Ebook: Drones And The Law: International Responses To Rapid Drone Proliferation

Drones and the Law: International Responses to Rapid Drone Proliferation presents innovative solutions to the controversial issues raised by the drones and a critical assessment of its growing use as a weapon system in modern warfare and privacy issues. There have been a number of technologies introduced that have changed the world over the past several centuries, often in ways that nobody expected. Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, are one such technology. Born from hobbyists’ remote controlled model airplanes, drones have now come to be ubiquitous around the world. They are in use in multifarious ways, from military use as weapons platforms and surveillance devices on the battlefield to civilian uses to deliver packages and provide communications capabilities in rural areas. The use that has attracted the most attention from policymakers, senior military officers, and the general public is for targeted killing, what many refer to as assassination. This latter use, primarily by the United States in the past two decades, has led to a worldwide conversation among scholars about the best ways in which to regulate military drone usage. These discussions have been chaotic and often confrontational. Attempts to actually regulate military use of drones, such as those by the Talinn group, have unfortunately reflected these widespread disagreements and have been unsuccessful. Dr. Vivek Sehrawat has provided a brilliant analysis of the issues surrounding military use of drones from historical, cultural, and legal viewpoints. His book will serve both beginners to this area as well as those who have studied these problems equally well. It makes a great contribution to an important debate and will provide new insights and guidance to those policy makers who must ultimately find ways to control this new and potentially dangerous technology.