Draft:Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler

Sivan Hirsch Hoefler is Associate Professor at ​the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, Reichman University. Her research focus on the processes underpinning political extremism and violence, with a particular emphasis on Israel.

Biography

Hirsch Hoefler graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in political science from the University of Haifa. She completed her doctorate degree in political science at the University of Antwerp under the supervision of Prof. Cas Mudde. After receiving her PhD, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Government at Cornell University.

Her research has appeared or is forthcoming in, Journal of Peace Research, British Journal of Political Science, European Journal of Political Research, Foreign Affairs, Comparative Politics, Political Psychology, Electoral Studies, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, and other outlets.

She is currently associate Professor at ​the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, Reichman University, where she joined in 2012. Part of her teaching courses includes: Public opinion, Communication, and Politics, Political behavior and Democratic processes in the age of Big Data. She is mainly using quantitative methods along with large-N analysis with the intention to elucidate the socio-political motivations behind political extremism and the conditions under which political extremism poses threats to democracies.

Hirsch Hoefler live in Haifa, Israel, with her husband Itai, and four children, Itamar, Yotam, Lior and Neta.

Writings

Her book "The Israeli Settler Movement: Assessing and Explaining Social Movement Success," co-authored with Prof. Cas Mudde, was published with Cambridge University Press in 2021.

"Much of my research to date has focused on the mobilization and action strategies of the Israeli settler movement (ISM). I first pursued this research agenda in my Ph.D. dissertation and later during my postdoc fellowship at Cornell University. My current work (with Cas Mudde) goes beyond this research agenda to include social movement success. As part of this research agenda, we have conducted extensive fieldwork and survey research in the West Bank and Gaza, carrying out experimental surveys as well as in-depth interviews with the elite of the Israeli settler movement."

The project received the support of the Israel Institute.

Reviews

'More than a comprehensive accounting of the extraordinarily successful settlers' movement, this indispensable analysis explains how a once-marginal radical project built support in politics, media, and the general public. The Israeli Settler Movement is the best critical account of a critically important social movement.'

David S. Meyer - Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and Planning, Policy, and Design, University of California, Irvine

'Ambitious and innovative in both theory and empirical analysis, this book is the first I've read to offer a full picture of the structure, strength, and success of Israel's settlement movement. This compelling text is full of insights, and will prove of lasting value for students and scholars of social movements, democratic politics, Israel, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As the world now confronts the possibility of de jure Israeli annexation in the West Bank, this work could not be more timely.'

Tamara Cofman Wittes - Ph.D. Senior Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution

'This authoritative account of the settler movement is an essential reading for scholars, policymakers and anyone else interested in Israeli politics or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While the settler movement has garnered much attention, until this book we have had very little systematic data and analysis to comprehensively understand its present and future impact. Steering clear from polemics and conjecture, this study reveals what social movement theory can teach us about the settler movement, and what the settler movement can teach us about the evolution and success of radical social movements more broadly.'

Lihi Ben Shitrit - Assistant Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia, and author of Righteous Transgressions: Women's Activism on the Israeli and Palestinian Religious Right

'Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler, a prominent scholar of political extremism and Israeli politics, and Cas Mudde, the leading authority in the study of right-wing populism, wrote a masterpiece. This tour de force offers a meticulous analysis of the settlers' movement road to becoming the most influential political actor in Israel. The study is a milestone in the study of social movements and their impact.'

Ami Pedahzur - Ralph W. Yarborough Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts, Department of Government, The University of Texas at Austin.

Bibliography

Books

• Hirsch-Hoefler Sivan and Cas Mudde (2020). The Israeli Settler Movement: Assessing and Explaining Social Movement Success, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316481554.

Journal articles

• Elad-Strenger, J., Ben-Shitrit, L., & Hirsch-Hoefler, S. (2024). Mainstreaming Democratic Backsliding: The Role of Gender Stereotypes. European Journal of Political Research. doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12667.
• Hirsch-Hoefler Sivan, Vashdi Dana, Lowe Robert, Muldoon Orla, Hobfoll Steven and Canetti Daphna (2021).Status symmetry effect: The association of exposure and PTS in Israel-Palestine and Northern Ireland. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1-18. doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2019.1590342.
• Ben-Shitrit, L., Elad-Strenger, J.*, & Hirsch-Hoefler, S. (2021). “Pinkwashing” the Radical-Right: Gender and the mainstreaming of radical-right policies and actions. European Journal of Political Research.doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12442.