Patricia J. Woods, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science and
Center for Jewish Studies
University of Florida
210 Anderson Hall, Box 117325
Gainesville, FL 32611
Tel: 352-273-2370; Fax: 352-392-8127
pjwoods@ufl.edu
Research
My research interests center on judicial politics and judicial power in comparative perspective. My current manuscript, Judicial Power and National Politics: Courts and Gender in the Religious-Secular Conflict in Israel, is a study of increasing judicial power and intellectual ties between justices and left-wing lawyers in the conflict between religious and secular forces within the Israeli state and society. The manuscript is currently under review.
I have published articles on judicial politics and judicial community in Israel; the use by state religious officials in Israel of religious marriage and divorce law to create and (literally) reproduce the Jewish People that they believe God wills; on the local nature of the women's movement in Israel (by contrast to claims that it is a foreign import); and a co-authored piece under review drawing upon theories of state-society relations to explain interactions among cause lawyers and state officials. These articles appear in the journals, Field Methods, Israel Studies Forum, DROIT ET SOCIETE, and in edited volumes by Joel Migdal (Cambridge University Press 2004), and Austin Sarat and Stuart Scheingold (Stanford University Press 2005). I have lectured on aspects of my first book at Harvard University; Princeton University; the Group d’Analyse des Politiques Publiques, CNRS, Cachan, France; and the University of Florida.
My current projects include an article on the roots of the constitutional revolution in Israel; a comparative analysis of religious-secular conflict in the legal sphere in Israel in which a collection of interviews highlights the parameters conflict, motivations and deeply held-views of actors within the conflict; and a larger analysis of judicial responses to conflicts between the legal principles of freedom of religion and gender equality (women’s rights) with cases in the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe.
I have received research fellowships from institutions including the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Dorot Foundation. I have been a visiting research fellow or visiting scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University; Hebrew University in Jerusalem Department of Political Science; Birkbeck College of Law, University of London (honorary visiting fellow); the Group d'Analyse des Politiques Publiques at the ENS-Cachan, France; and Tel Aviv University Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Book Manuscript:
Woods, Patricia J. Judicial Power and National Politics: Courts and Gender in the Religious-Secular Conflict in Israel. Forthcoming, SUNY Press, July 2008.
Links to selected published works:
"Gender and the Reproduction and Maintenance of Group Boundaries: Why the 'Secular' State Matters to Religious Authorities in Israel," in Boundaries and Belonging: States and Societies in the Struggle to Shape Identities and Local Practices, Joel S. Migdal, ed., Cambridge University Press, March 2004.
“Prayer, Contentious Politics, and the Women of the Wall: The Benefits of Collaboration in Participant Observation at Intense, Multi-Focal Events” with Steven V. Mazie Field Methods 15:1 (February 2003): 25-50.
Works in Process:
"Origins and Development of Judicial Empowerment: Ideas and Interests," a special issue project edited by Patricia J. Woods and Lisa Hilbink
"The Judicial Construction of Liberal Rights and Judicial Power: The Case of Israel"
"Ethnic Politics and Women’s Movement Mobilization in Israel: The Role of Ideas"
"Religion and the State in Israel and Iraq: Family and Gender as Critical in State Politics"