Reflections on the Relationship between the Government and Civil Society Organizations during the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Israeli Case

Hillel Schmid*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

The paper analyzes the relations between the government and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. The paper presents the inconsistent policy of the government, which has been influenced by various interest groups and the very limited financial support allocated to CSOs during the health, economic and social crisis. The paper describes the government's alienated attitude toward the CSOs as well as the reasons for that behavior. Special attention is devoted to the government's misunderstanding of the mission and roles of CSOs in modern society, especially at times of crisis and national disasters. The paper also analyzes the organizational and strategic behavior of CSOs toward the government, which has also contributed to the alienated attitude of the government toward them. I argue that relations between CSOs and the government should be based on more trust, mutuality, and understanding on the part of both actors in order to change power-dependence relations, and that there is a need to establish more cross-sectoral partnerships for the benefit of citizens.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)189-197
Number of pages9
JournalNonprofit Policy Forum
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Hillel Schmid, published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2021.

Keywords

  • alienation
  • civil society organizations
  • collaboration
  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • financial support
  • government

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