PANEL 13 /// THE RISE OF UAVs IN CONTEMPORARY WARFARE
CONVENOR: SARA CRUZ
All inquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected]
The discussants in this panel will include Helen Frowe (Stockholm University).
Following past year Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world, and particularly Europe, was confronted with threats and challenges that many mistakenly or wishfully believed to have stayed in the past. The event made even the most convict pacifist question its stance and prompted the resurgence of old debates and idea such as that of a cooperative joint European force (European Army). Although prospects for such idea to materialize remain very low, the invasion undeniably led many member states to considerably increase their defense expenditures, Germany being the most notorious case.
While substantial attention and speculation has understandably been given to the threat and possibility of a nuclear war, other worrying features of contemporary warfare like the increasing introduction of UAVs in the battlefield seem to pass by quite unnoticed in mainstream media debates and commentaries. Despite all the controversy they have ignited since and during the U.S led War on Terror, drones’ popularity and appeal only seem to have increased. The rise of this “dangerously tempting technology” as Walzer (2013) called it, triggered a heated debate among war ethics academics in the last decades with some enthusiastically endorsing their deployment (Statman; Schulzke), even advocating the existence of a moral duty to do so (Strawser), others reluctantly stressing the need for a more careful and nuanced approach(Walzer, McMahan, Enemark) and some rejecting them completely (Archambault; Chamayou; Waldron). Additionally, the erosion of circumscribed warzones and the increasingly non-state or mixed character of armed conflicts worldwide seem to further emphasize already existing complexities.
Far from being a settled question, the ethical debate surrounding drone warfare now seems more urgent than ever as we witness the increasing deployment of UAV by both sides of the conflict. The intention behind this panel is to stimulate the debate surrounding this matter by addressing questions such as:
Notwithstanding the questions above, feel free to submit your proposal even if it falls beyond the scope of drone warfare, as any research within war ethics will be equally welcome in the panel.
All inquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected]
The discussants in this panel will include Helen Frowe (Stockholm University).
Following past year Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world, and particularly Europe, was confronted with threats and challenges that many mistakenly or wishfully believed to have stayed in the past. The event made even the most convict pacifist question its stance and prompted the resurgence of old debates and idea such as that of a cooperative joint European force (European Army). Although prospects for such idea to materialize remain very low, the invasion undeniably led many member states to considerably increase their defense expenditures, Germany being the most notorious case.
While substantial attention and speculation has understandably been given to the threat and possibility of a nuclear war, other worrying features of contemporary warfare like the increasing introduction of UAVs in the battlefield seem to pass by quite unnoticed in mainstream media debates and commentaries. Despite all the controversy they have ignited since and during the U.S led War on Terror, drones’ popularity and appeal only seem to have increased. The rise of this “dangerously tempting technology” as Walzer (2013) called it, triggered a heated debate among war ethics academics in the last decades with some enthusiastically endorsing their deployment (Statman; Schulzke), even advocating the existence of a moral duty to do so (Strawser), others reluctantly stressing the need for a more careful and nuanced approach(Walzer, McMahan, Enemark) and some rejecting them completely (Archambault; Chamayou; Waldron). Additionally, the erosion of circumscribed warzones and the increasingly non-state or mixed character of armed conflicts worldwide seem to further emphasize already existing complexities.
Far from being a settled question, the ethical debate surrounding drone warfare now seems more urgent than ever as we witness the increasing deployment of UAV by both sides of the conflict. The intention behind this panel is to stimulate the debate surrounding this matter by addressing questions such as:
- Is the use of UAVs compatible with the orthodox just war theory and/or the emergent revisionist approach of reductive individualism that emerged specially from McMahan’s critique of Walzer? And what about international humanitarian law?
- Do drones lead to “bloodless wars”, enable more discriminate attacks and diminish the occurrence of collateral casualties, as their proponents claim?
- Can drones alleged advantages be said to benefit equally all those involved in the conflict?
- Should we set drones’ moral status by ignoring their use in reality? Is it ethical to do so?
- What challenges does drone warfare pose to orthodox and/or revisionist just war theory?
- How does drone warfare change the human experience of war itself?
Notwithstanding the questions above, feel free to submit your proposal even if it falls beyond the scope of drone warfare, as any research within war ethics will be equally welcome in the panel.
