Discounting Life
Necropolitical Law, Culture, and the Long War on Terror

‘This extraordinary account of necropolitical law, forged in the heartlands of US colonialism, imperialism and slavery, and reanimated in the long War on Terror that begins well before 9/11, provides a new lens through which to analyze law's capacities to authorize the value of certain lives over others. A close reading of texts, images, and events unveils the mutually constitutive histories of racial violence and liberal legality that is both chilling and revelatory.' Eve Darian-Smith, Professor of Global and International Studies, University of California, Irivine and author of Global Burning: Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate Crisis

‘In Discounting Life, Jothie Rajah argues that the cultural and media framing of the ‘long War on Terror' as the vanquishing of irrational, extraordinary, and exceptional enemies has led to the extension of US sovereignty to a planetary scale. Through an extension its ‘necropolitical law,' Rajah argues that the U.S. justifies its right to determine who may live and die not as an exception to legality but squarely in the context of its necropolitical legal calculus. A smart, well-researched, and powerful analysis of law's role in the long War on Terror, Discounting Life is necessary reading.' Alex Lubin, Professor of African American Studies, The Pennsylvania State University

‘This is a phenomenal work of scholarship. Through masterful and deeply original readings of law as expressed in photos, film, texts, and events, Jothie Rajah uncovers the coded law underlying the violence the US has unleashed around the world during its long War on Terror. Rigorous, erudite, and deeply creative, Discounting Life is a truly stunning book.' Leti Volpp, Robert D. and Leslie Kay Raven Professor of Law, UC Berkeley

‘Rajah offers an incisive understanding of the interplay between legal texts and non-legal discourses that runs counter to predominant understandings of exceptionality.’ Samarjit Ghosh, International Affairs