The Academic Boycott of Israel: Juxtaposing Academic Freedom and Human Rights in International Relations

ABSTRACT This article juxtaposes the principle of academic freedom with the call for an academic boycott of Israel to advance Palestinian human rights. It examines the controversy surrounding a conference that took place at Stellenbosch University in South Africa in 2018, where an Israeli delegation was disinvited from presenting a research symposium following calls for an academic boycott. The article is an analysis of the media responses of academic leaders, activists, and social commentators in Israel and South Africa to the cancellation of the Israeli symposium at the conference. The argument advanced is that scholarship is influenced, facilitated and restrained by political systems, and that the academy is more accurately viewed as a political space where some wield power while others do not. The case is made that universities and academic conferences function as a consequence of historical and political forces and reflect the challenges with which states constantly engage.