Peter van der Merwe
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198166474
- eISBN:
- 9780191713880
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198166474.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Classical tonality was a product of the Italian Renaissance, beginning in the 15th century. There were three principal origins: first, late-medieval harmony, where the cadences more and more ...
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Classical tonality was a product of the Italian Renaissance, beginning in the 15th century. There were three principal origins: first, late-medieval harmony, where the cadences more and more resembled embryonic modulations; secondly, the double tonic, discussed in the previous chapter; and finally, the double drone on a bare fifth, (i.e., the tonic and dominant notes), which was first changed from a solid chord to an alternating drone (e.g. c–g–c–g, etc.), then assimilated to the double tonic in the upper parts, thereby producing a rudimentary tonic-and-dominant harmony. All this can be studied in the lute dances of Joan Ambrosio Dalza (published in 1508), to which much of this chapter is devoted. The final stage, which took centuries to work out, was to combine tonic-and-dominant harmony with the primitive medieval key system.Less
Classical tonality was a product of the Italian Renaissance, beginning in the 15th century. There were three principal origins: first, late-medieval harmony, where the cadences more and more resembled embryonic modulations; secondly, the double tonic, discussed in the previous chapter; and finally, the double drone on a bare fifth, (i.e., the tonic and dominant notes), which was first changed from a solid chord to an alternating drone (e.g. c–g–c–g, etc.), then assimilated to the double tonic in the upper parts, thereby producing a rudimentary tonic-and-dominant harmony. All this can be studied in the lute dances of Joan Ambrosio Dalza (published in 1508), to which much of this chapter is devoted. The final stage, which took centuries to work out, was to combine tonic-and-dominant harmony with the primitive medieval key system.
Peter van der Merwe
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198166474
- eISBN:
- 9780191713880
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198166474.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Over many centuries, Western music has drawn on the partially Oriental music of southern and eastern Europe. This chapter examines this process, and in particular, the Gypsy music that profoundly ...
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Over many centuries, Western music has drawn on the partially Oriental music of southern and eastern Europe. This chapter examines this process, and in particular, the Gypsy music that profoundly influenced the Viennese school. Among features discussed are drones and ostinatos (separately or in combination), melodic outline, recurring figures, and sequences. Most important of all are the modes, e.g., the Phrygian, Lydian, ‘Gypsy’ (with one or two augmented seconds), ‘acoustic’ (c–d–e–f sharp–g–a–b flat), and major–minor (c–d–e–f–g–a flat–b flat). The last two belong to the ‘heptatonia secunda’ scale, and are among the ancestors of the octatonic scale of alternating tones and semitones. In most of these modes, individual degrees of the scale fluctuate between major and minor, making possible both advanced chromaticism and extended tonality.Less
Over many centuries, Western music has drawn on the partially Oriental music of southern and eastern Europe. This chapter examines this process, and in particular, the Gypsy music that profoundly influenced the Viennese school. Among features discussed are drones and ostinatos (separately or in combination), melodic outline, recurring figures, and sequences. Most important of all are the modes, e.g., the Phrygian, Lydian, ‘Gypsy’ (with one or two augmented seconds), ‘acoustic’ (c–d–e–f sharp–g–a–b flat), and major–minor (c–d–e–f–g–a flat–b flat). The last two belong to the ‘heptatonia secunda’ scale, and are among the ancestors of the octatonic scale of alternating tones and semitones. In most of these modes, individual degrees of the scale fluctuate between major and minor, making possible both advanced chromaticism and extended tonality.
Floyd Grave and Margaret Grave
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195173574
- eISBN:
- 9780199872152
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173574.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Conceived as a consortium of solo voices, a Haydn quartet is perpetually vulnerable to having the norm of first-violin leadership challenged, compromised, complicated, or temporarily overturned. The ...
