Israel since 1980 (The World Since 1980)

Over the last quarter century, a radical demographic, economic and political transformation has been taking place from within Israel. Israelis are beginning to ask some fundamental questions about the country they live in and what it means to be an Israeli. This book, written by five Israeli academics, probes the changing nature of Israeli society over the last twenty-five years. It considers the deep rifts in that society caused by ethnic, cultural, class and religious divide. It looks at political and economic changes and how privatization has undermined the welfare state. It questions the role of the military in the light of the wider social and economic changes. Finally, and crucially, it asks whether new political initiatives can offer a realistic alternative to the inadequacies of recent governments. This is an informative account of Israel's recent past and the challenges it faces in the twenty-first century.

Ben-Porat, Guy

Levy, Yagil

Mizrahi, Shlomo

Naor, Arye

Tzfadia, Erez

Religion & Spirituality

Cambridge University Press

Over the last quarter century, a radical demographic, economic and political transformation has been taking place from within Israel. Israelis are beginning to ask some fundamental questions about the country they live in and what it means to be an Israeli. This book, written by five Israeli academics, probes the changing nature of Israeli society over the last twenty-five years. It considers the deep rifts in that society caused by ethnic, cultural, class and religious divide. It looks at political and economic changes and how privatization has undermined the welfare state. It questions the role of the military in the light of the wider social and economic changes. Finally, and crucially, it asks whether new political initiatives can offer a realistic alternative to the inadequacies of recent governments. This is an informative account of Israel's recent past and the challenges it faces in the twenty-first century.

Israel's Materialist Militarism (Innovations in the Study of World Politics)

Israel's Materialist Militarism examines the decade of fluctuations in Israel's military policies, from the peace period of the Oslo Accords to the al-Aqsa Intifada, when the military's use of excessive force led to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and on to the Second Lebanon War of 2006, which reversed the moderating tendencies of the withdrawal from Gaza a year earlier.These dynamics of escalation and deescalation are explained in terms of materialist militarism, the exchange between social groups' military sacrifice and their social rewards, which in turn increases or decreases the level of militarism in society. Levy thus lays down a theoretical framework vital to tracing the fluctuating levels of militarism in Israel and elsewhere. Israel's Materialist Militarism is recommended for those interested in the Arab-Israeli conflict and military-society relations in general.

History

Middle East

Lexington Books

Israel's Materialist Militarism examines the decade of fluctuations in Israel's military policies, from the peace period of the Oslo Accords to the al-Aqsa Intifada, when the military's use of excessive force led to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and on to the Second Lebanon War of 2006, which reversed the moderating tendencies of the withdrawal from Gaza a year earlier. These dynamics of escalation and deescalation are explained in terms of materialist militarism, the exchange between social groups' military sacrifice and their social rewards, which in turn increases or decreases the level of militarism in society. Levy thus lays down a theoretical framework vital to tracing the fluctuating levels of militarism in Israel and elsewhere. Israel's Materialist Militarism is recommended for those interested in the Arab-Israeli conflict and military-society relations in general.

"By providing an interesting linkage between Israel's foreign policy behavior and alterations and changes in Israeli domestic politics, Levy is offering a provocative thesis that deserves wide readership. I have no doubt that some readers will applaud Levy's courage and thesis, and that others will do just the opposite. No one, however, will walk away feeling indifferent" -- Michael Barnett, editor of Israel in Comparative Perspective: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom Trial and Error offers a unique exploration of the link between Israel's military policies and its ethno-class relations of power that has theoretical implications elsewhere. The book denounces the commonly accepted view that Israel's military policies were crafted merely as a direct and inevitable response to neighboring Arab states' hostility. Instead, Yagil Levy shows that Israel's security interests were also determined by the social interests of a rising middle class comprised of Jews of European descent. Because of the protracted state of war, this class achieved dominant status over other groups. As a result, a strong link was created between increasing inegalitarianism in Israeli society and missed opportunities to adopt more moderate foreign policies at crucial crossroads up to the 1980s. Paradoxically, however, as war benefits elevated the consumerist lifestyle of the middle class, the burden of war became less appealing to it. Levy argues that this and other social constraints, along with limitations imposed by the international system, played a focal role in channeling Israel's policies toward the 1990s' peace process.

