LAUNCHES

Major Curricular Overhaul

2022 was a busy year for the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy. The School is proud to announce that in the 2022 Shanghai Ranking of World Universities, it was ranked in the top 151-200 programs in the political science category. It is also the fourth most highly ranked program in Israel. Additionally, the school is pleased to share that Amb. Mark Regev has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations. He succeeds Amb. Ron Prosor in this position, who has been appointed as Israeli Ambassador to Germany. A veteran diplomat, Amb. Regev served as the Prime Minister’s Senior Advisor for Foreign Affairs and International Communications between 2020-2021. Other previous posts include Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

On the event front, November 2022 saw a moving event held in commemoration of Prof. Ehud Sprinzak, founding Dean of the Lauder School, to mark 20 years since his untimely passing. The event focused on issues of terrorism and extremism, and was co-organized with the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). In the same month, the Program on Democratic Resilience and Development (PDRD) hosted a Lauder Forum event on the impact of the Russian wars on the liberal international order. The event featured a lively discussion, thanks to an excellent panel featuring Reichman University Visiting Scholar Prof. Thomas Risse, Amb. Regev, Dr. Jennifer Shkabatur, and Dr. Amichai Magen, who moderated the event.

Forum Ofek, a forum composed of students serving in the Israel Defense Forces, hosted Maj. Gen. (ret.) Sami Turgeman, Chairman of the Noga company, for an eye-opening discussion on trends and challenges related to energy and security.

The Lauder School was delighted to host several high school delegations this year, too. Visiting delegations included students from the Diplomacy and International Communication Major of the “Yovel” High School in Herzliya and the “Ironi” High School in Tel Aviv.

As with every year, students of the Lauder School planned and organized “Democracy Day”, the largest student-led event on campus. Co-sponsored by the Lauder School’s own Institute for Liberty and Responsibility (LIBRES) and the University’s Student Union, the event featured a host of politicians, including ministers and other Members of the Knesset, and additional public figures. The speakers included a panel of Reichman University students, who delved deep into some of the main issues on the Israeli political agenda, the state of Israeli democracy, as well as challenges and opportunities lying ahead.

2022-2023 also saw a major curricular reform for the Lauder School led by Dean Prof. Assaf Moghadam, aimed at preparing Government students for the challenges of the 21st Century. The curricular reform introduces new study tracks in BA in Government, in both Hebrew and English, and new and revised study tracks in Public Policy and Administration, Diplomacy and Global Affairs, Contemporary Middle East, Security Studies and Counter-Terrorism, and Data, Government Systems and Democracy. The revised curriculum contains new courses on such issues as great power competition, democracy and dictatorship, and the politics of climate change, as well as innovative workshops on creative thinking and problem solving, and team building, among others. It culminates in capstone courses that incorporate student immersion in practical training.

In the fall of 2022, the Lauder School hosted several academics as visiting professors and scholars. They included Prof. Thomas Risse of Freie Universität Berlin; Dr. Michael Signer, the former Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia and an instructor at the University of Virginia; as well as Dr. Emily Blout of Georgetown University. The school was also pleased to welcome back Prof. Shmulik Nili, an Associate Professor at Northwestern University’s Political Science Department and one of the world’s leading political theorists.

The Lauder School also sent a delegation of 14 students to the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, as part of a long-running academic collaboration between the two schools. The students traveled to the United States for three weeks, took classes at Syracuse University, and visited a number of destinations in Washington, DC and New York.

In January 2023, the Cluster on “Data and Democracy” of the Lauder School organized a conference titled “Between Pegasus and Predator: When and How is it Permitted (or not) to Use Offensive Cyber?” The conference was led by the Head of the Cluster, Prof. Karine Nahon, and journalist Dr. Ronen Bergman. Speakers and panelists from the government, private, and non-profit sectors offered engaging discussions on the many challenges raised by the use of this technology.

Council on Higher Education Heaps Praise on the Lauder School

In December 2022, an international committee of the Israeli Council of Higher Education submitted a formal evaluation of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy. The Council’s report came in the wake of an assessment of all political science programs in Israel, including an on-campus visit. In its final report, the Council noted its impression with the research excellence of the faculty; the level of overall student satisfaction, and the campus facilities. The Council’s report also commended the leadership of Lauder School Dean, Prof. Assaf Moghadam. In the Committee’s words, Prof. Moghadam has “made great strides in curriculum reform, and in inspiring his faculty to be committed both to the institution and its students”.

Academic Achievements

The School also wishes to mention some of the achievements of its students and alumni. This year, Benaya Cherlow, a third-year student in the Honors Program on Strategy and Decision-Making, published an article on the decision-making of Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. Cherlow flew to Berlin and gave a lecture on the panel of the Research Institute for Foreign Relations-DGAP, which zoomed in on the relationship of China and the Middle East.

As for alumni, the Lauder School’s Nava Gethon Peshao was included in the list of 40 Promising Young People published by The Marker. Nava is a graduate of the BA and MA degrees in Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, of the “Israel at Heart” program, and of the Argov Fellows Program in Leadership and Diplomacy. She currently serves as Israel’s economic representative in South Africa.

The Lauder School also congratulates Roei Gabai, who was recently elected as Mayor of the Yavne municipality. Gabbay graduated with honors from the MA in Government, with a Specialization in Public Policy and Political Marketing.

In Memoriam

The Lauder School mourns the passing of Prof. David Nachmias z”l. A founding member of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy and a long-time member of its core faculty, Prof. Nachmias served, inter alia, as Head of the BA Cluster in Public Policy and Administration, as well as Head of the MA Program in Public Policy. A devoted teacher and world-renowned scholar, Prof. Nachmias published extensively on public policy and public administration, having authored or edited more than a dozen books and scores of articles on these topics. He was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Israeli Political Science Association, among numerous other scholarly awards.

The Lauder School also mourns the passing of Prof. Benny Neuberger z”l, a beloved teacher and respected scholar of political science, whose areas of interest included religion and politics, comparative politics, nationalism and history, and government and politics in Israel and Africa. An adjunct instructor at the Lauder School since 2009, Prof. Neuberger was particularly interested in the interplay between democracy on the one hand, and security, religion, and nationalism on the other.