Armed Drones and the Ethics of War

Armed Drones and the Ethics of War PDF Author: Christian Enemark
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136261206
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
This book assesses the ethical implications of using armed unmanned aerial vehicles (‘hunter-killer drones’) in contemporary conflicts. The American way of war is trending away from the heroic and towards the post-heroic, driven by a political preference for air-powered management of strategic risks and the reduction of physical risk to US personnel. The recent use of drones in the War on Terror has demonstrated the power of this technology to transcend time and space, but there has been relatively little debate in the United States and elsewhere over the embrace of what might be regarded as politically desirable and yet morally worrisome: risk-free killing. Arguably, the absence of a relationship of mutual risk between putative combatants poses a fundamental challenge to the status of war as something morally distinguishable from other forms of violence, and it also undermines the professional virtue of the warrior as a courageous risk-taker. This book considers the use of armed drones in the light of ethical principles that are intended to guard against unjust increases in the incidence and lethality of armed conflict. The evidence and arguments presented indicate that, in some respects, the use of armed drones is to be welcomed as an ethically superior mode of warfare. Over time, however, their continued and increased use is likely to generate more challenges than solutions, and perhaps do more harm than good. This book will be of much interest to students of the ethics of war, airpower, counter-terrorism, strategic studies and security studies in general.

Armed Drones and the Ethics of War

Armed Drones and the Ethics of War PDF Author: Christian Enemark
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136261206
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book assesses the ethical implications of using armed unmanned aerial vehicles (‘hunter-killer drones’) in contemporary conflicts. The American way of war is trending away from the heroic and towards the post-heroic, driven by a political preference for air-powered management of strategic risks and the reduction of physical risk to US personnel. The recent use of drones in the War on Terror has demonstrated the power of this technology to transcend time and space, but there has been relatively little debate in the United States and elsewhere over the embrace of what might be regarded as politically desirable and yet morally worrisome: risk-free killing. Arguably, the absence of a relationship of mutual risk between putative combatants poses a fundamental challenge to the status of war as something morally distinguishable from other forms of violence, and it also undermines the professional virtue of the warrior as a courageous risk-taker. This book considers the use of armed drones in the light of ethical principles that are intended to guard against unjust increases in the incidence and lethality of armed conflict. The evidence and arguments presented indicate that, in some respects, the use of armed drones is to be welcomed as an ethically superior mode of warfare. Over time, however, their continued and increased use is likely to generate more challenges than solutions, and perhaps do more harm than good. This book will be of much interest to students of the ethics of war, airpower, counter-terrorism, strategic studies and security studies in general.

Legal and Ethical Implications of Drone Warfare

Legal and Ethical Implications of Drone Warfare PDF Author: Michael Boyle
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315473437
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Over the last decade, the U.S., UK Israel and other states have begun to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for military operations and for targeted killings in places like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Worldwide, over 80 governments are developing their own drone programs, and even non-state actors such as the Islamic State have begun to experiment with drones. The speed of technological change and adaptation with drones is so rapid that it is outpacing the legal and ethical frameworks which govern the use of force. This volume brings together experts in law, ethics and political science to address how drone technology is slowly changing the rules and norms surrounding the use of force and enabling new, sometimes unprecedented, actions by states. It addresses some of the most crucial questions in the debate over drones today. Are drones a revolutionary form of technology that will transform warfare or is their effect merely hype? Can drone use on the battlefield be made wholly consistent with international law? How does drone technology begin to shift the norms governing the use of force? What new legal and ethical problems are presented by targeted killings outside of declared war zones? Should drones be considered a humane form of warfare? Finally, is it possible that drones could be a force for good in humanitarian disasters and peacekeeping missions in the near future? This book was previously published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.

