Ido Aharoni & Uriel Abulof: Fear & Politics - A Winning Combination?

Prof. Uriel Abulof is an Associate Professor at Tel-Aviv University’s School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs, and a Visiting Professor at Cornell University. Abulof studies the politics of fear, happiness and hope, legitimation, social movements, nationalism, and ethnic conflicts. He has written extensively on the Middle East and Israel and has received the Young Scholar Award in Israel Studies. He published several books, edited volumes, over sixty peer-reviewed academic articles, and copious essays and op-eds. His recent books include The Mortality and Morality of Nations, Living on the Edge: The Existential Uncertainty of Zionism, Self-Determination: A Double-Edged Concept and Communication, Legitimation and Morality in Modern Politics. He is currently completing his book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, tentatively entitled Nemesis: The Making of an Existential Conflict. Abulof created and directs various public projects, including Double-Edged (in Psychology Today magazine), the Sapienism.com blog, and the award-winning edX course HOPE: What Makes Us Human, reviewed top course among thousands of online courses in the humanities and the social sciences. In this new episode of TAU Unbound, Abulof shares with Host Ido Aharoni his views on the roles of emotions and morality in politics, the roots of polarization and the crisis of liberal democracy, as well as the conversations we need to have to bring about political and social change.