Unmanned aerial vehicles, “drones”, provoke. The weapon marks a new type of warfare and evokes emotions in many. The public discussion about drones is full of emotive language such as “computer game war” and “extrajudicial executions”.
What is it about drones that upset people? And how problematic is the kind of warfare that they have come to symbolize? These are some of the questions that Katarina Tracz probes in the report The Drone War – Just Another War?
The report examines the Swedish public debate on drones, with special emphasis on its moral and legal aspects. The report criticizes the Obama Administration for not being forthright about the real number of civilian casualties caused by drone attacks, while, at the same time, appreciating that the usage of drones has decreased the overall level of civilian casualties in war.