Emergent Ethics of Drone Violence: Towards a Comprehensive Governance Framework (DRONETHICS)

Project Team

Professor Christian Enemark , Professor in International Relations at the University of Southampton

Project Overview

The DRONETHICS project systematically addresses an urgent need to clarify the morality of ‘drone violence’, defined as violence involving a weapon system that is radically remote from its immediate user. Such remoteness is achieved through extreme physical distancing or the devolution of system functions from humans to AI technologies, so drone violence disrupts traditional expectations about war and a warrior’s exposure to risk. In turn, the disruptively innovative premise of this project is that such violence does not necessarily fall within the remit of the Just War framework according to which war is traditionally judged and governed.

Moving beyond Just War thinking, the project opens up an ethical inquiry into drone violence conceptualised as either war, violent law-enforcement (protective or punitive), 'tele-intimate' violence, or devolved (to AI) violence. Through innovative exploration and application of alternative frameworks for governing violence, our interdisciplinary research team aims to produce: an integrated conceptual framework for explaining ethical concerns arising from current and potential forms of drone violence; recommendations for policy-makers on how to manage this violence ethically; and a new normative vision for shaping the longer-term trajectory of drone violence for the sake of humanity.

Policy Impacts

In the UK and internationally, researchers on the DRONETHICS project team have proactively engaged with stakeholders in government, the military profession and non-government organizations to develop policy ideas on why and how the use of armed drones should be restrained.

Project Outputs

Outputs of this project can be found here .

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