The Social Construction of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems

Abstract

Abstract This thesis explores Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), an emerging military technology that can identify and attack a target without human intervention. Though LAWS are not yet operational, they have steered vigorous debates. In May 2014, so-called High Contracting Parties to the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) assembled for a four-day long informal Expert Meeting on LAWS. This thesis follows selected experts through that meeting and analyzes how they perceived of autonomy in LAWS, and how they perceived LAWS in the context of international humanitarian law (IHL). By using analytical tools from the SCOT approach of Trevor J. Pinch and Wiebe E. Bijker and science and technology studies, it shows that while there is a technology component to LAWS, LAWS is a social construction as well. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the interpretative flexibility in LAWS critically.