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Conceived as a consortium of solo voices, a Haydn quartet is perpetually vulnerable to having the norm of first-violin leadership challenged, compromised, complicated, or temporarily overturned. The almost ubiquitously destabilized environment that prevails involves continuously changing relationships among the instruments, a concomitant variety of texture, sonority, and register, and numerous devices for blending and separating different strands of line and accompaniment. Separation is most intense in soloistic passages for the first violin, which occasionally climbs to its highest range. In addition to such vividly opposed states as strident unison and blended, hymn-like homophony, there are allusions to strict polyphony, including examples of canon and fugue, and many instances of loosely woven, conversational texture in which thematic threads pass from one part to another. Special effects include bagpipe-imitating drone basses, pizzicato, and the use of mutes (con sordino).Less
Conceived as a consortium of solo voices, a Haydn quartet is perpetually vulnerable to having the norm of first-violin leadership challenged, compromised, complicated, or temporarily overturned. The almost ubiquitously destabilized environment that prevails involves continuously changing relationships among the instruments, a concomitant variety of texture, sonority, and register, and numerous devices for blending and separating different strands of line and accompaniment. Separation is most intense in soloistic passages for the first violin, which occasionally climbs to its highest range. In addition to such vividly opposed states as strident unison and blended, hymn-like homophony, there are allusions to strict polyphony, including examples of canon and fugue, and many instances of loosely woven, conversational texture in which thematic threads pass from one part to another. Special effects include bagpipe-imitating drone basses, pizzicato, and the use of mutes (con sordino).
Peter van der Merwe
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198166474
- eISBN:
- 9780191713880
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198166474.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter deals with the two most important routes from pure melody to harmony: the so-called ‘double tonic’ progression, consisting of two alternating triads with basses a tone apart, which is to ...
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This chapter deals with the two most important routes from pure melody to harmony: the so-called ‘double tonic’ progression, consisting of two alternating triads with basses a tone apart, which is to harmonic progression what the children's chant is to melody; and the other is the drone, which for all practical purposes entered European music from the East.Less
This chapter deals with the two most important routes from pure melody to harmony: the so-called ‘double tonic’ progression, consisting of two alternating triads with basses a tone apart, which is to harmonic progression what the children's chant is to melody; and the other is the drone, which for all practical purposes entered European music from the East.
Joanna Demers
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387650
- eISBN:
- 9780199863594
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387650.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, History, American
Chapter 3 looked at microsound, a form of electronica often characterized as minimalist. Chapter 4 looks at music that can be described as “maximal” because it tests the physical limitations of ...
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Chapter 3 looked at microsound, a form of electronica often characterized as minimalist. Chapter 4 looks at music that can be described as “maximal” because it tests the physical limitations of listeners through excessive durations and volumes. These various manifestations of excess all purport to transcend meaning, to push sound beyond semiosis to a state in which it communicates directly to listeners’ bodies. The chapter focuses on maximal genres such as drone music, dub techno, and noise music, enlisting theories on excess and the sublime by Georges Bataille and Immanuel Kant. It also situates noise as a reaction to but also a confirmation of traditional notions of beauty in music.Less
Chapter 3 looked at microsound, a form of electronica often characterized as minimalist. Chapter 4 looks at music that can be described as “maximal” because it tests the physical limitations of listeners through excessive durations and volumes. These various manifestations of excess all purport to transcend meaning, to push sound beyond semiosis to a state in which it communicates directly to listeners’ bodies. The chapter focuses on maximal genres such as drone music, dub techno, and noise music, enlisting theories on excess and the sublime by Georges Bataille and Immanuel Kant. It also situates noise as a reaction to but also a confirmation of traditional notions of beauty in music.
Christopher J. Fuller
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300218541
- eISBN:
- 9780300227673
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300218541.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This book is an illuminating study tracing the evolution of drone technology and counterterrorism policy from the Reagan to the Obama administrations. The book uncovers the history of the most ...
