Dr. Nancy Strichman, one of Glocal's core lecturers, has recently published, together with Dror Eitan and Fathi Marshood, the Guidebook for Shared Society. Here is an introduction from the related article. The full article can be found here.
Introduction
Nonprofits have unique strategic concerns, including their dependence on external resources, the management of multiple stakeholders, perceptions about their organizational legitimacy as well as their primary focus on the social value of their organizational mission (Stone and Brush 1996). Moreover, in order to address societal problems that are too complex to be solved by any one organization, effective nonprofits must work collaboratively to promote an active civil society by mobilizing every sector of society (DeVita et al. 2001). For shared Arab–Jewish organizations in Israel that are seeking to promote a ‘shared society,’ the obstacles in navigating these various challenges are particularly pronounced and require a very unique kind of adaptive capacity (see Letts et al. 1999; Connolly and York 2003; Strichman et al. 2007). With military and security concerns paramount, Israeli nonprofits regularly struggle to place social issues on a crowded public agenda. Shared Jewish–Arab organizations, often operating outside of the general consensus, are faced with the significant challenge of promoting values of partnership, equality and mutual interests among two populations that are often at odds. In addition to navigating relationships with multiple stakeholders, with varied if not conflicting objectives, these nonprofits need to operate in a rapidly shifting political climate c
haracterized by uncertainty and tension.
Research studies that analyze the role of ideology in shaping the organizational structure, mission and practices of an organization cite the difficulties that can arise as a nonprofit becomes more institutionalized and situates itself within its external environment (see Galaskiewicz and Bielefeld 1998; Thomas 1999; Staggenborg 1988). Shared Jewish–Arab organizations indeed face a unique set of challenges in establishing nonprofits that intentionally seek to disrupt the current status quo in Israel. With organizational stakeholders holding such disparate perspectives regarding the nature of the state of Israel and the conflict between Israel, the Palestinians and greater Arab world, these organizations have taken upon themselves the goal of working collaboratively with both communities and promoting a shared society within the internationally recognized borders of Israel. Their ability to navigate these strategic issues takes on even more significance, especially because they are often operating in an environment that can actually be hostile to the goals of a shared society (see Lune 2002). This research seeks to shed light on how shared Arab–Jewish nonprofits are continually working to strengthen organizational capacities to more effectively carry out their particular organizational mission, given the myriad of challenges they face.