This study evaluates the order of magnitude of the monetary cost of achieving an international strategic limitation agreement on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in an asymmetric arms race, with applications to the IsraeliSyrian and the North versus South Korean conflicts. It extends the Kagan et al. (2005) framework and develops a model of resource allocation between expenditure on civilian government consumption and on security in a noncooperative (Cournot) arms race between a developed country and a less-developed country. The model is used to predict the optimal mix of weapons of the two countries engaged in the arms race, and to evaluate the applicability of international strategic WMD limitation agreements. Applying the model to the arms race between Israel and Syria shows that if considered from a purely monetary perspective, such an agreement, in which the monetary transfer to Syria is made by either Israel or a third party, is within reach. A strategic agreement to limit North Korea's WMD is also economically feasible, but only when the monetary transfer to North Korea is shouldered by a third party such as the USA or a coalition of neighboring countries.

The majority of academic literature on Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, focuses on its acceptance in the geographically and culturally proximate societies in Asia and the economically wealthy markets of North America. Very little attention has been given to other regions such as Africa, South America and the Middle East. Thus, looking at the Israeli case study allows us to examine how Korean culture is being accepted in non-Asian, non-western and non-English contexts. The most salient characteristic of Hallyu fans in Israel is that the majority of them have never been to Korea. They experience Korean culture mostly through Korean TV dramas, and fandom itself becomes a cultural journey between the known and the unknown. This journey resembles the practice of pilgrimage, e.g. an emotional exploration of new places accompanied by a deep sense of fulfilment. Korean culture is perceived as an exotic and distant ‘other’. At the same time, this ‘other’ is domesticated by local fan communities and serves as a means to connect one’s own identity with Hallyu’s ‘promised land’. Based on media and discourse analysis, an online survey and interviews with Israeli fans, this article examines the popularity of the Korean Wave in Israel and its impact on Korea’s image among fans. The article also explores the inner world created among fans of the Korean world, the formation of a fan community and their fictional ‘Hallyu Land’.

Classic Western democracies (those of Western Europe and the Anglophone world) view the teaching of civics as a policy instrument through which liberal values, democracy, and even globalization are introduced to future citizens, thus expecting to assure the persistence of democracy. In present-day democracies in general, and mainly in non-Western democracies, however, civics assumes other forms, including the study of nationalism. This article analyzes innovations in the teaching of civics in Israel by examining the changes in school textbooks that accompany changing national leaderships. We highlight the current Israeli high school civics textbook, written under a significantly rightist-religious government. Assuming that civics textbooks express the political credo of ruling elites, our findings suggest similarities between trends in Israel and non-Western democracies, hinting at the fragility of democratization in general and chiefly outside the West.

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