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This book is an illuminating study tracing the evolution of drone technology and counterterrorism policy from the Reagan to the Obama administrations. The book uncovers the history of the most important instrument of U.S. counterterrorism today: the armed drone. It reveals that, contrary to popular belief, the CIA's covert drone program is not a product of 9/11. Rather, it is the result of U.S. counterterrorism practices extending back to an influential group of policy makers in the Reagan administration. Tracing the evolution of counterterrorism policy and drone technology from the fallout of Iran-Contra and the CIA's “Eagle Program” prototype in the mid-1980s to the emergence of al-Qaeda, the book shows how George W. Bush and Barack Obama built upon or discarded strategies from the Reagan and Clinton eras as they responded to changes in the partisan environment, the perceived level of threat, and technological advances. Examining a range of counterterrorism strategies, the book reveals why the CIA's drones became the United States' preferred tool for pursuing the decades-old goal of preemptively targeting anti-American terrorists around the world.Less
This book is an illuminating study tracing the evolution of drone technology and counterterrorism policy from the Reagan to the Obama administrations. The book uncovers the history of the most important instrument of U.S. counterterrorism today: the armed drone. It reveals that, contrary to popular belief, the CIA's covert drone program is not a product of 9/11. Rather, it is the result of U.S. counterterrorism practices extending back to an influential group of policy makers in the Reagan administration. Tracing the evolution of counterterrorism policy and drone technology from the fallout of Iran-Contra and the CIA's “Eagle Program” prototype in the mid-1980s to the emergence of al-Qaeda, the book shows how George W. Bush and Barack Obama built upon or discarded strategies from the Reagan and Clinton eras as they responded to changes in the partisan environment, the perceived level of threat, and technological advances. Examining a range of counterterrorism strategies, the book reveals why the CIA's drones became the United States' preferred tool for pursuing the decades-old goal of preemptively targeting anti-American terrorists around the world.
Noam Lubell
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199584840
- eISBN:
- 9780191594540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584840.003.0011
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Public International Law
This chapter utilises the analysis conducted throughout the book, and applies it in the context of two cases. The first is the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. The ...
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This chapter utilises the analysis conducted throughout the book, and applies it in the context of two cases. The first is the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. The second is the targeted killings conducted by the US in Yemen and Pakistan. The rules of the ius ad bellum are examined, as are the rules regulating the use of force, whether human rights law or international humanitarian law. The chapter concludes with a summary of the analysis and identification of the challenges yet to be resolved.Less
This chapter utilises the analysis conducted throughout the book, and applies it in the context of two cases. The first is the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. The second is the targeted killings conducted by the US in Yemen and Pakistan. The rules of the ius ad bellum are examined, as are the rules regulating the use of force, whether human rights law or international humanitarian law. The chapter concludes with a summary of the analysis and identification of the challenges yet to be resolved.
Austin Carson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691181769
- eISBN:
- 9780691184241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691181769.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter describes the confluence of political, technological, and social changes that prompted the emergence of covert military intervention as an escalation-control technique. It lays the ...
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This chapter describes the confluence of political, technological, and social changes that prompted the emergence of covert military intervention as an escalation-control technique. It lays the foundation for assessing how more recent political and technological changes, such as cyberwarfare and drones, influence the covert sphere. In particular, this chapter highlights the special role of World War I. It conceptualizes the Great War as a critical juncture that dramatized the dangers of large-scale war escalation and accelerated political, social, and technological developments that influenced escalation control. These changes sharpened the problem of escalation control by making leaders more vulnerable to hawkish domestic constraints and making intentions about limited war harder to discern. Yet it also made possible new ways of using military force anonymously through, for example, the development of airpower. World War I prompted major powers to experiment with ways of limiting war; this included manipulation of the form of external military intervention.Less
This chapter describes the confluence of political, technological, and social changes that prompted the emergence of covert military intervention as an escalation-control technique. It lays the foundation for assessing how more recent political and technological changes, such as cyberwarfare and drones, influence the covert sphere. In particular, this chapter highlights the special role of World War I. It conceptualizes the Great War as a critical juncture that dramatized the dangers of large-scale war escalation and accelerated political, social, and technological developments that influenced escalation control. These changes sharpened the problem of escalation control by making leaders more vulnerable to hawkish domestic constraints and making intentions about limited war harder to discern. Yet it also made possible new ways of using military force anonymously through, for example, the development of airpower. World War I prompted major powers to experiment with ways of limiting war; this included manipulation of the form of external military intervention.
Mark Neocleous
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748692361
- eISBN:
- 9780748697205
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692361.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This book is a critical exploration of the ways in which the war power and the police power are intertwined in the form of state violence and exercised in the fabrication of order. It is not a book ...
