About Rubinstein Center for Constitutional Challenges

The constitutional order is on the verge of a full-scale global crisis. In the past two decades, international law and politics have reshaped following five global mega crises: the national security crisis following the 9/11 attacks, the global financial crisis of 2008, the 2015 European migrant crisis, the COVID-19 global health crisis, and an ongoing political crisis as a result of rapid scientific and technological developments, populism and radical political movements, and fierce majority-minority constellations. The erosion of social bonds, global inequality, demographic shifts, and the decline of public trust in democratic institutions—are challenging some of the most fundamental values and institutions shaped by the Enlightenment.

Israel’s constitutional structure, is in a constant crisis: a country with no formal constitution or comprehensive bill of rights, composed of one parliament (unlike a two-House system) with no clear separation of powers, which has been in a continuous state of emergency since 1948, without a long liberal-democratic tradition, and governed by a coalition where the demographic majority is often a political minority. Israel is a microcosmos for most global challenges: state and religion, majority and minorities, tensions between universal and particular values, and the need to protect human rights in times of crisis. In this reality, it is not self-evident whether the constitutional order is capable of fulfilling its goals and achieving political stability.

The RCCC is the world’s first intellectual hub to address the most urgent constitutional challenges in Israel and the Western world. The topics vary by year.