Book chapter - Policing Coexistence Through Economic Incentives: An Analysis of Nir Barkat’s Policies on Education in East Jerusalem During His Tenure as Mayor (2009–2018)

IGNACIO RULLANSKY

Fiesole

Workshop; Middle East Programme Working Group; 2023

European University Institute

The recent military escalation between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has illustrated the protracted and at times violent nature of the Israeli-Palestinian cohabitation, or, some would argue, the lack thereof. This article aims to explore the configuration of specific political rationality surrounding cohabitation between ethnonational groups by studying the design of public policies in a context of conflict. I will focus on Nir Barkat’s administration (2009-2018) as mayor of Jerusalem to apprehend the emergence of a specific modality of conceiving the task of governing both Israelis and Palestinians. The study of educational policies in East Jerusalem and the municipal sponsorship of Palestinian schools that adopted the Israeli curriculum will illustrate how Barkat promoted processes of subjectivation by applying the grid of intelligibility of the homo economicus of neoliberalism.