Armed Drones and the Ethics of War

Military virtue in a post-heroic age

Christian Enemark

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English

Routledge
22 May 2015

Ethics & moral philosophy; Political science & theory; Theory of warfare & military science; Weapons & equipment

Series: War, Conflict and Ethics

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.

By: Christian Enemark
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 9mm
Weight: 226g
ISBN: 9781138900882
ISBN 10: 1138900885
Series: War, Conflict and Ethics
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 22 May 2015
Audience: College/higher education , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

1. Introduction 2. Post-heroic war and armed drones 3. Drones and the war threshold 4. Conducting drone warfare: the case of Pakistan 5. Radical asymmetry and the moral equality of combatants 6. Drone operators and the warrior ethos 7. Autonomous drones and post-human war 8. Conclusion

Christian Enemark is a Reader in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University.