“The Institutionalization of Loyalty Traps under Trump’s Second Presidency,” by Associate Professor of Sociology Jaime Kucinskas, was recently published by the Israeli chapter of the International Society of Public Law – Israel (ICON-S). Kucinskas’ post followed an online symposium held by ICON-S in honor of her book The Loyalty Trap: Conflicting Loyalties of Civil Servants Under Increasing Autocracy, published earlier this year. ICON-S is described on its website as “a vibrant academic community of public law scholars and practitioners.”
In the symposium, Kucinskas discussed the issues addressed in The Loyalty Trap with ICON-S members, several of whom wrote short papers related to the meeting. They noted that the situation in Israel is similar to what Kucinskas described in her book regarding the situation in the U.S.
Several of the papers, including one by Reichman University Professor of Political Science Moshe Maor that adds an Israeli context to Kucinskas’ findings, have been published with Kucinskas’ piece.
Posted October 29, 2025
