Ethics of Remote Warfare

A look at war ethics in the age of drones and artificial intelligence.

Can there be purely defensive or moral wars? In response to this question and others like it, this book offers unique insights into twenty-first-century warfare through the lenses of realism, militarism, and just war theory. This book challenges its readers to consider war from different perspectives and to reevaluate their views on the morality of war.

Ethical approaches to war require that we don't value only the lives of 'our' people, as realism asserts; that we don't enforce our sense of justice with weapons, as militarism demands; that force is used only in self-defense, based on the principles of just war theory. The author explores the issue of civilian harm in war, questioning whether the use of so-called precision weapons--celebrated for minimizing risks to soldiers and civilians--and the rapidly developing technology of lethal autonomous weapons are increasing rather than decreasing civilian harm. In engaging with these questions, The Ethics of Remote Warfare highlights the need for new accountability mechanisms that reflect a sense of legal and moral justice.

About the author

Lily Hamourtziadou is a senior lecturer in security at Birmingham City University in the UK, principal researcher and analyst at Iraq Body Count, and a member of the Counter Terrorism Evidence-Based Review Group.

Product details

• Authors: Lily Hamourtziadou
• Publisher: University of Wales Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.11.2024
• EAN: 9781837721627
• ISBN: 978-1-83772-162-7
• No. of pages: 224
• Series: Political Philosophy Now
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Ethics, PHILOSOPHY / Political, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, military history, HISTORY / Military / Weapons, Remote, Lily, of, Warfare & defence, Social & political philosophy, Ethics & moral philosophy, social and political philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy, Warfare and defence, Warfare, Hamourtziadou