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This book is a critical exploration of the ways in which the war power and the police power are intertwined in the form of state violence and exercised in the fabrication of order. It is not a book about an institution called ‘the military’ and how it connects to an institution called ‘the police’ but is, rather, an attempt to think critically about how powers of war and powers of police coincide for the purposes of social ordering. In tracing this argument the book generates a provocative set of claims about state power and capital accumulation, the role of violence in the making of liberal order, the police wars at the heart of this violence, and the ways in which these processes come to be called ‘peace and security’. In the process, the book explores the liberal ‘war on waste’, debates about effeminacy, the proliferation of resilience and trauma-talk, civilization as a process of violence, drones as the culmination of colonial bombing campaigns, and no-fly zones as the perfect accompaniment for drones.Less
This book is a critical exploration of the ways in which the war power and the police power are intertwined in the form of state violence and exercised in the fabrication of order. It is not a book about an institution called ‘the military’ and how it connects to an institution called ‘the police’ but is, rather, an attempt to think critically about how powers of war and powers of police coincide for the purposes of social ordering. In tracing this argument the book generates a provocative set of claims about state power and capital accumulation, the role of violence in the making of liberal order, the police wars at the heart of this violence, and the ways in which these processes come to be called ‘peace and security’. In the process, the book explores the liberal ‘war on waste’, debates about effeminacy, the proliferation of resilience and trauma-talk, civilization as a process of violence, drones as the culmination of colonial bombing campaigns, and no-fly zones as the perfect accompaniment for drones.
Kerstin Fisk (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781479857531
- eISBN:
- 9781479880997
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479857531.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
More so than in the past, the US is now embracing the logic of preventive force: using military force to counter potential threats around the globe before they have fully materialized. From the war ...
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More so than in the past, the US is now embracing the logic of preventive force: using military force to counter potential threats around the globe before they have fully materialized. From the war in Iraq to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, outside of recognized war zones, this US re-interpretation of rightful self-defense raises critical questions about the wisdom of preventive force strategy: To what extent does preventive force enhance future security? Are the perceived benefits worth the potential costs? Is the US setting a dangerous international precedent? Although this volume focuses on the most currently used, yet relatively limited, use of preventive force—targeted killings—it has important implications for preventive force more broadly. This book thus offers a comprehensive resource that speaks to the contours of preventive force as a security strategy, as well as to practical, legal and ethical considerations concerning its implementation.Less
More so than in the past, the US is now embracing the logic of preventive force: using military force to counter potential threats around the globe before they have fully materialized. From the war in Iraq to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, outside of recognized war zones, this US re-interpretation of rightful self-defense raises critical questions about the wisdom of preventive force strategy: To what extent does preventive force enhance future security? Are the perceived benefits worth the potential costs? Is the US setting a dangerous international precedent? Although this volume focuses on the most currently used, yet relatively limited, use of preventive force—targeted killings—it has important implications for preventive force more broadly. This book thus offers a comprehensive resource that speaks to the contours of preventive force as a security strategy, as well as to practical, legal and ethical considerations concerning its implementation.
Jonathan Benthall and Jonathan Benthall
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784993085
- eISBN:
- 9781526124005
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784993085.003.0016
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Middle Eastern Cultural Anthropology
This Chapter was published as a guest editorial in Anthropology Today, 29: 4, August 2013, under the title “Foregrounding the Muslim tribal periphery”. This book is arguably the finest of Professor ...
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This Chapter was published as a guest editorial in Anthropology Today, 29: 4, August 2013, under the title “Foregrounding the Muslim tribal periphery”. This book is arguably the finest of Professor Akbar Ahmed’s many publications, blending a literary and religious sensibility with political and historical analysis – a model for engaged anthropology. It can be read on two levels. It is a political indictment of the disproportionate victimization of Muslim tribespeople by remotely controlled military weapons – a policy which risks leading to a cycle of revenge. But the drone is also a metaphor for the current age of globalization, “something which comes from nowhere, destroys your life and goes away”, while the prickly, tenacious “thistle” is an image that captures the essence of tribal societies (an image borrowed from Tolstoy’s posthumous novel Hadji Murad).Less
This Chapter was published as a guest editorial in Anthropology Today, 29: 4, August 2013, under the title “Foregrounding the Muslim tribal periphery”. This book is arguably the finest of Professor Akbar Ahmed’s many publications, blending a literary and religious sensibility with political and historical analysis – a model for engaged anthropology. It can be read on two levels. It is a political indictment of the disproportionate victimization of Muslim tribespeople by remotely controlled military weapons – a policy which risks leading to a cycle of revenge. But the drone is also a metaphor for the current age of globalization, “something which comes from nowhere, destroys your life and goes away”, while the prickly, tenacious “thistle” is an image that captures the essence of tribal societies (an image borrowed from Tolstoy’s posthumous novel Hadji Murad).
