Yacobi, Haim. 2016. “From ‘Ethnocracity’ to Urban Apartheid: A View from Jerusalem\al-Quds.” Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 8 (3): 100–114.
Over the past 20 years, changes in demographic control, militarization, and state violence have radically transformed the city from an ethnocracity into an urban apartheid.
An ethnocracity refers to a city where a dominant ethnic group appropriates and controls the city apparatus to produce a contested, unstable space. Jerusalem was previously theorized as an ethnocracity.
Urban apartheid combines ethnic exclusion and segregation with market-driven forces like privatization, gentrification, and tourism planning. It relies less on formal legal structures and more on economic restructuring.
Urban apartheid intentionally segregates groups and allocates resources/rights based on race rather than residency. It is an intentional creation reflecting ideology and policy goals of domination, not just individual choices.