Chapter

From just war to clean war : the impact of modern technology on military ethics

Delphine Hayim

Legitimacy and drones : investigating the legality, morality and efficacy of UCAVs

Farnham ; Burlington : Ashgate, 2015

p. 191-214

English

This chapter will posit that the clean war doctrine is progressively supplanting the just war theory as a moral and legal justification for armed conflicts. In other words, cleanliness of effects is replacing the legality/legitimacy of the cause. Technologies for conducting warfare are altering the nature of conflict in that public acceptance of war is now garnered through faith in scientific advances, trust in experts and the use of medico-surgical terminology. This chapter will attempt to grasp to what extent this clean war doctrine leads to a redefinition, or at least to a new interpretation of, international humanitarian law rules and principles. And considering the prospects for developing entirely automated and robotized wars, there will be a highlighting of the moral dimension of the clean war doctrine and the ethical problems that are closely intertwined with the emergence of (semi)-autonomous weapons.

• Legitimacy and drones : investigating the legality, morality and efficacy of UCAVs / ed. by Steven J. Barela