Dr. Maoz Rosenthal

Dr. Maoz Rosenthal

Senior Lecturer at the Department of Politics and Communications

Dr. Maoz Rosenthal is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Politics and Communications at the Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College (previously Hadassa Academic College). He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Tel-Aviv University in 2007 and completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the Open University of Israel in 2008. Dr. Rosenthal has previously held positions at Reichman University (IDC Herzliya), Binghamton University (SUNY), and Yale University. He serves as the editor of the department newsletter. He also served as the Israeli Political Science Association’s Secretary from 2021-2023.

Dr. Rosenthal's research spans three main areas of political science:

  1. Executive Politics: Examining how politicians strategically control policy agendas to achieve their goals, focusing on parliamentary systems and coalition politics. His book "Israel's Governability Crisis" (2017) provides an in-depth analysis of how unstructured institutions affect governance.

  2. Judicial Politics: Investigating the relationship between courts and political power, primarily how judges function as policymakers and the political dimensions of judicial independence. Dr. Rosenthal has developed innovative methods for measuring judges' political preferences and analyzing court decisions through policy frameworks.

  3. Ethnic Voting and Minority Representation: Studying how minority groups use electoral participation to advance their interests, emphasizing how socioeconomic factors influence voting behavior and political representation.

Dr. Rosenthal applies rigorous quantitative and comparative methodologies in his research, utilizing data coding schemes like the Comparative Agendas Project (CAP) and the Comparative Manifestos Project (CMP) to analyze political texts and policy agendas.

Dr. Rosenthal has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, including:

  • "Judicial Review in a Defective Democracy" in the Journal of Law and Courts (2021)

  • "Strategic agenda setting and Prime Ministers' approval ratings" in British Politics (2021)

  • "When does Descriptive Representation become Substantive?" in Ethnicities (2019)

  • "Voting Locally Abstaining Nationally" in Ethnic and Racial Studies (2018)

  • "Policy Instability in a Comparative Perspective" in Political Studies (2014)

His book "Israel's Governability Crisis: Quandaries, Unstructured Institutions and Adaptation" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017) examines the structural challenges in Israel's political system.

Dr. Rosenthal is actively engaged in collaborative research endeavors, including:

  • Co-Principal Investigator on an Israel Science Foundation grant (2018-2022) studying Israel's policy agendas across various political arenas

  • Research fellow with the Political Elites Research Group in the Tamroor-Politography Program

  • Visiting research fellow at the Tachlit Institute (2022-2024)

  • Coordinator of the Political Elites and Democracy research group at the Program for Democratic Resilience and Development (2019-2022)

Dr. Rosenthal has contributed his policy expertise to several organizations, including the Israel Democracy Institute, the Center for Citizens' Empowerment in Israel, and as Academic Coordinator in the Presidential Committee for Revising the Israeli Government System. He regularly provides commentary on coalition politics, electoral systems, and public policy in various media outlets.