Sigal Ben-Rafael Galanti, Prof.

Prof. Sigal Ben-Rafael Galanti is the holder of the Berl Katznelson Chair for the Study of the Labor Movement. She has been the head of the College’s Research Authority since October 2023. Since October 2022, she has also been leading the Gender Equality Unit and serving as the President’s advisor on the matter. Prof. Ben-Rafael Galanti is a political scientist specializing in democratization and de-democratization processes, the democracies of Japan and Israel, and, in recent years, the new nationalist populism (NNP) and its typical rhetoric. She has published books, chapters in books, and articles in these areas of research on international academic stages. Previously, she was the head of the College’s Research Center from 2012 to 2017 and of the Department of Social Sciences and Civics from 2006 to 2012. As a visiting researcher, lecturer, and professor, she has been affiliated with several overseas universities, including Tokyo University (2001), Waseda University (2005-2006), Doshisha University (2018), Osaka University (2018), and the Pedagogical University of Cracow (2014, 2022). She chaired the Israeli Association for Japanese Studies (IAJS) from 2017 to 2020 and has been a member of the Israeli Ministry of Education Political Science Discipline Professional Committee since 2015. She founded and headed (2011-2021) the Forum of Teachers and Researchers of Civics in the Israeli Political Science Association (ISPSA).

Authored books

1. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., (2020) Visions of Democracy and Peace in Occupied Japan. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (imprint of Rowman and Littlefield). 

Edited books

1. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., N. Otmazgin, & A. Levkowitz (Eds.), (2015). Japan’s multilayered democracy. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (imprint of Rowman and Littlefield).
2. Bonny-Noach, H., S. Nathan, & S. Ben-Rafael Galanti (Eds.), (2018). Young adults in Israel: Research and fieldwork. Beit Berl: Beit Berl College. (Hebrew) 

Special Issues of Journals

1. Ben-Rafael Galanti S., & Yuval F. (2020) Innovations in Israeli Politics, Special Issue, Israel Studies Review, 35(3). 

Articles in refereed journals

1. Ben-Rafael E., & Ben-Rafael, S. (1992). Israeli students’ discourse about Europe. International Journal of Sociology, Special Issue: Europe Beyond Geography, 22(1), 153-172.
2. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., Aaronson, W. E., & Schnell, Y. (2001). Power and changes in the balance between ideology and pragmatism in the rightwing Likud party. GeoJournal, 53(3), 263-272.
3. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2008). The demand to remilitarize Japan as a critical test for Japan’s democratization. Politika, 16, 145–171. (Hebrew)
4. Galanti, S. B. (2008). From the margins to a continuous governing position: The miracle of the Israeli rightist Likud elite. World Political Science Review, 4(1), 1-32. Won the Israeli Political Science Association’s prize for best article 2008.
5. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2010). Judicial review in Japan – A limited mechanism or an agent of democratization? Politics, Culture and Socialization, 1, 5-19.  
6. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., & Pauker, A (2014). Fluid sectoralism and the present-day Kibbutz. Politics, Culture and Socialization, 4(2), 183-202.
7. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., & Levkowitz, A. (2015). Attitudes towards Judicial Review in Japan and the Republic of South Korea: Indications for the existence of a liberal-democratic civic culture. International Review of Sociology, 225(2), 318-332.
8. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., & Levkowitz, A. (2016). Learning about attitudes to civic education from school textbooks: Presenting Israel as a ‘Jewish and democratic state. Meitan Higher Education, 1, 13-18. (Chinese)
9. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., Carmel, P. & Levkowitz, A. (2020) Innovations in Israel’s civics textbooks: enlightening trends in non-Western democracies. Israel Studies Review, 35(3), 52-71.
10. Ben-Rafael Galanti S., Yuval F., & Maydani A. (2020) Innovation in Israel: Between Politics, Society and Culture, Israel Studies Review, 35(3), 1-10. Q1 