Drones and Responsibility

Drones and Responsibility PDF Author: Ezio Di Nucci
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317147790
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
How does the use of military drones affect the legal, political, and moral responsibility of different actors involved in their deployment and design? This volume offers a fresh contribution to the ethics of drone warfare by providing, for the first time, a systematic interdisciplinary discussion of different responsibility issues raised by military drones. The book discusses four main sets of questions: First, from a legal point of view, we analyse the ways in which the use of drones makes the attribution of criminal responsibility to individuals for war crimes more complicated and what adjustments may be required in international criminal law and in military practices to avoid ’responsibility gaps’ in warfare. From a moral and political perspective, the volume looks at the conditions under which the use of military drones by states is impermissible, permissible, or even obligatory and what the responsibilities of a state in the use of drones towards both its citizens and potential targets are. From a socio-technical perspective, what kind of new human machine interaction might (and should) drones bring and which new kinds of shared agency and responsibility? Finally, we ask how the use of drones changes our conception of agency and responsibility. The book will be of interest to scholars and students in (military) ethics and to those in law, politics and the military involved in the design, deployment and evaluation of military drones.

Drone Warfare

Drone Warfare PDF Author: John Kaag
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745685358
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015 One of the most significant and controversial developments in contemporary warfare is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones. In the last decade, US drone strikes have more than doubled and their deployment is transforming the way wars are fought across the globe. But how did drones claim such an important role in modern military planning? And how are they changing military strategy and the ethics of war and peace? What standards might effectively limit their use? Should there even be a limit? Drone warfare is the first book to engage fully with the political, legal, and ethical dimensions of UAVs. In it, political scientist Sarah Kreps and philosopher John Kaag discuss the extraordinary expansion of drone programs from the Cold War to the present day and their so-called effectiveness in conflict zones. Analysing the political implications of drone technology for foreign and domestic policy as well as public opinion, the authors go on to examine the strategic position of the United States - by far the worlds most prolific employer of drones - to argue that US military supremacy could be used to enshrine a new set of international agreements and treaties aimed at controlling the use of UAVs in the future.

The Ethics of Drone Strikes

The Ethics of Drone Strikes PDF Author: James Igoe Walsh
Publisher: Department of the Army
ISBN: 9781584877004
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
Armed unmanned aerial vehicles--combat drones--have fundamentally altered the ways the United States conducts military operations aimed at countering insurgent and terrorist organizations. Drone technology is on track to become an increasingly important part of the country's arsenal, as numerous unmanned systems are in development and will likely enter service in the future. Concerned citizens, academics, journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and policymakers have raised questions about the ethical consequences of drones and issued calls for their military use to be strictly regulated. This level of concern is evidence that the future of drone warfare not only hinges on technical innovations, but also on careful analysis of the moral and political dimensions of war. The use of UAVs made survey participants more likely to support initiating a war, and this was consistent across four principal policy objectives that were the cause for war: counterterrorism, humanitarian intervention, foreign policy restraint, and internal political change. Military strategists, analysts, American civilians, and drone technology manufacturers may be interested in this study. Students pursuing coursework in military science, technology innovation, and warfare ethics may want a copy of this volume for continued research on this topic. Related products: Rethinking the Drone War: National Security, Legitimacy, and Civilian Casualties in U.S. Counter-terrorism Operations is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01213-0 Lethal and Legal? The Ethics of Drone Strikes can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01176-1 Terrorist and Insurgent Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Use, Potentials, and Military Implications can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01199-1

