Opposing Perspectives on the Drone Debate

Does the lethal use of drones pose any new or difficult moral problems? Or is the controversy over these weapons merely a distraction from deeper questions regarding the justice of war and the United States' bellicose foreign policy? Opposing Perspectives on the Drone Debate pulls no punches in answering these questions as five scholars square off in a lively debate over the ethics of drones and their contentious use in a point-counterpoint debate. The contributing authors are some of the foremost thinkers in international affairs today, spanning the disciplines of philosophy, sociology, political science, and law. Topics debated range from the US's contested policy of so-called "targeted killing" in Pakistan's tribal regions to fears over the damaging effects such weaponry has on our democratic institutions to the more abstract moral questions raised by killing via remote control such as the duty to capture over kill.

Bradley J. Strawser is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Naval Postgraduate School , USA, and Research Associate at Oxford University's Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict, UK.

PART I: OPENING ARGUMENT
1. More Heat Than Light: The Vexing Complexities of the Drone Debate; Bradley Jay Strawser
PART II: FIRST ROUND OF RESPONSES
2. Is Targeted Killing War?; Lisa Hajjar
3. Drones Threaten Democratic Decision-Making; Steven Levine
4. Even War Has Limits; Feisal H. Naqvi
5. On Adopting a Posture of Moral Neutrality; John Fabian Witt
PART III: STRAWSER'S RESPONSE
6. Reply to Critics: No Easy Answers; Bradley Jay Strawser
PART IV: SECOND ROUND OF RESPONSES
7. A Sociological Intervention on Drones and Targeted Killing; Lisa Hajjar
8. Drones: Between Principle and Policy; Steven Levine
9. The Other Side of the Line; Feisal Naqvi
10. A Duty to Capture?; John Fabian Witt
PART V: CONCLUDING RESPONSE
11. Arguing in Good Faith about Drones; Bradley Jay Strawser