CPSA/ISA-Canada section on International Relations

C19(a) - Technology, Security and Gender

Date: Jun 1 | Time: 01:30pm to 03:00pm | Location: Classroom - CL 312 Room ID:15772

Chair/Président/Présidente : Meaghan Shoemaker (Queen's University)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Tetyana Narozhna (University of Winnipeg)

Remotely Piloted Aircraft and Social Discourse: More than 'Droning On': Thomas Hughes (Queen's University)
Abstract: Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs) have become a significant component of Western military action, but discourse around the aircraft can shape the way in which they are perceived. This research asks how the language used to describe RPA strike missions in the media differs from that used to describe strikes by ‘manned’ aircraft, and the possible effects of any differentiation. Understanding this is particularly significant given the emphasis on remotely-piloted systems in Canada’s 2017 ‘Strong, Secure, Engaged’. This research contains a discourse analysis of over 900 news headlines and demonstrates a clear distinction between reporting on air strikes conducted by ‘manned’ aircraft and those conducted by RPAs, as well as a distinction between the way in which air strikes are reported in the US/UK press and its Iraqi/Afghan counterpart. Particularly in US/UK media, reports on 'drones', unlike their ‘manned’ equivalents, usually include a description of casualties. Furthermore, US/UK media is more likely than Iraqi/Afghan media to focus on ‘Personality’ strikes conducted using RPAs, and headlines that refer to deaths are more likely to attribute ‘Active’ intent to the RPA than they are when the aircraft involved is ‘manned’, thus suggesting autonomous action. There is a significant body of academic literature on the legal and ethical implications of autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons. This research moves beyond this theoretical component and considers the public framing of ‘autonomy’ in a military context, informing the intersection of policy and academia and providing an indication of broad attitudes towards this aspect of jus in bello.

A Ban on Nuclear Weapons: Prospects and Challenges: Saira Bano (Mount Royal University)
Abstract: It is surprising that nuclear weapons are not yet declared illegal, just as chemical and biological weapons are. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the cornerstone of the nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament regime, only forbids the possession of nuclear weapons. Due to the failure of the complete disarmament, a group of middle powers and NGOs launched the so-called Humanitarian Initiative. The goal of the Humanitarian Initiative is to change the existing narrative of nuclear deterrence, nuclear proliferation and more recently nuclear terrorism to the question of the humanitarian consequences that will ensue, for societies and individual human beings, if nuclear weapons are ever used again. United Nations General Assemble voted on the Humanitarian Pledge in July 2015, adopting the resolution with 139 ‘yes’ votes and 29 ‘no’s’, with 17 countries abstaining. Australia voted no, as did Canada, Germany, South Korea and all the P5—except China which abstained, as did Japan and North Korea. This paper evaluates how a Nuclear-Weapons Ban Treaty might be the tool necessary to rescue the failing global nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament regime and what are challenges in convincing the nuclear-weapon states to abandon their nuclear weapons and negotiate this treaty.