Month: December 2017

Robot Wars

By Ian G. R. Shaw There isn’t a day goes by without predictions—wild, wacky, and horrifying—about the future of warfare. Robots stand at the centre of so many of these prophecies. Although robots have existed for decades, and even longer in the human imagination, recent leaps in artificial intelligence (AI) promise to break with old… Read more »

War-Making, International Law and Environmental Infrastructure

By: Jeannie L Sowers, Erika Weinthal, and Neda Zawahri The extensive targeting of civilian water and energy infrastructures by a range of state and non-state actors, including regional powers and armed groups, has marked the post-2011 wars in the Middle East and North Africa. The effects on human welfare and ecosystems are long-term and poorly… Read more »

The Political Economic Logic of Liberal Exceptionalism

By Jacqueline Best These are interesting times for scholars interested in the concept of “exceptionalism” and emergency. As I have pointed to in my recent article in Security Dialogue, “Security, economy, population: The political economic logic of liberal exceptionalism,” prior to the recent wave of right-leaning election wins it seemed that we were entering into… Read more »

Making the Invisible Visible – Satellites, Visual Technologies and Environmental Security

By Delf Rothe How can satellites promise to predict future environmental risks and threats? Global warming and resulting environmental changes are unfolding at an ever-faster pace. Natural disasters threaten the well-being of communities across the globe and debates around whether environmental change can (or should) be considered security risks are more topical than ever. Seeing… Read more »

Impunity, the Postcolony and the Promise of Justice

By Henrique Furtado ‘Impunity’ figures in 9 out of 10 lists of the biggest difficulties faced by societies in the so called Third World. Ask anyone for a quick synthesis of the ‘problem’ with African, Asian, Latin American countries and impunity – the absence of punishment for those who violate moral, legal or social codes… Read more »

“Dimming the Sun” and the Implications of a ‘Plan B’ to Prevent Global Warming

By Olaf Corry What security problems are likely to be involved in developing and using technology to deliberately modify the global climate ? Some argue that effective global action to prevent global warming is too difficult politically, and that ‘dimming the sun’ should be explored. The idea is that a possible way to reduce climate… Read more »