every Israeli government administration. This article explores how child allowances in Israel are part of a biopolitical process that attempts to shape Israel's population in ways most advantageous to Jewish-Israelis. To understand how this works, the paper analyzes the most salient newspaper articles from 1999-2000 that address the issue of child allowances in the online English language version of the daily Israeli newspaper "Ha'aretz." The stories in the newspaper articles reveal how shaping populations can be a messy process. So even when there is consensus among state actors about population goals - as is the case with the Israeli state wanting to maintain a large Jewish-Israeli population majority over Israel's Palestinian citizens - it is often difficult to achieve them because shifting political priorities and ideological differences deprioritize biopolitical processes to the point where they become of secondary importance.

Keywords


Political Demography, Biopolitics, Child Allowances.

References