One Nation Under Drones

One Nation Under Drones PDF Author: John E Jackson
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 168247240X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
One Nation Under Drones is an interesting and informative review of how robotic and unmanned systems are impacting every aspect of American life, from how we fight our wars; to how we play; to how we grow our food. Edited by Professor John Jackson, who holds the E.A. Sperry Chair of Unmanned and Robotic Systems at the United States Naval War College, this highly readable book features chapters from a dozen experts, researchers, and operators of the sophisticated systems that have become ubiquitous across the nation and around the world. Press reports have focused primarily on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, officially designated as UAVs, but more often referred to as "drones". This book takes you behind the scenes and describes how Predators, Reapers, Scan Eagles and dozens of other pilotless aircraft have been used to fight the Global War on Terrorism. Although these systems seemed to emerge fully-developed into the skies above America's distant battlefields following the attacks of 9-11-2001, readers will discover how they actually trace their lineage to the First World War, when the "automatic airplane/aerial torpedo", designed and built by the Sperry Gyroscope Company, made its first flight just over a century ago. Unmanned aircraft were used by various combatants in World War II, and took many forms: from converted manned bombers to inter-continental attacks on the American homeland by rice-paper balloons. Technology developed in the latter decades of the 20th century enabled crews stationed thousands of miles away to attack targets on remote battlefields. Such long-range and remote-controlled weapons have been extensively used, but are controversial from both legal and ethical stand-points. Chapters written by international law specialists and drone pilots with advanced education in ethics address these issues from both sides of the argument. The book also details how robotic systems are being used on land, in and below the seas, and in civilian applications such as driverless cars. Three dozen photographs display drones as small as an insect up to those as large as a 737 airliner. One Nation Under Drones covers such a wide array of topics that it will be of interest to everyone from the casual reader seeking to know more about these systems, to national security professionals, both in and out of uniform, who will be making decisions about their procurement and use in decades to come. This work will become the definitive volume on the subject, providing the facts and avoiding the hype about systems that have moved off the pages of science fiction and into the environment all around us.

Drone Warfare

Drone Warfare PDF Author: Michelle Holloway
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781634851039
Category : Drone aircraft
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
With the increased use of armed drones has come closer scrutiny of the legal and ethical dimensions. In the first chapter of this book, the author makes an assessment of the lethal use of drone technologies, measured in terms of their legality, morality, and overall effectiveness. Armed unmanned aerial vehicles -- combat drones -- have fundamentally altered the ways the United States conducts military operations aimed at countering insurgent and terrorist organisations. Drones may reduce risks to human soldiers but the question arises as to whether they permit the initiation or escalation of conflict by promoting civic disengagement. The authors of the second chapter offer an analysis of the dimensions surrounding this argument.

Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict

Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict PDF Author: David Cortright
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022625805X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Presenting a robust conversation among leading scholars in the areas of international legal standards, counterterrorism strategy, humanitarian law, and the ethics of force, this book takes account of current American drone campaigns and the developing legal, ethical, and strategic implications of this new way of warfare.

Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War

Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War PDF Author: Paul Scharre
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393608999
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Winner of the 2019 William E. Colby Award "The book I had been waiting for. I can't recommend it highly enough." —Bill Gates The era of autonomous weapons has arrived. Today around the globe, at least thirty nations have weapons that can search for and destroy enemy targets all on their own. Paul Scharre, a leading expert in next-generation warfare, describes these and other high tech weapons systems—from Israel’s Harpy drone to the American submarine-hunting robot ship Sea Hunter—and examines the legal and ethical issues surrounding their use. “A smart primer to what’s to come in warfare” (Bruce Schneier), Army of None engages military history, global policy, and cutting-edge science to explore the implications of giving weapons the freedom to make life and death decisions. A former soldier himself, Scharre argues that we must embrace technology where it can make war more precise and humane, but when the choice is life or death, there is no replacement for the human heart.

Ethics of Armed Conflict

Ethics of Armed Conflict PDF Author: John W. Lango
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748645764
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Just war theory exists to stop armies and countries from using armed force without good cause. But how can we judge whether a war is just? In this original book, John W. Lango takes some distinctive approaches to the ethics of armed conflict. DT A revisionist approach that involves generalising traditional just war principles, so that they are applicable by all sorts of responsible agents to all forms of armed conflict DT A cosmopolitan approach that features the Security Council DT A preventive approach that emphasises alternatives to armed force, including negotiation, nonviolent action and peacekeeping missions DT A human rights approach that encompasses not only armed humanitarian intervention but also armed invasion, armed revolution and all other forms of armed conflict Lango shows how these can be applied to all forms of armed conflict, however large or small: from interstate wars to UN peacekeeping missions, and from civil wars counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations.