Revaluing rationality

Name: Professor Emanuel Adler

Position: Andrea and Charles Bronfman Chair in Israeli Studies, held since 2001

Affiliation: Department of Political Science

Education: PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Area of Expertise: International relations

Teaching

POL345     Becoming Israel: War, Peace and the Politics of Israel’s Identity

Publications

– Communitarian International Relations (2005)

– Security Communities, with Michael Barnett (1998)

Major Awards & Honours

2007-2012  Editor of International Organization

2005           Outstanding Teaching Award at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (6th time)

Can rational negotiation defuse intractable political standoffs like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Professor Emanuel Adler, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Chair in Israeli Studies, believes that it can, despite decades of violence, and at least seven wars. In February 2007, Adler convened Rationality and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, a workshop of Nobel laureates, foreign policy experts and international relations graduate students to discuss obstacles to a rational settlement of the conflict, and to suggest ways of removing them.

Since becoming the Chair in 2001, Professor Adler has invited students and experts to re-examine Israel’s political crises from new perspectives. Renowned for his work on the role of ‘epistemic communities’ — knowledge-based groups with authoritative claims to policy-relevant experience — in modern governance, Adler is a scholar who is willing to “think the unthinkable... that community exists at the international level, that security politics is profoundly shaped by it, and that those states dwelling within an international community might develop a pacific disposition.”

In May 2010, Adler organized the 26th Annual Association for Israel Studies Conference at U of T. Several hundred scholars from around the world convened to consider the theme of “Israel in the World.” His other initiatives include a project to consolidate multidisciplinary insights into international relations and a strategic redefinition of the idea of deterrence in an age of asymmetric warfare.

Established in 2001, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Chair in Israeli Studies is dedicated to the advancement of scholarship on modern Israeli society and to strengthening the University’s ties with Israeli institutions. “Israel is made up of immigrants from 101 different countries,” says Mr. Bronfman, “all of whom had nothing in common except for being Jewish. Despite the fact that most of today’s Jewish Israeli citizens came from autocratic states, they have developed a society that has been responsible for the country’s thriving democracy.” Charles Bronfman and his late wife, Andy, are internationally regarded for their contributions to educational exchange programs which foster an understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the Jewish people. In 2002, they were awarded Honorary Citizenship of Jerusalem, becoming only the second and third North Americans ever to receive this honour.

Story by Brendan de Caires
Photo: Dave Chen