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

Abstract

Cohabitation means sharing the Earth with others. Following Hannah (The origins of totalitarianism. NYC: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1976), democracy can be conceived as a form of organization of collective life based on its respect for plurality, namely, for cultural, religious and ethnic diversity, granting that no one should exercise the right to choose with whom to cohabit. Nevertheless, historical experiences have shown time and again that cohabitation is a matter of concern, being channeled by social movements, political parties and governments. The question on how to politically institute cohabitation in contexts of conflict is what I have tried to make intelligible by studying the Jerusalemite reality, where the dominant ethno-national group’s political project has derived in the subsequent production of the diasporic condition of the cultural Other.