Chapters in scientific books

1. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2007). Political elites on the right – the Likud. In E. Ben-Rafael & Y. Sternberg (Eds.), New elites in Israel (pp. 43-70). Jerusalem: Bialik Institute. (Hebrew)
2. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2008). The emperor in the constitutional debate. In B. Shillony (Ed.), Handbook of the emperors of modern Japan (pp. 299-312). Leyden: Brill.
3. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2009). The Israeli labor movement and the kibbutz sector. In E. Ben-Rafael & M. Topel (Eds.), The Kibbutz on Ways Apart (pp. 154-173). Jerusalem: Bialik Institute. (Hebrew)
4. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2009). The memory of the Second World War and the essence of ‘New Japan:’ The parliamentary debate over Japan’s democratic constitution. In G. Podoler (Ed.), War and militarism in modern Japan: issues of history and identity (pp. 129-140). Folkstone: Global Oriental (imprint of Brill).
5. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2011). The ‘miraculous Likud’ or the ‘Polish formula’. In M. Misztal & P. Troyanski (Eds.), Poles and Jews: History, culture, education (pp. 57-77). Krakow: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UP.
6. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., with Pauker, A. (2011). Kibbutz sector and Israel’s present-day political elite. In E. Ben-Rafael et al. (Eds.), The risk of enduring (pp. 223-248). Jerusalem: Magnes. (Hebrew)
7. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., & Levkowitz, A. (2014). Checks and balances between the concepts of ‘Jewish State’ and ‘Democracy’ in civic studies’ high school textbooks. In N. Nave & Y. Harel (Eds.), Gate Keepers of Civics pp. 5-27. Reches Academic. (Hebrew)
8. Otmazgin, N., Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., Levkowitz, A. (2015). Introduction: Japan’s multilayered democracy. In S. Ben-Rafael Galanti, N. Otmazgin, & A. Levkowitz (Eds.), Japan’s multilayered democracy (pp. 1-20). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (imprint of Rowman and Littlefield).
9. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2015). Japan’s remilitarization debate and the projection of democracy. In S. Ben-Rafael Galanti, N. Otmazgin, & A. Levkowitz (Eds.), Japan’s multilayered democracy (pp. 89-103). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (imprint of Rowman and Littlefield).  
10. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2016). The Likud as a dominant power and Israel’s post-1977 infrastructure. In Ben-Rafael et al. (Eds.), Handbook of Israel: The major debates (pp. 489-504). Berlin: De Gruyter.
11. Ben-Rafael, E., Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2017). Israel-Palestine: Concrete fences and fluid borders. In A. Gasparini (Ed.), The walls between conflict and peace (pp. 217-237). Leyden: Brill.
12. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2017). Similarities between Polish phyletist nationalism and pro-religious Revisionist Zionism as the backdrop for the Revisionists’ survival and success. In L.T. Sroka, & B. Brotin (Eds.), Polish-Israeli Cooperation Experience (pp. 64-81). Krakow: Wydawnictowo Naukowe UP.
13. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., Pauker, A., & Hishrik, M. (2020). A  sector searches for its essence. In E. Ben-Rafael & O. Shemer, Kibbutz 2020. )pp. 289-326). Yad Tabenkin & the University of Haifa. (Hebrew)
14. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., Pauker, A. & Hisherik, M. (2020). The Post-crisis Kibbutz and Its Relations with the Political Arena. In E. Ben-Rafael et al. (Eds.), The Metamorphosis of the Kibbutz. (166-180). Leiden: Brill.
15. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., & Hisherik, M. (2023). The Israeli national camp’s political rhetoric of debasement as a new nationalist populist (NNP) tool. In O. Feldman (Ed.), Political debasement (pp. 209–227). Springer.  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-0467-9_11
16. Accepted for Publications
    Hisherik, M., & Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2024). The new religious messianic nationalist populism (NMNP) in Israel. In I. Iñigo-Mora & C. Lastres-López (Eds.), Discourse approaches to an emerging age of populist politics. Singapore: Springer.

Non-Academic Publications

1. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S., & Levkowitz, A. (2011). Israel as a Jewish and a democratic state according to learning materials and textbooks. In Y. Harel (Ed.), From Shoah to human rights (pp. 13-16). Israel National Commission for UNESCO.
2. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (15 March 2011). Yesh Kan Hizdamnut (There is an opportunity here) (Premier Kan on the 2011 tsunami). Yediot. (Hebrew)
3. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (30 October 2012). Beit patuach (Open House: the Likud’s unification with the extreme Right) Maariv. (Hebrew)

Research Report

1. Kefir, D., Mero, I., Arafat, S., Hisherik, M. & Ben-Rafael Galanti S. (2014). Combining Courses. Educational and Social Research Center, Beit Berl College.

Refereed articles in conference proceedings

1. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. & Levkowitz, A. (2013). Judicial review in Israel and Japan as agents of democratization. In H. Grinshpun, S. Bejarano & N. Otmazgin (Eds.), Special issue: Japanese studies in Israel as micro-cosmos of Japanese studies in other parts of the world. The Israeli Association for Japanese Studies. 

Entries in encyclopedia

1. Neuberger, B., & Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2007). Israeli non-religious parties and state-religion relations in Israel. In Y. Yovel et al. (Eds.), New Jewish Time (pp. 479-489). Jerusalem: Keter. (Hebrew)

Other scientific publications

1. Ben-Rafael Galanti, S. (2016). The Likud era: Ideas meet reality. Mifgeshey Tarbut, 5. 33-43. (Hebrew)