Research Handbook on Remote Warfare

The practice of armed conflict has changed radically in the last decade. With eminent contributors from legal, government and military backgrounds, this Research Handbook addresses the legal implications of remote warfare and its significance for combatants, civilians, policymakers and international lawyers.Primarily focused on the legality of all forms of remote warfare, including targeted killings by drone, cyber-attacks, and autonomous weapons, each chapter gives a compelling insight beyond the standard and reactionary criticisms of these technologies. Current assumptions of remote warfare are challenged and discussed from a variety of international perspectives. These include governing the use of force, humanitarian law, criminal law, and human rights law. Contributors consider the essential features of current warfare regulations, and test their strength for controlling these new technologies. Suggestions are made for the future development of law to control the limits of modern remote warfare, with a particular focus on the possibility of autonomous weapons. This is an essential read for academics and students of jus ad bellum, international humanitarian law, criminal law and human rights. Students of political science, governance and military studies will also find this a thought-provoking insight into modern warfare techniques and the complex legal issues they create. Contributors include: W. Banks, G. Corn, E. Crawford, A. Cullen, L. Davies-Bright, G. Gaggioli, R. Geiß, T.D. Gill, R. Heinsch, I.S. Henderson, P. Keane, M. Klamberg, H. Lahmann, J. Liddy, P. Margulies, M.W. Meier, J.D. Ohlin, M. Roorda, J. van Haaster, N. White

'In an oversaturated market, it is very difficult to say anything new or interesting about drones, autonomous weapons systems, and cyberwarfare. This new Research Handbook, however, proves the happy exception. Jens Ohlin's collection, which brings together some of the most innovative scholars in public international law, makes brilliant use of the concept of ''remoteness'' to interrogate how these means and methods of warfare are often merely new variations on old themes - but are also in some ways radically new, challenging some of our deepest legal and normative assumptions about the nature of war.' --Kevin Jon Heller, SOAS, University of London, UK and University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands'Professor Ohlin has brought together a diverse group of talented scholars and practitioners to assess drones, cyber operations, and autonomous systems from a completely novel perspective - remoteness. In doing so, he and his team shed new and important light on topics that lie at the heart of future conflict. Additionally, by focusing on remoteness, this Handbook breaks loose from the intellectual stove-piping that characterizes our often-predictable assessments of emergent methods and means of warfare. It yields valuable insights into a characteristic of weaponry and tactics that will increasingly define warfare in the decades to come. It is a must-read for anyone concerned with international law in the battlespace.' --Michael Schmitt, University of Exeter, UK'A highly original volume entering a very crowded field, its conceptual focus and the expertise of its contributors will make it a valuable addition to any legal discussion of remote and autonomous warfare. Despite the exceptional daily pace of technological advances, the Handbook's chapters will have a long shelf-life and will inevitably influence some of the most intense controversies of the modern law of armed conflict.' --Marko Milanovic, University of Nottingham, UK

Edited by Jens David Ohlin, Vice Dean and Professor of Law, Cornell Law School, US