Periphery, professionalism and government stability in Israel’s local government

The economic weaknesses of Israel’s periphery have attracted media attention and have shifted upwards as a priority in the national agenda. There has been a heightened awareness of gaps between the haves and the have-nots and of growing inequality. One important facet of the public debate on issues of centre and periphery has been the degree of professionalism of the leaders running local government compared to that of their counterparts in the centre. In this paper, there is an examination of the relationship between three variables – periphery, professionalism and (to a lesser extent) local government stability. A vicious cycle has been identified which seems to perpetuate the economic and political weakness of local government in the periphery.