Means Becoming Aim-in-itself?A Virilioan Problematization of the Armed Drones

Abstract

In contemporary armed conflicts, science and technology increasingly plays a determining role and decisively shape outcomes. This techno-scientific discourse has led to development of cutting edge weapon systems, with armed drone as its prime example. This paper aims to explore the interaction of armed drones with strategy making, culture and politics that has barely begun and calls for a critical awareness to tame emerging pro-armed drone discourse that seems to subjugate political processes and strategic decision-making mechanisms in all over the globe. To achive this, the article critically engages in the debate over the relationship between strategy and technique through the problematization of the drone warfare relying on the conceptions Paul Virilio. Paul Virilio, a reputable French military philosopher yet poorly studied by the Turkish academia, problematizes the relationship of speed, technology and warfare, and thus, provides an effective conceptual tool box for the critical security studies when analyzing the conduct and consequences of the drone warfare.

Keywords

• Paul Virilio,drone warfare,military technology,armed drones,military strategy

Araç Amaç mı Oluyor? Silahlı İHA’lar Hakkında Virilioan Bir Tartışma

Abstract

Günümüzde yaşanan silahlı çatışmalarda, bilim ve teknoloji gittikçe belirleyici bir rol oynamakta ve bu çatışmaların sonuçlarını büyük ölçüde şekillendirmektedir. Son yıllarda tekno- bilimsel diskur en çok silahlı insansız hava araçlarının (SİHA) gelişmesine yol açmaktadır. Bu makale, stratejik karar alma mekanizmalarını etkisi altına almış görünen SİHA’lara yönelik eleştirel bir farkındalık oluşturma amacındadır. SİHA konusunda strateji, kültür ve siyaset arasındaki etkileşimi de irdelemeye çalışan çalışma, ünlü Fransız askeri filozof Paul Virilio’nun kavramlarına dayanarak SİHA örnek olayı üzerinden strateji ve teknik arasındaki ilişkiye odaklanmaktadır. Henüz Türkiye’de hakkında yeterince akademik çalışma bulunmayan Paul Virilio; hız, teknoloji ve savaş arasındaki ilişkiyi sorgulamaktadır. Bu yüzden, silahlı çatışmalarda giderek amaca dönüştüğü görülen araçlar haline gelen SİHA’ların yarattığı gerçekliği anlamlandırmada ve SİHA tartışmalarına eleştirisel bir katkı sunmada Virilio’nun kavramsallaştırmaları önem kazanmaktadır.

Keywords

• Silahlı İHA,askeri teknoloji,Paul Virilio

References

1. Armitage, John. Paul Virilio: From Modernism to Hypermodernism and Beyond. New York: Sage, 2000.
2. Barnaby, Frank. “Nuclear Conflict: A Global Prospect?” In The Nuclear Arms Race – Control or Catastrophe?, edited by Frank Barnaby, and Geoffrey Thomas. London: Frances Printer, 1982.
3. Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Translated by Sheila Glaser. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004.
4. Becker, Jo, and Scott Shane. “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will.” NY Times, May 29, 2012.
5. Calwell, Charles E. Small Wars: A Tactical Textbook for Imperial Soldiers. London: reprinted, 1990.
6. Cloud, David S. “CIA drones have broader list of targets.” Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2010.
7. Cole, Chris. “Convenient Killing: Armed Drones and the Playstation Mentality.” Human Rights Watch Report, September, 2010.
8. Der Derian, James. Virtuous War: Mapping the Military – Industrial – Media – Entertainment Network. New York: Routledge, 2009.

9. Der Derian, James. “Virtuous War/Virtual Theory.” International Affairs 76, no. 4 (October 2000): 771 – 788.
10. “Drone Warfare: America’s Killing Machine.” The Economist, April 13, 2013.
11. Echevarria, Antonio. Clausewitz and Contemporary War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
12. Feenberg, Andrew Transforming Technology: A Critical Theory Revisited (Oxford University Press, London,2002).,
13. Frum, David, and Richard Perle. An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror. New York: Ballantine, 2004. Gray, Colin S. Modern Strategy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
14. Gray, Colin S. Strategy for Chaos: Revolution in Military Affairs and the Evidence of History. London: Frank Cass, 2004. Gray, Colin S. Weapons Don’t Make War: Politics, Strategy and Military Technology. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1993.
15. Gray, Colin S. “Weapons for Strategic Effect: How Important Is Technology?.” Occasional Paper, Air War College, January 2001.
16. Gurcan, Metin. “From Traditional into Tailored: The Evolution of the Concept of Deterrence in the Post-Cold War Era.” The Journal of Strategic Studies 9, no. 16 (2011): 11– 51. _________. “Seeing the Other Side of the COIN: A Critique of the Current Counterinsurgency (COIN) Strategies in Afghanistan.” Small Wars Journal, March 11, 2011. _________.‘Turkey goes all in on drones’ Al-Monitor, December 28, 2015. __________.‘Drone warfare and contemporary strategy making: Does the tail wag the dog?, Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, 2013.
17. Hart, Basil H. Liddell. Strategy. London: Faber, 1967.
18. Hashmi, Sohail H., and Steven P. Lee. Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
19. Jones, Richard Wyn Security, Strategy, and Critical Theory (Lynne Rienner Publisher, 1999)
20. Kaplan, Fred M. Wizards of Armageddon. Stanford University Press, 1983.
21. Kaplan, David. Readings in the Philosophy of Technology. Lanham: Kowman and Littlefield, 2004. Kilcullen, David. “Death From Above, Outrage Down Below.” New York Times, May 16, 2009.
22. Kurzman, Dan. Day of the Bomb: Hiroshima 1945. London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1986.
23. Lansford, Tom. America’s War on Terror. Burlington: Ashgate, 2009.
24. Mansfield, Nick. Theorizing War: From Hobbes to Bidio. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2008.
25. Mazetti, Mark. The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth. New York: Penguin Press, 2013.
26. Mockenhaupt, Brian. “We’ve seen the future, and it’s unmanned.” Esquire Magazine, October 14, 2009.
27. Al-Muslimi, Farea. “America Loses Yemeni People in Drone War.” Al-Monitor, August 11, 2013.
28. Ross, Andrew L. The Role of Nuclear Weapons in International Politics: A Strategic Perspective. Philadelphia: http://www.fpri.org/footnotes/1405.200905.ross.nuclearweaponsintlpol itics.html (accessed September 19, 2013) Foreign Policy Research Institute, 2009.
29. Singer, Peter. “Do Drones Undermine Democracy?” New York Times, January 21, 2012.
30. Singer, Peter. Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. New York: Penguin Press, 2009.
31. Thompson, Edward P. “Sources of Exterminism: The Last Stage of Civilization.” New Left Review, no. 121 (1980): 3 – 31.
32. Virilio, Paul. Desert Screen. New York: Continuum, 2005.
33. Virilio, Paul. Open Sky. London: Verso, 1997.
34. Virilio, Paul. Speed and Politics. Translated by Mark Polizzotti. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2006.
35. Waltz, Kenneth N. The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: More May Be Better. Adelphi Paper No. 171. London: International Studies of Strategic Studies.
36. Wise, Lindsay. “Fighting a real war in a virtual cockpit: Drones in Houston help troops fight Iraq, Afghanistan wars.” Houston and Texas News, June 27, 2010.