On May 30, 2024, we had the honor of participating in the important conference “Democracy without a Demos?” organized by the Rubinstein Center for Constitutional Challenges at Reichman University. During the conference, Yaniv Cohen, Director of the Institute, presented how Tachlit has worked and continues to work to promote effective policy within the frameworks of Israeli consensus. Later in the event, Dr. Elad Gil, Head of Research at Tachlit, spoke about the legislative crisis affecting Israel and the political conceptions that stand in the background.

At the core of the event were guest speakers Professor Joseph Weiler, legal scholar, and Professor Marta Cartabia, former President of the Constitutional Court and former Minister of Justice of Italy. The two discussed the “demos” and its critical importance to democracy as an inclusive concept, and made various comparisons between the fragile situation in Israel and constitutional and social crises occurring in other countries. “Society is at the peak of a worrying process in which we are losing pluralism in political discourse,” said Professor Cartabia, “The concept of ‘compromise’ has become a pejorative term reserved for the weak.”