Serge A. Wich and Lian Pin Koh
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- August 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198787617
- eISBN:
- 9780191829727
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198787617.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
In this chapter a brief introduction is given on three main aspects that drones are used for: detecting animals; land-cover mapping; and anti-poaching. Then the chapter focuses on which ...
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In this chapter a brief introduction is given on three main aspects that drones are used for: detecting animals; land-cover mapping; and anti-poaching. Then the chapter focuses on which considerations are important to take into account when deciding to start applying drones for conservation. The chapter starts by providing an overview of alternative aerial data collection technologies. Deciding which technology to use for data gathering is not always straightforward and will likely depend on multiple factors. An overview is given of some aspects that are important to consider when starting the process of thinking about data collection. Then a discussion follows about which equipment and infrastructural needs are important to consider when using drones and the chapter ends by discussing some general considerations related to the usage of drones for conservation.Less
In this chapter a brief introduction is given on three main aspects that drones are used for: detecting animals; land-cover mapping; and anti-poaching. Then the chapter focuses on which considerations are important to take into account when deciding to start applying drones for conservation. The chapter starts by providing an overview of alternative aerial data collection technologies. Deciding which technology to use for data gathering is not always straightforward and will likely depend on multiple factors. An overview is given of some aspects that are important to consider when starting the process of thinking about data collection. Then a discussion follows about which equipment and infrastructural needs are important to consider when using drones and the chapter ends by discussing some general considerations related to the usage of drones for conservation.
David Wills
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780823283521
- eISBN:
- 9780823286119
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823283521.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Killing Times starts from the deceptively simple observation— made by Jacques Derrida—that the death penalty mechanically interrupts mortal time, preempting our normal experience of not knowing when ...
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Killing Times starts from the deceptively simple observation— made by Jacques Derrida—that the death penalty mechanically interrupts mortal time, preempting our normal experience of not knowing when we will die. The book examines more broadly what constitutes mortal temporality and how the “machinery of death” exploits and perverts time. It first examines Eighth Amendment challenges to the death penalty in the U.S, from the late nineteenth-century introduction of execution by firing squad and the electric chair to current cases involving lethal injection. Although defining the instant of death emerges as an insoluble problem, all the machines of execution of the post-Enlightenment period presume to appropriate and control that instant, ostensibly in service of a humane death penalty. That comes into particular focus with the guillotine, introduced in France in 1791–92, at the same moment as the American Bill of Rights. Later chapters analyze how the instant of the death penalty works in conjunction with forms of suspension, or extension of time and how its seeming correlation between egregious crime and painless execution is complicated in various ways. The book’s emphasis on time then allows it to expand the sense of the death penalty into suicide bombing, where the terrorist seeks to bypass judicial process with a simultaneous crime and “punishment”; into targeted killing by drone, where the time-space coordinates of “justice” are compressed and disappear into the black hole of secrecy; and into narrative and fictive spaces of crime, court proceedings, and punishment.Less
Killing Times starts from the deceptively simple observation— made by Jacques Derrida—that the death penalty mechanically interrupts mortal time, preempting our normal experience of not knowing when we will die. The book examines more broadly what constitutes mortal temporality and how the “machinery of death” exploits and perverts time. It first examines Eighth Amendment challenges to the death penalty in the U.S, from the late nineteenth-century introduction of execution by firing squad and the electric chair to current cases involving lethal injection. Although defining the instant of death emerges as an insoluble problem, all the machines of execution of the post-Enlightenment period presume to appropriate and control that instant, ostensibly in service of a humane death penalty. That comes into particular focus with the guillotine, introduced in France in 1791–92, at the same moment as the American Bill of Rights. Later chapters analyze how the instant of the death penalty works in conjunction with forms of suspension, or extension of time and how its seeming correlation between egregious crime and painless execution is complicated in various ways. The book’s emphasis on time then allows it to expand the sense of the death penalty into suicide bombing, where the terrorist seeks to bypass judicial process with a simultaneous crime and “punishment”; into targeted killing by drone, where the time-space coordinates of “justice” are compressed and disappear into the black hole of secrecy; and into narrative and fictive spaces of crime, court proceedings, and punishment.
