From State Control to Remote Control: Warfare in the 21st Century

States are increasingly using remote control methods, such as drones, private military companies and special operations units, to engage in activities traditionally performed by conventional armed forces.

This course looks at the reasons behind this trend including security privatisation and risk aversion among politicians and the public. It also studies the opportunities that remote methods provide to circumvent the law.

We’ll ask how our understanding of war and security is changing, and how states in the future will ensure our security through such non-traditional means.

This course will take an in-depth look at this subject, so you’ll need some pre-existing knowledge of the technical and theoretical issues covered.

• What is Remote Control Warfare?
• Welcome to the course
• What is remote control warfare?
• Oversight
• The politics of oversight, risk and fear
• State oversight and accountability
• Exploring the culture of fear
• The politics of risk
• The Move towards Remote Control Warfare
• The US and the UK
• Europe
• The Asia-Pacific region
• Remote Control Warfare – a Closer Look
• The US and Pakistan
• Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Israel
• Where are we heading?