Israel's Public Administration

Israel’s Public Administration: Structure, Functions and Needed Reforms provides a comprehensive and critical examination of Israel’s civil service, its institutional evolution, and the challenges it faces in maintaining effective and democratic governance.

Drawing on extensive historical analysis, quantitative data, and comparative perspectives, Itzhak Galnoor and Nissim Cohen trace how foundational institutional choices have shaped the structure, culture, and performance of Israel’s public administration. The book identifies key structural weaknesses - including fragmented accountability, politicized appointments, opaque budgeting practices, and problematic privatization policies - and explains how these dynamics have contributed to inefficiency, inequality, and democratic deficits. This second edition incorporates the latest available data and introduces a new chapter examining the public administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, offering timely insight into state capacity under conditions of emergency. The authors conclude with concrete and practical reform proposals, including legal safeguards, strengthened accountability mechanisms, outcome-oriented budgeting, and measures to reinforce professionalism and inclusivity in the civil service.

This book will appeal to students and scholars of public administration, political science, and Israeli politics, as well as policymakers, civil servants, and practitioners interested in governance reform, state capacity, and democratic accountability.

Itzhak Galnoor is former Head of Israel’s Civil Service Commission and Herbert Samuel Professor of Political Science (Emeritus) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has written extensively on Israeli governance and democracy, political institutions, and state-society relations.

Nissim Cohen is a Full Professor in the Division of Public Administration and Policy, School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa. His research focuses on policy entrepreneurship, street-level bureaucracy, and public administration reform.