Scholactivism in the service of counter-populism: The case of constitutional overhaul in Israel

Abstract This article examines the role that legal scholars in Israel played with respect to the constitutional overhaul promoted by Israel’s thirty-seventh government, during the period between November 2022 and September 2023. Members of the legal academia in Israel, including the authors of this article, took an active part in resisting the overhaul, engaging in a wide array of activities that draw on their professional knowledge and status. These activities included collective activism through the publishing of position papers, giving community talks, collaborating with other parts of the protest movement, providing media commentary, writing op-eds, taking part in political negotiations, and engaging in outreach to the international legal community and international institutions. The article examines this activity in the context of the scholarship on “scholactivism,” and addresses the critique that scholactivism may compromise the role of the scholar to disseminate knowledge and seek the truth. After reviewing the constitutional overhaul and the activities undertaken by legal scholars, the article argues that in the context of counter-populism, the activist goal of fighting populism aligns with, rather than contradicts, the scholarly goals of disseminating knowledge and seeking the truth. Furthermore, when constitutional law is the modus operandi of populist leaders, legal scholars have a unique role in identifying manipulations and threats and explaining them to the public. Nonetheless, the article also examines the risks associated with legal scholars’ activism, including potential threats to the integrity of scholarship and the status of scholars. It offers strategies for mitigating these risks and assessing them against the threats at hand.