Trial and Error: Israel's Route from War to De-Escalation (Suny Series in Israeli Studies)

Europe

State Univ of New York Pr

Questions the commonly accepted view that Israel's military policies were formed in direct response to Arab states' hostility and argues for a historical linkage between Israel's changing military posture and the development of an inequitable Israeli social structure.

Trial and Error: Israel's Route from War to De-Escalation (S U N Y Series in Israeli Studies)

State University of New York Press

2012 Winner of the Shapiro Award for the Best Book in Israel Studies, presented by the Association for Israel Studies
Whose life is worth more?
 That is the question that states inevitably face during wartime. Which troops are thrown to the first lines of battle and which ones remain relatively intact? How can various categories of civilian populations be protected? And when front and rear are porous, whose life should receive priority, those of soldiers or those of civilians? In Israel’s Death Hierarchy, Yagil Levy uses Israel as a compelling case study to explore the global dynamics and security implications of casualty sensitivity. Israel, Levy argues, originally chose to risk soldiers mobilized from privileged classes, more than civilians and other soldiers. However, with the mounting of casualty sensitivity, the state gradually restructured what Levy calls its “death hierarchy” to favor privileged soldiers over soldiers drawn from lower classes and civilians, and later to place enemy civilians at the bottom of the hierarchy by the use of heavy firepower. The state thus shifted risk from soldiers to civilians. As the Gaza offensive of 2009 demonstrates, this new death hierarchy has opened Israel to global criticism.

Israel’s Death Hierarchy: Casualty Aversion in a Militarized Democracy (Warfare and Culture, 4)

NYU Press

Whose Life Is Worth More?: Hierarchies of Risk and Death in Contemporary Wars

Modern democracies face tough life-and-death choices in armed conflicts. Chief among them is how to weigh the value of soldiers' lives against those of civilians on both sides. The first of its kind, Whose Life Is Worth More? reveals that how these decisions are made is much more nuanced than conventional wisdom suggests. When these states are entangled in prolonged conflicts, hierarchies emerge and evolve to weigh the value of human life. Yagil Levy delves into a wealth of contemporary conflicts, including the drone war in Pakistan, the Kosovo war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the US and UK wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cultural narratives about the nature and necessity of war, public rhetoric about external threats facing the nation, antiwar movements, and democratic values all contribute to the perceived validity of civilian and soldier deaths. By looking beyond the military to the cultural and political factors that shape policies, this book provides tools to understand how democracies really decide whose life is worth more.

Military

Stanford University Press

Modern democracies face tough life-and-death choices in armed conflicts. Chief among them is how to weigh the value of soldiers' lives against those of civilians on both sides. The first of its kind, Whose Life Is Worth More? reveals that how these decisions are made is much more nuanced than conventional wisdom suggests. When these states are entangled in prolonged conflicts, hierarchies emerge and evolve to weigh the value of human life. Yagil Levy delves into a wealth of contemporary conflicts, including the drone war in Pakistan, the Kosovo war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the US and UK wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cultural narratives about the nature and necessity of war, public rhetoric about external threats facing the nation, antiwar movements, and democratic values all contribute to the perceived validity of civilian and soldier deaths. By looking beyond the military to the cultural and political factors that shape policies, this book provides tools to understand how democracies really decide whose life is worth more.

Ha-Mifkad Ha-Elyon

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Am Oved Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Levy, Yagil. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Levy, Yagil

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Levy, Yagil. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Israel since 1980 (The World Since 1980)

Israel since 1980 (The World Since 1980)

Israel's Materialist Militarism (Innovations in the Study of World Politics)

Israel's Materialist Militarism (Innovations in the Study of World Politics)

Trial and Error: Israel's Route from War to De-Escalation (Suny Series in Israeli Studies)

Trial and Error: Israel's Route from War to De-Escalation (S U N Y Series in Israeli Studies)

Israel’s Death Hierarchy: Casualty Aversion in a Militarized Democracy (Warfare and Culture, 4)

Whose Life Is Worth More?: Hierarchies of Risk and Death in Contemporary Wars

Whose Life Is Worth More?: Hierarchies of Risk and Death in Contemporary Wars

Ha-Mifkad Ha-Elyon