Kenneth Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199646470
- eISBN:
- 9780191738975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646470.003.0015
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter focuses on an argument over targeted killing using drones. The bare-bones argument is the following: Targeted killing using drone warfare is immoral because, by removing the personal ...
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This chapter focuses on an argument over targeted killing using drones. The bare-bones argument is the following: Targeted killing using drone warfare is immoral because, by removing the personal risk to those carrying out these operations, the drone-wielding actor has no, or much reduced, disincentives against using force. Using force when your own people are not at risk in the operation makes using force ‘too easy’ an option. The chapter is organized as follows. First, it sets out several key factual assumptions about drone warfare, precision targeting, and civilian collateral damage. These assumptions are set against a background discussion of the nature of the drone campaign and targeted killing as currently conducted by the United States. Second, it sets out the form of the argument that will be critiqued in its most plausible but also most sophisticated and interesting conceptual form. Third, the chapter critiques the web of conceptual assumptions that underlie the very idea that there is a coherent way to talk about drones making war ‘too easy’ — which is to say, some notion of an ‘efficient’ level of war that could make sense of saying that it is either ‘too easy’ or ‘too hard’. Fourth, assuming that the critique offered of the notion of an ‘efficient’ level of the resort to force — war — is good, it offers a speculative and incomplete account of why that would be so. It is argued that war turns on the nature of ‘sides’ that do not share commensurable grounds that would allow the commonality required to find an ‘efficient’ point in a universal welfare sense.Less
This chapter focuses on an argument over targeted killing using drones. The bare-bones argument is the following: Targeted killing using drone warfare is immoral because, by removing the personal risk to those carrying out these operations, the drone-wielding actor has no, or much reduced, disincentives against using force. Using force when your own people are not at risk in the operation makes using force ‘too easy’ an option. The chapter is organized as follows. First, it sets out several key factual assumptions about drone warfare, precision targeting, and civilian collateral damage. These assumptions are set against a background discussion of the nature of the drone campaign and targeted killing as currently conducted by the United States. Second, it sets out the form of the argument that will be critiqued in its most plausible but also most sophisticated and interesting conceptual form. Third, the chapter critiques the web of conceptual assumptions that underlie the very idea that there is a coherent way to talk about drones making war ‘too easy’ — which is to say, some notion of an ‘efficient’ level of war that could make sense of saying that it is either ‘too easy’ or ‘too hard’. Fourth, assuming that the critique offered of the notion of an ‘efficient’ level of the resort to force — war — is good, it offers a speculative and incomplete account of why that would be so. It is argued that war turns on the nature of ‘sides’ that do not share commensurable grounds that would allow the commonality required to find an ‘efficient’ point in a universal welfare sense.
Max Abrahms
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198811558
- eISBN:
- 9780191848438
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198811558.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Imagine you’re the leader of a militant group. Your enemy is a government far stronger than your crew. How can you beat the odds and achieve your political goals? For over a decade, the author has ...
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Imagine you’re the leader of a militant group. Your enemy is a government far stronger than your crew. How can you beat the odds and achieve your political goals? For over a decade, the author has studied hundreds of militant groups throughout world history to discern why some succeed while others are doomed to fail. This book offers welcome news for the rebel. It turns out that the leaders of militant groups possess a surprising amount of agency over their political destiny. Triumph is possible. But only for those who know what to do. This is the first book to identify a cohesive set of actions that can enable militant leaders to win. Discover the secrets of their success. Successful militants follow three simple rules that are based on original insights from numerous disciplines (communication, criminology, economics, history, management, marketing, political science, psychology, sociology) and methodological approaches (qualitative cases studies, content analysis, network analysis, regression analysis, experiments). There’s a science to victory in world history. But even rebels must follow rules.Less
Imagine you’re the leader of a militant group. Your enemy is a government far stronger than your crew. How can you beat the odds and achieve your political goals? For over a decade, the author has studied hundreds of militant groups throughout world history to discern why some succeed while others are doomed to fail. This book offers welcome news for the rebel. It turns out that the leaders of militant groups possess a surprising amount of agency over their political destiny. Triumph is possible. But only for those who know what to do. This is the first book to identify a cohesive set of actions that can enable militant leaders to win. Discover the secrets of their success. Successful militants follow three simple rules that are based on original insights from numerous disciplines (communication, criminology, economics, history, management, marketing, political science, psychology, sociology) and methodological approaches (qualitative cases studies, content analysis, network analysis, regression analysis, experiments). There’s a science to victory in world history. But even rebels must follow rules.
