Whose Life Is Worth More?

Yagil Levy is Professor of Political Sociology and Public Policy at the Open University of Israel. He is the author of several books, most recently The Divine Commander: The Theocratization of the Israeli Military (2015).

• 1. Introduction: What Determines the Value of Life, and How Has It Been Studied?2. Determinants of the Death Hierarchy3. How to Identify Variations in Risk Transfer4. Risking One's Own Soldiers in Jenin and Basra5. Passive Force Protection in Iraq and Gaza6. Strategic Transfer of Risk in the Kosovo War7. Tactical Transfer of Risk in Fallujah and Gaza8. Re-Risking One's Own Soldiers: The Surge in Iraq and Afghanistan9. Conclusion

"A tour de force. Theoretically innovative and empirically rich. With devastating precision Yagil Levy dismantles many of the myths of heroic soldiers and hapless civilians. He shows that the wages of war are far more calculated and deliberate than previously thought."—Thomas W. Smith, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg "Yagil Levy's provocative book is an essential correction to standard assumptions about how actors in democratic states weigh the costs of war. Whose Life Is Worth More? reveals the deeper political and social factors that inform hierarchies of life and death among citizens,soldiers, and enemy non-combatants."—Jennifer M Welsh, Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security, McGill University