While the military use of drones has been the subject of much scrutiny, the use of drones for humanitarian purposes has so far received little attention. As the starting point for this study, it is argued that the prospect of using drones for humanitarian and other life-saving activities has produced an alternative discourse on drones, dedicated to developing and publicizing the endless possibilities that drones have for "doing good". Furthermore, it is suggested that the Good Drone narrative has been appropriated back into the drone warfare discourse, as a strategy to make war "more human". This book explores the role of the Good Drone as an organizing narrative for political projects, technology development and humanitarian action. Its contribution to the debate is to take stock of the multiple logics and rationales according to which drones are "good", with a primary objective to initiate a critical conversation about the political currency of "good". This study recognizes the many possibilities for the use of drones and takes these possibilities seriously by critically examining the difference the drones' functionalities can make, but also what difference the presence of drones themselves – as unmanned and flying objects – make. Discussed and analysed are the implications for the drone industry, user communities, and the areas of crisis where drones are deployed.
Author(s): Kristin Sandvik, Maria Jumbert
Series: Emerging Technologies, Ethics And International Affairs
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge | Taylor & Francis Group
Year: 2017
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 213
Tags: Drone Aircraft; Drone aircraft: Moral And ethical Aspects
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction | What does it take to be good?
The good drone: “newness,” technological optimism, and technological fantasies
Conceptualizing the good drone
Making sense of the good drone: an analytical framework
The terrain of the good drone
Attributes, capabilities, and functions
What is “good”?
The “bad” drone
Shifting discourses: the definition dogfight and public airspace as a common good
Chapter previews
Notes
References
1 | Targeted “killer drones” and the humanitarian discourse: On a liaison
Introduction: the promise of precision and the problem of reasonable use of force
The drone as an active player in the political game of securitization
Complex systems as actors and objects of threats
Targeting: the logic of precision and expansion
Targeted killing and its law
Conclusion
Notes
References
2 | Lifting the fog of war?: Opportunities and challenges of drones in UN peace operations
Introduction
Surveillance drones in UN peacekeeping operations
MONUSCO
MINUSMA
Opportunities and challenges of including surveillance drones in UN peacekeeping
Helpful tool or band-aid for a political problem?
UN surveillance drones and the Force Intervention Brigade
Member state divisions on UN peacekeeping
UN drones and humanitarian actors
Managing the data
Conclusion
Notes
References
3 | Poison pill or cure-all?: Drones and the protection of civilians
Introduction
The protection of civilians
Combatant PoC
Intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and target selection
Targeting civilians, targeting for civilians?
Peacekeeping PoC
Surveillance, reconnaissance, documentation and deterrence
Monitoring without peacekeeping
Targeting in peace enforcement missions
Humanitarian PoC
Crisis mapping and cargo
The potential for transfer to conflict settings
Targeting in humanitarian interventions
Conclusion
Notes
References
4 | Creating the EU drone: Control, sorting, and search and rescue at sea
Introduction
The political rationales behind the increasingly technologized border surveillance
Sorting, control and order
The “search and rescue drone”: inherently good or a cover for more control?
Conclusion
Notes
References
5 | The public order drone: Proliferation and disorder in civil airspace
Unlocking access to civil airspace
Paramilitary policing and technology transfer
The evolution of public order policing: from surveillance to weaponization
The new drone antisociality: unsafe, untrained, and irresponsible users
The endless possibilities for future insecurity
Conclusion
Notes
References
6 | A revolution in agricultural affairs: Dronoculture, precision, capital
Introduction
The new drones
From the battlefield to the cornfield: drone normalization
Farming precision
Unmanned land grabs
Conclusion: drone on the range
Notes
References
7 | Wings for wildlife: The use of conservation drones: challenges and opportunities
Introduction
The conservation drone explained
Building a conservation drone: methodology and challenges
The drone as a solution to the limitations of existing conservation techniques
How conservation drones have already been used
Wildlife monitoring
Habitat monitoring
Anti-poaching
Problematic issues
Privacy concerns
Local participation
Data and control hacking
Using drone data on illegal activities
Conclusion
References
Websites
8 | Drone/.body: The drone’s power to sense and construct emergencies
Introduction
The “sensing drone” in emergency management
An inventory of the “five sensors”
The sensibilities of sensing
The power of the sensing drone: from destruction to construction
Sensing and un-sensing: the role of the sensor for processes of construction
Constructing emergencies
Constructing regulatory discourses
Constructing reasoning
Constructing bodies
Conclusion: the drone and the body – a sensitive relationship
Notes
References
Websites
Index
