Israeli law scholar Amnon Rubinstein lectures, Oct. 5-6

Sept. 23, 2009 -- Amnon Rubinstein, a leading scholar on constitutional law in Israel, will discuss Western culture and Israeli law in free public lectures Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 at Washington University in St. Louis.

Rubinstein

Rubinstein, a longtime member of the Israeli parliament and founding dean of the nation's top-ranked law school, will discuss "Is the West Merely a Culture?" at 12 noon Oct. 5 in the formal lounge of the Women's Building.

He articulates the workings of "The Partial Constitutional Legal System in Israel" of which he had a major role in structuring at 11 a.m. Oct. 6 in Room 301, Seigle Hall.

Rubinstein, a recipient of the prestigious "Israel Prize" for his work on constitutional law, studied economics, international relations and law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He was called to the bar in 1963 and received his doctorate in law from the London School of Economics in 1966. Between 1961 and 1975, he was a professor of law at Tel Aviv University, serving as the dean of this prestigious law school from 1968 until 1973.

In 1974, he founded the centrist Shinui Party, which advocated free enterprise, electoral reform and the formulation of a written constitution. In 1977, Shinui was part of the Democratic Movement for Change Party, but it broke away in 1978 and Rubinstein became its chair.

During his long tenure as a member of the Israeli Knesset, between 1978-2002, Rubinstein served as Minister of Communication, Minister of Infrastructure, Minister of Science and Technology and most notably, Minister of Education and Culture.

He resigned his parliamentary seat in 2002 to become the founding dean of the Interdisciplinary Center-Herzliya Law School, recently ranked as the best law school in Israel.

Rubinstein's lectures are sponsored by the Center for New Institutional Social Sciences in Arts & Sciences, the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute in the School of Law. For more information, contact Alana Bame at 935-5068; cniss@artsci.wustl.edu.