Drone Wars
Transforming Conflict, Law, and Policy

Drone Wars presents a diverse and comprehensive interdisciplinary perspective on drones and the current state of the field.

Peter L. Bergen (Edited by), Daniel Rothenberg (Edited by)

9781107025561, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 December 2014

496 pages, 6 b/w illus. 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.83 kg

'This comprehensive review of military drones covers a wide range of the issues related to this technology. Strategic importance, law, technology, and policy are covered to a degree that this should be one's first choice if you need to come up to speed on drone issues. Now that the United States has relaxed export regulations for US drones for India, with other countries sure to follow, drones are going to become ever more central to war, policy, and diplomacy. This book, then, is a good place to start to analyze the wider proliferation of an important technology.' Paul Bracken, Connections

Drones are the iconic military technology of many of today's most pressing conflicts. Drones have captured the public imagination, partly because they project lethal force in a manner that challenges accepted norms and moral understandings. Drone Wars presents a series of essays by legal scholars, journalists, government officials, military analysts, social scientists, and foreign policy experts. It addresses drones' impact on the ground, how their use adheres to and challenges the laws of war, their relationship to complex policy challenges, and the ways they help us understand the future of war. The book is a diverse and comprehensive interdisciplinary perspective on drones that covers important debates on targeted killing and civilian casualties, presents key data on drone deployment, and offers new ideas on their historical development, significance, and impact on law and policy.

Part I. Drones on the Ground: 1. My guards absolutely feared drones: reflections on being held captive for seven months by the Taliban David Rohde
2. The decade of the drone: analyzing CIA drone attacks, casualties, and policy Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland
3. Just trust us: the need to know more about the civilian impact of US drone strikes Sarah Holewinski
4. The boundaries of war?: Assessing the impact of drone strikes in Yemen Christopher Swift
5. What do Pakistanis really think about drones? Saba Imtiaz
Part II. Drones and the Laws of War: 6. It is war at a very intimate level USAF pilot
7. This is not war by machine Charles Blanchard
8. Regulating drones: are targeted killings by drones outside traditional battlefields legal? William Banks
9. A move within the shadows: will JSOC's control of drones improve policy? Naureen Shah
10. Defending the drones: Harold Koh and the evolution of US policy Tara McKelvey
Part III. Drones and Policy Challenges: 11. 'Bring on the magic': using drones in combat Michael Waltz
12. The five deadly flaws of talking about emerging military technologies and the need for new approaches to law, ethics, and war P. W. Singer
13. Drones and cognitive dissonance Rosa Brooks
14. Predator effect: a phenomenon unique to the war on terror Meg Braun
15. Disciplining drone strikes: just war in the context of counterterrorism David True
16. World of drones: the global proliferation of drone technology Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland
Part IV. Drones and the Future of Warfare: 17. No one feels safe Adam Khan
18. 'Drones' now and what to expect over the next ten years Werner Dahm
19. From Orville Wright to September 11: what the history of drone technology says about the future Konstantin Kakaes
20. Drones and the dilemma of modern warfare Richard Pildes and Samuel Issacharoff
21. How to manage drones, transformative technologies, the evolving nature of conflict and the inadequacy of current systems of law Brad Allenby
22. Drones and the emergence of data-driven warfare Daniel Rothenberg.

Subject Areas: International humanitarian law [LBBS], International law [LB]