The politics of breaking the (legal) routine: technological means of warfare beyond ‘law as usual’
(2015) International Studies Association General Conference — Location: New Orleans, LA, USA (18.February.2015)
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- This paper moves from the premises that technologies never seriously challenged the Law of Armed Conflict during the last 40 years. Contrary to a perceived sense of novelty, technological means of warfare can be apprehended by ‘law as usual’: the most established provisions of LOAC are in fact, designed to be largely self-sufficient and immune to technological innovation. Still several transnational civil society organizations keep fighting to promote bans and/or regulations of these (seemingly new) technologies. This paper examines how these actors specifically targeted weapons or weapons platforms – landmines, cluster munitions, drones – using technological elements of their performativity to foster scholar then political involvement in their regulation (Price, 1998). In particular, this contribution investigates how ‘civil society’ actors – such as the ICBL, the CMC or the Drone Campaign Network – become themselves ‘security’ actors by effectively advocating ad hoc lawmaking for objects that do not require it. Hence, this paper ambition is to demonstrate how a juridical controversy about concerning technological features allows transnational civil society to pursue a political agenda and increase their role in international policy making.
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Biaumet, G. (2015). The politics of breaking the (legal) routine: technological means of warfare beyond ‘law as usual’. International Studies Association General Conference, New Orleans, LA, USA. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/187680