Description
Satellite imagery analysis has transformed how civil society can monitor, interpret and act on complex events such as armed conflict. Ordinarily the preserve of intelligence services, the traditional barriers of cost, coverage and accessibility of high-resolution imagery have significantly reduced. Consequently, imagery analysis has become a mainstay in legal, journalist and activist efforts to catalogue and analyse scenes of political or historical importance. But what does this mean for academia – its research focus and methodology? This paper uses the war in Ukraine (2014-present) to illustrate the implications of a changing power dynamic in how ‘ground truth’ is defined in international affairs. The decentralisation and democratisation of data has empowered citizens, but the structures and processes for criminal accountability remain in the hands of governmental and inter-governmental authorities. How (and where) do these two sides meet to grant agency to the truth-seeking enterprise? And what role can international studies play in incorporating imagery analysis as a data source and subject for debate?
