The Good Drone

213 Pages·2017·3.158 MB·English

by  Kristin Sandvik, Maria Jumbert

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The Good Drone

While the military use of drones has been the subject of much scrutiny, the
use of drones for humanitarian purposes has so far received little attention.
As the starting point for this study, it is argued that the prospect of using
drones for humanitarian and other life- saving activities has produced an
alternative discourse on drones, dedicated to developing and publicizing the
endless possibilities that drones have for “doing good.” Furthermore, it is
suggested that the Good Drone narrative has been appropriated back into the
drone warfare discourse, as a strategy to make war “more human.”
This book explores the role of the Good Drone as an organizing narrative
for political projects, technology development and humanitarian action.
Its contribution to the debate is to take stock of the multiple logics and
rationales according to which drones are “good,” with a primary objective
to initiate a critical conversation about the political currency of “good.”
This study recognizes the many possibilities for the use of drones and takes
these possibilities seriously by critically examining the difference the drones’
functionalities can make, but also what difference the presence of drones
themselves – as unmanned and flying objects – makes. Discussed and analyzed
are the implications for the drone industry, user communities, and the areas
of crisis where drones are deployed.
Kristin Bergtora Sandvik is Associate Professor at the Department of
Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo, and Senior
Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). She holds a doctor-
ate from Harvard Law School.
Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert is Senior Researcher at PRIO and the Director of
the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies. She holds a PhD from the
Institut d’Etudes Politiques, SciencesPo Paris.
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Emerging technologies, ethics and international affairs

Series editors:
Jai C. Galliott, The University of New South Wales, Australia
Avery Plaw, University of Massachusetts, USA
Katina Michael, University of Wollongong, Australia
This series examines the crucial ethical, legal and public policy questions
arising from or exacerbated by the design, development and eventual adoption
of new technologies across all related fields, from education and engineering
to medicine and military affairs.
The books revolve around two key themes:
• Moral issues in research, engineering and design.
• Ethical, legal and political/p olicy issues in the use and regulation of
technology.
This series encourages submission of cutting- edge research monographs
and edited collections with a particular focus on forward- looking ideas
concerning innovative or as yet undeveloped technologies. While there is an
expectation that authors will be well grounded in philosophy, law or political
science, consideration will be given to future- orientated works that cross these
disciplinary boundaries. The interdisciplinary nature of the series editorial
team offers the best possible examination of works that address the “ethical,
legal and social” implications of emerging technologies.
Forthcoming titles:
Drones and Responsibility
Legal, Philosophical and Socio- Technical Perspectives on
Remotely Controlled Weapons
Edited by Ezio Di Nucci and Filippo Santoni de Sio
Super Soldiers
The Ethical, Legal and Social Implications
Edited by Jai Galliott and Mianna Lotz
Social Robots
Boundaries, Potential, Challenges
Edited by Marco Nørskov
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The Good Drone

Edited by Kristin Bergtora Sandvik and
Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert
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First published 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 selection and editorial matter, Kristin Bergtora Sandvik and
Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of Kristin Bergtora Sandvik and Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert to
be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without
intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Names: Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora, editor of compilation. |
Jumbert, Maria Gabrielsen, editor of compilation.
Title: The Good Drone / edited by Kristin Bergtora Sandvik and 
Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, [2016] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016003282 | ISBN 9781472451118 (hardback) | 
ISBN 9781315553405 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Drone aircraft. | Drone aircraft–Moral and ethical aspects.
Classification: LCC UG1242.D7 G66 2016 | DDC 358.4/ 14– dc23
LC record available at http:// lccn.loc.gov/ 2016003282
ISBN: 9781472451118 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781315553405 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Out of House Publishing
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Contents

Notes on contributors vii
Acknowledgments x
Introduction: what does it take to be good? 1

MARIA GABRIELSEN JUMBERT AND
KRISTIN BERGTORA SANDVIK
1 Targeted “killer drones” and the humanitarian
discourse: on a liaison 26

SUSANNE KRASMANN
2 Lifting the fog of war? Opportunities and challenges of
drones in UN peace operations 45

JOHN KARLSRUD AND FREDERIK ROSÉN
3 Poison pill or cure- all: drones and the protection
of civilians 65

KRISTOFFER LIDÉN AND KRISTIN BERGTORA SANDVIK
4 Creating the EU drone: control, sorting, and search and
rescue at sea 89

