Dana Alexander

Prof. Shai Lavi, Prof. Nissim Mizrachi

Until beginning her doctorate, Dana was a human rights practitioner for over two decades at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel –first as a lawyer, and then as the director of the legal department. As a human rights lawyer Dana dealt with a wide variety of issues, including rights of the mentally ill, planning rights in the unrecognized Bedouin villages, rights of migrant workers and asylum seekers, the separation barrier in the Occupied Territories and freedom of expression.

Dana holds a law degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1991), and a B.A. in philosophy (summa cum laude) from Yale (1987). During her law studies and after, Dana served as a teaching and research assistant, primarily in the areas of constitutional and administrative law.

Dana's research explores the boundaries of human rights constitutionalism in Israel. To understand and conceptualize these boundaries, she analyzes the textually documented opposition to three case-studies of central legal human rights campaigns, in the past two decades, that encountered public and political backlash. The discourse and justification of the opposition to these campaigns are analyzed in light of critiques of human rights in constitutional theory, moral sociology and anthropology, and political theory. The implications of the conclusions of the research, for the practice of legal human rights advocacy, will also be discussed. 

Human rights, political theory, constitutional theory, moral sociology and anthropology, law and society.

Education:

1991 – L.L.B. (magna cum laude) Hebrew University

1987 – B.A. (summa cum laude) in Philosophy, Yale University

Academic and Professional Experience:

2003 – 2015 – Director of Legal Department (and from 2010 – also head of Dep't of Civil and Political rights) at ACRI - Association for Civil Rights in Israel

2001 – 2003 – Fellow, Mandel School for Educational and Social Leadership (Jerusalem)

1992 – 2001 – Lawyer, ACRI

1990 – 1998 – Research Assistant (Prof. Eyal Zamir, Prof. David Kretzmer) and Teaching Assistant (Prof. Hanina Ben-Menahem, Prof. David Kretzmer), Hebrew University, Law College at Bar Ilan Univ. and College of Law and Business Ramat-Gan, in areas of contract law, constitutional law, jurisprudence and administrative law.

1992 – Clerkship at Gilead Sher Law Offices, Jerusalem

1991 – 1992 – Clerkship at High Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Gavriel Bach

1989 – 1990 – Student editor, Israel Law Review, Hebrew University

Prizes, Scholarships and Fellowships:

2018 – The President's Scholarship for Scientific Excellence and Innovation, on the subject of "Sovereign, sovereignty and peace" (3 year scholarship)

2017 – 18 month fellowship from the Shaharit Institute for a politics of the common good

2016 – The Raoul Wallenberg Prize for research in human rights

2015 – Research Grant from the Minerva Center for Human Rights, Tel Aviv University, on the subject: "Human Rights: a Historical and Critical Approach"