“Wisconsin Works” in Israel? Imported Ideas, Domestic Coalitions, and the Institutional Politics of Recommodification

The spread of workfare to Israel and elsewhere in the world is typically attributed to the power of a globalized neoliberal orthodoxy. This chapter demonstrates how, on the contrary, the introduction of new employment and social policies in Israel bearing the Wisconsin moniker was an attempt to resolve intra-state conflict regarding the goals and instruments of state intervention in the labor market. These conflicts were resolved through by importing new policy ideas. Via translation, it was possible to assemble a change coalition and advance domestic institutional change. Nevertheless, due to the persistence of intra-state conflicts over the goals and instruments of social and labor policies, workfare was implemented alongside existing institutions to create a new institutional layer. Layering was instrumental in overcoming opposition to the program, but also made it vulnerable to politicization. This politicization brought about the interruption of the program five years after its inception.