The Use of Drones and Its Implications for International Relations
James Carafano outlined several lessons learned from the recent use of drones by the United States: The operation of drones does not constitute any new challenges for international law, since unmanned systems have to be considered as regular conventional carrier systems. A quick proliferation of the technology needed to construct and operate drones is very likely, which no international regime will be able to stop or prevent. There will rather be a similarly quick spread of counter-measures, as unmanned systems can be fought efficiently with simple means.
The question whether to operate drones in domestic scenarios has to be answered nationally by each state on its own. Drones will soon be recognized to be an unsatisfactory instrument for achieving political goals and thus lose their current significance. Autonomous systems represent a category of their own and are therefore different to evaluate. The deployment of such systems is questionable mainly for ethical and judicial reasons, which is why the US thus far has made no use of them.
Omid Nouripour widely shared the previous opinions and called for an international code of conduct for the use of unmanned systems. Armed drones should be controlled exclusively by the military, include the option of self-destruction in case of malfunctions and importantly, a human being should always have the last call. The deployment of autonomous systems, as well as targeted killing of people outside of armed conflicts is not justifiable from a judicial and ethical viewpoint. Furthermore, it should be attempted to limit the proliferation of unmanned warfare systems.
Both experts agreed in the following discussion that the Obama administration currently does not have a comprehensive strategy towards Pakistan. The deployment of drones is not enough to fight the uprisings and instead leads to further problems. This especially includes the negative perception of unmanned attacks, which entail an irreparable damage in public opinion. Furthermore, targeted killing of leaders in the long term leads to a loss of valuable sources of information and causes rebels to employ new strategies.
Nonetheless, Carafano and Nouripour also attributed some positive aspects to the use of drones. The argued that through improved intelligence lives of soldiers can be saved and the number of civilian casualties reduced. Moreover, the use of unmanned systems in „dull, deadly and dangerous“ situations is often more sensible and efficient than the deployment of troops.
Profound changes in the conduct of war between states because of the use of drones should not be expected, as the implementation of new weapons systems in the past has shown. The deployment of the new system is after all a political decision, which every state must make independently. Legally, the foundation for state actions is inscribedwithin humanitarian law, which until now has not been violated by the use of drones.
