Changes in the law of self-defence? Drones, imminence, and international norm dynamics

Abstract

Changes in the Law of Self-Defence? Drones, Imminence, and International Norm Dynamics This article assesses the evolution of the international law of the use of force, focusing on how the emergence of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), influenced international norms regulating the right to self-defense. Drawing on constructivist International Relations research, we develop a socio-legal framework that emphasizes changes in the interpretation of the meaning of imminence, and investigate how these changes, counterterrorism, and the introduction of UAVs have contributed to the adoption of more relaxed standards for the use of force in self-defence. We argue that the Obama Administration engaged in a systematic effort to redefine imminence and that a significant numbers of states, including key powers such as China, India and the UK, have largely followed this model. This, we suggest, underlines both the ability of dominant states to shape the interpretation of international norms and the influence of strategic and technological developments on the meaning and interpretation of international law.

Designing a Transdisciplinary Legal Curriculum Tailored to Fuse Social, Technological and Ethical Considerations. Elevating the Voice of International Law

“…5 of 17 December 2018 55 , which establishes the curricular guidelines for the undergraduate course in Law, in Article 2, § 1, IV, when referring to the pedagogical project, states that it must include interdisciplinarity as an element of the Law programme. This legal provision can be interpreted extensively to cover higher degrees of interdisciplinarity ─ as Jean Piaget did when he first used the term transdisciplinarity as an advanced level of interdisciplinarity 56 . At least in the field of epistemology, interdisciplinarity was a step towards Transdisciplinarity.…”

Worlding war as a primary institution of international society

“…Where the "ghosts" of colonialism, have been identified in touchstone ES work, they are linked to development (Pasha, 2017), although it, too, is presented as a potential outcome of successful COIN/CT. Substantial research sets out the distinctive forms of power, coercion, and violence UAS create, through both the technology itself and the distinctive "assemblage" of drones and the supporting web of military, civilian, and intelligence staff; communication networks; and legal framings (Birdsall, 2018;Doucet, 2016;Gregory, 2011b;Hurd, 2017;Schmidt and Trenta, 2018;Williams, 2011). This plugs drones into deep-rooted social dynamics of technology wherein war is rational, even civilizing.…”

International law is dead, long live international law: the state practice of drone strikes

“…Otherwise, outside such connection to an ongoing armed conflictan active battlefieldthe legal challenges become whether the use of drones constitutes self-defense under Art. 51 of the UN Charter (Schmidt and Trenta, 2018) and whether the level of intensity of repeated drone strikes can amount to the level of protracted armed violence necessary to establish the state of an (non-international) armed conflict (Radin, 2013). Similar questions will arise in the future for AWS.…”