Rate My Professor Nadav Shelef

Nadav Shelef is the Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor of Israel Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he serves as Chair of the Department of Political Science. He received his B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996, graduating cum laude with Distinction. He earned his M.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the same institution in 2005. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship as a Visiting Scholar at the Taub Center for Israel Studies at New York University from 2005 to 2006, Shelef joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006 as Harvey M. Meyerhoff Assistant Professor of Modern Israel Studies and Political Science. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014 and to Professor in 2019.

Professor Shelef's research focuses on nationalism, religion and politics, territorial conflict, Israeli politics and society, and Middle East politics. His current projects investigate how homelands change and the conditions under which religious parties moderate their positions. He is the author of two books published by Cornell University Press: Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Identity, and Religion in Israel, 1925-2005 (2010), which analyzes ideological change in major Zionist movements and was reviewed in journals such as the Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and Israel Studies Review; and Homelands: Shifting Borders and Territorial Disputes (2020). Notable publications include 'Unequal Ground: Homelands and Conflict' in International Organization (2016), 'Recognition Matters! International Recognition and Attitudes Towards Territorial Compromise' (with Yael Zeira) in Journal of Conflict Resolution (2017), and 'Which Land is Our Land? Explaining Change in the Desired State Borders by Stateless Nationalist Movements' (with Harris Mylonas) in Security Studies (2014). Shelef has received multiple University of Wisconsin Graduate School Research Awards (2007-2012), the Lyons Family Faculty Scholar award (2010-2013), the Robert and Susan Trice Faculty Fellow award (2012-2014), University Housing Honored Instructor awards (2012 and 2016), a Vilas Associateship (2024), and the inaugural Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring from the Graduate School (2026). His scholarship has advanced understanding of nationalist territorial claims and their evolution.