Description
Drone warfare as the epitome of remote use of force dominates a rich theoretical debate of international relations and international security studies for more than a decade. It often forms part of the ‘visual turn’ in security studies, highlighting the manifold and complex human-machine interactions in practices of war. The recent emergence of novel weapons technologies that arguably represent an ‘algorithmic turn’ in International Relations open a new but contested analytical field. This paper discusses the contours of a possible algorithmic turn at the example of the debate on autonomous weapons systems (AWS) by arguing for the importance of assessing the impact of technological advancements for decision making. Drawing on the conceptual ideas of Paul Virilio, the paper shows how fixed conditions of time, space, and speed are altered and challenge established insights from drone studies and beyond. The paper argues that the conceptual awareness of an algorithmic turn has implications for the discipline of IR as a whole.
