Drone wars: transforming conflict, law, and policy

Table of contents:

Part I. Drones on the Ground:

1. My guards absolutely feared drones: reflections on being held captive for seven months by the Taliban

2. The decade of the drone: analyzing CIA drone attacks, casualties, and policy

3. Just trust us: the need to know more about the civilian impact of US drone strikes

4. The boundaries of war?: Assessing the impact of drone strikes in Yemen

5. What do Pakistanis really think about drones?


Part II. Drones and the Laws of War:

6. It is war at a very intimate level

7. This is not war by machine

8. Regulating drones: are targeted killings by drones outside traditional battlefields legal?

9. A move within the shadows: will JSOC's control of drones improve policy?

10. Defending the drones: Harold Koh and the evolution of US policy


Part III. Drones and Policy Challenges:

11. 'Bring on the magic': using drones in combat

12. The five deadly flaws of talking about emerging military technologies and the need for new approaches to law, ethics, and war

13. Drones and cognitive dissonance

14. Predator effect: a phenomenon unique to the war on terror

15. Disciplining drone strikes: just war in the context of counterterrorism

16. World of drones: the global proliferation of drone technology


Part IV. Drones and the Future of Warfare:

17. No one feels safe

18. 'Drones' now and what to expect over the next ten years

19. From Orville Wright to September 11: what the history of drone technology says about the future

20. Drones and the dilemma of modern warfare

21. How to manage drones, transformative technologies, the evolving nature of conflict and the inadequacy of current systems of law

22. Drones and the emergence of data-driven warfare

Drones are the iconic military technology of many of today's most pressing conflicts, a lens through which U.S. foreign policy is understood, and a means for discussing key issues regarding the laws of war and the changing nature of global politics. Drones have captured the public imagination, partly because they project lethal force in a manner that challenges accepted rules, 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. Drone Wars documents the current state of the field at an important moment in history when new military technologies are transforming how war is practiced by the United States and, increasingly, by other states and by non-state actors around the world.

(http://www.cambridge.org/cr/academic/subjects/law/humanitarian-law/drone-wars-transforming-conflict-law-and-policy)