Yesterday I mentioned Gidi Grinstein’s suggestion that many of Israel’s problems are rooted in the instability of its government.
Here’s the idea in his own words:
The Prime Minister’s National Economic Council has recently presented an ambitious plan titled “Socio-Economic Agenda for Israel 2008-2010”. As appropriate, the media highlighted the objective of reducing the number of households below the poverty line from 20.2% to 17.2% by 2010 thus raising 60,000 families above the poverty line.
Unfortunately, the NEC’s recommendations are unlikely to be implemented. The plan’s key weakness is that it requires continuous and systemic cross-agency cooperation in planning, decision-making and implementation. This will not happen.
The timeframe for the plan is three years. However, the chances that the current government will survive that long are slim. In practice, only the Begin-Shamir government of 1981 served its full term of four years. The next government will not be obligated to Olmert’s agenda, just as the current government is not obligated by the decisions of its predecessors.
MORE… (“It’s the Structure; Not the Content!”)