Bradley Jay Strawser (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199926121
- eISBN:
- 9780199345656
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199926121.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, General
A new powerful military weapon has appeared in the skies of world and with it a new form of warfare has quickly emerged bringing with it a host of pressing ethical questions and issues. This book ...
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A new powerful military weapon has appeared in the skies of world and with it a new form of warfare has quickly emerged bringing with it a host of pressing ethical questions and issues. This book brings together some of the best scholars currently working on these questions and provides timely and important arguments on many of the most significant and previously unexplored areas of this recent debate. Essays range from broad theoretic questions regarding the moral permissibility of killing by drones to specific examinations of particular uses of unmanned weapons such as their role in counterinsurgency operations, humanitarian interventions, and their controversial use in “targeted killings.” Some scholars engage remarkably vexing issues such as what happens to classic military virtues such as bravery for the warriors who fly remotely controlled drones from complete safety, half a world away from the combat in which they operate. Others wrestle over the future of such technology and whether “autonomous” weapons should be allowed to kill human beings. All of the views presented are given wide berth to contest, dispute, and provide sharp critical scrutiny and analysis to these contentious questions.Less
A new powerful military weapon has appeared in the skies of world and with it a new form of warfare has quickly emerged bringing with it a host of pressing ethical questions and issues. This book brings together some of the best scholars currently working on these questions and provides timely and important arguments on many of the most significant and previously unexplored areas of this recent debate. Essays range from broad theoretic questions regarding the moral permissibility of killing by drones to specific examinations of particular uses of unmanned weapons such as their role in counterinsurgency operations, humanitarian interventions, and their controversial use in “targeted killings.” Some scholars engage remarkably vexing issues such as what happens to classic military virtues such as bravery for the warriors who fly remotely controlled drones from complete safety, half a world away from the combat in which they operate. Others wrestle over the future of such technology and whether “autonomous” weapons should be allowed to kill human beings. All of the views presented are given wide berth to contest, dispute, and provide sharp critical scrutiny and analysis to these contentious questions.
Ian G. R. Shaw
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780816694730
- eISBN:
- 9781452955339
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694730.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
This book explores the rise of the Predator Empire, the name for the contemporary “dronified” U.S. national security state. Moving from the Vietnam War to the “war on terror,” it investigates how ...
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This book explores the rise of the Predator Empire, the name for the contemporary “dronified” U.S. national security state. Moving from the Vietnam War to the “war on terror,” it investigates how changes in military strategy, domestic policing, and state surveillance have come together to enclose the planet in a robotic system of control. It argues that we are witnessing a transition from a labor-intensive “American empire” to a machine-intensive Predator Empire. Following philosophers such as Hannah Arendt and Peter Sloterdijk, the book argues that the nonhuman environment directly influences who we are, and therefore goes beyond considering drone warfare as a purely military concern. The rise of drones present a series of “existential crises” that are reengineering the spaces of violence, domestic policing, and even the character of modern states.Less
This book explores the rise of the Predator Empire, the name for the contemporary “dronified” U.S. national security state. Moving from the Vietnam War to the “war on terror,” it investigates how changes in military strategy, domestic policing, and state surveillance have come together to enclose the planet in a robotic system of control. It argues that we are witnessing a transition from a labor-intensive “American empire” to a machine-intensive Predator Empire. Following philosophers such as Hannah Arendt and Peter Sloterdijk, the book argues that the nonhuman environment directly influences who we are, and therefore goes beyond considering drone warfare as a purely military concern. The rise of drones present a series of “existential crises” that are reengineering the spaces of violence, domestic policing, and even the character of modern states.
Phillip S. Meilinger
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780813178899
- eISBN:
- 9780813178905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813178899.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Military History
The third chapter was written after listening to several ground officers and historians argue that the nature of war was unchanging and immutable. One stated that war as experienced by an ancient ...
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The third chapter was written after listening to several ground officers and historians argue that the nature of war was unchanging and immutable. One stated that war as experienced by an ancient Greek hoplite was the same as for any soldier today in Iraq or Afghanistan. That statement bears examination. Such attitudes are almost always expressed by those who know only of land warfare—which they equate to war in general. For sailors, aviators, space or cyber warfare practitioners, the experience of war is fundamentally different, especially today. New methods, but also old ones too often ignored, clearly demonstrate that war is indeed mutable.Less
The third chapter was written after listening to several ground officers and historians argue that the nature of war was unchanging and immutable. One stated that war as experienced by an ancient Greek hoplite was the same as for any soldier today in Iraq or Afghanistan. That statement bears examination. Such attitudes are almost always expressed by those who know only of land warfare—which they equate to war in general. For sailors, aviators, space or cyber warfare practitioners, the experience of war is fundamentally different, especially today. New methods, but also old ones too often ignored, clearly demonstrate that war is indeed mutable.
Phillip S. Meilinger
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780813178899
- eISBN:
- 9780813178905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813178899.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, Military History
The final chapter is an overview of the entire book, which leads to a new paradigm of war. Starting with a past overemphasis on bloody battle inherited from Clausewitz, it then proceeds through ...
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The final chapter is an overview of the entire book, which leads to a new paradigm of war. Starting with a past overemphasis on bloody battle inherited from Clausewitz, it then proceeds through discussions of various methods to avoid such battles, to capitalize on speed and surprise, to reflect individual service and national cultures, and to capitalize on new technologies and doctrines. These varied factors suggest alternatives that emphasize the importance of speed, surprise, precision, and the limitation of risk.Less
The final chapter is an overview of the entire book, which leads to a new paradigm of war. Starting with a past overemphasis on bloody battle inherited from Clausewitz, it then proceeds through discussions of various methods to avoid such battles, to capitalize on speed and surprise, to reflect individual service and national cultures, and to capitalize on new technologies and doctrines. These varied factors suggest alternatives that emphasize the importance of speed, surprise, precision, and the limitation of risk.
Aiden Warren
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474423816
- eISBN:
- 9781474435314
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474423816.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
Aiden Warren argues in Chapter Nine:The Changing Face of Interventions and the Deployment of New Technologies that the continual advancement of new technologies in theaters of conflict, and more ...
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Aiden Warren argues in Chapter Nine:The Changing Face of Interventions and the Deployment of New Technologies that the continual advancement of new technologies in theaters of conflict, and more specifically in the context of interventions, pose some very distinct challenges. These challenges are examined in relation to notions of regulation, associated moral, ethical and legal debates, as well as logistical dimensions. As the most topical form of new technology, the chapter looks at the increase in the use of drones as well as debates regarding their viability as an option in humanitarian contexts. Warren also considers the implications surrounding their utility and the ‘dehumanization of death,’ including those actors who are complicit in their science and construction. In the context of humanitarian interventions, the chapter interrogates the varying debates pertaining to the potential of drone usage and the security dilemmas that could arise should they continue to become a significant option in a states’ repertoire of intervention. Lastly, he argues, as technology rapidly advances and drones become wholly “off the loop” in the form of “killer robots,” additional complexities may arise in future security scenarios and the need for new regulations.Less
Aiden Warren argues in Chapter Nine:The Changing Face of Interventions and the Deployment of New Technologies that the continual advancement of new technologies in theaters of conflict, and more specifically in the context of interventions, pose some very distinct challenges. These challenges are examined in relation to notions of regulation, associated moral, ethical and legal debates, as well as logistical dimensions. As the most topical form of new technology, the chapter looks at the increase in the use of drones as well as debates regarding their viability as an option in humanitarian contexts. Warren also considers the implications surrounding their utility and the ‘dehumanization of death,’ including those actors who are complicit in their science and construction. In the context of humanitarian interventions, the chapter interrogates the varying debates pertaining to the potential of drone usage and the security dilemmas that could arise should they continue to become a significant option in a states’ repertoire of intervention. Lastly, he argues, as technology rapidly advances and drones become wholly “off the loop” in the form of “killer robots,” additional complexities may arise in future security scenarios and the need for new regulations.