MARIA GABRIELSEN JUMBERT
5 The public order drone: proliferation and disorder in
civil airspace 109

KRISTIN BERGTORA SANDVIK
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vi Contents
6 A revolution in agricultural affairs: dronoculture,
precision, capital 129

BRAD BOLMAN
7 Wings for wildlife: the use of conservation drones,
challenges and opportunities 153

SERGE WICH, LORNA SCOTT AND LIAN PIN KOH
8 Drone/ body: the drone’s power to sense and construct
emergencies 168

MAREILE KAUFMANN
Index 195
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Contributors

Kristin Bergtora Sandvik is an Associate Professor at the Department of
Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo, and a Senior
Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), where she also
coordinates the research group on humanitarianism. She holds an SJD
from Harvard Law School (2008). She has published widely on the nor-
malization of drones and on humanitarian technology, and her work has
appeared in inter alia Millennium, Third World Quarterly, International
Review of the Red Cross, and BEHEMOTH.
Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert is a Senior Researcher at PRIO and the Director
of the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies. She holds a PhD from
the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, SciencesPo Paris (2010). Her work focuses
on how new information and surveillance technologies produce security
and humanitarian practices, especially as related to human mobility. Her
work has appeared in inter alia in the Journal of Modern African Studies,
Third World Quarterly, the International Review of the Red Cross and the
Review of International Studies.
Brad Bolman is a researcher in the History of Science at Harvard University.
His work focuses on the connections between military, scientific and
technical transformations of the natural world and new transnational
exchanges produced by economic globalization. His current project is a
manuscript that traces the development of scientific pigs in the twentieth
and twenty- first centuries.
John Karlsrud is Senior Research Fellow and Manager for the Training for
Peace programme at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs,
and External Associate at the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and
Regionalisation, University of Warwick, where he also earned his PhD
(2014). He has been a Fulbright Fellow at the Centre on International
Cooperation, NYU and is a World Social Science Fellow on big data and
peacebuilding in urban environments. John works on peacekeeping, peace-
building and humanitarian issues and is interested in how big data and new
technology can be used to improve action in these areas. He has published
articles with, for example, Disasters, Global Governance, International
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viii Notes on contributors
Review of the Red Cross and Third World Quarterly, and has forthcoming
books with Routledge and Zed Books.
Mareile Kaufmann is a Senior Researcher at PRIO and holds a PhD from
Hamburg University (2016). From a perspective of political philosophy
and critical theory she explores the influence of security technology and
the digital on society at large. At PRIO, she coordinates the Security
Research Group and is a primary researcher in several Norwegian and
EU- funded projects. Her work has appeared in Media, Culture & Society
and Environment & Planning D.
Susanne Krasmann is a Professor of Sociology at the Institute for
Criminological Research, University of Hamburg. Her main research
areas are Law and Security, Critical Security Studies, Epistemologies
of Control, Vulnerability & Political Theory and Poststructuralist
Perspectives (in particular: Governmentality, Affect Theory, Regimes of
Visibility). She has published with Routledge, Suhrkamp and Campus
Publishers, and with international journals such as Leiden Journal of
International Law, Punishment & Society, Surveillance & Society and
Theoretical Criminology.
Kristoffer Lidén is a Senior Researcher at PRIO, where he coordinates the
Research group on Law and Ethics, as well as the Research school on
Peace and Conflict. He specializes in the ethics and political philosophy
of peacebuilding, humanitarianism and security. He has published on the
ethics of liberal peacebuilding, global governance, post- colonialism and
international law. Lidén holds a PhD in Philosophy (2014) and an MA in
Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Oslo.
Lian Pin Koh is Associate Professor and Chair of Applied Ecology &
Conservation at the University of Adelaide. He helped establish, and serves
as Director of, the university’s Unmanned Research Aircraft Facility, and
is Deputy Director of the Conservation Science and Technology Program.
In addition to his university duties, he is also Founding Director of
ConservationDrones.org (a US- based non- profit) and Regional Technical
Advisor for Conservation International. He also serves as Editor- in- Chief
of Cogent Environmental Science, Editor of Biological Conservation and
Editor of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group).
Frederik Rosén is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International
Studies. He is the director of the NATO Science for Peace and Security
Program on cultural property protection in NATO- led military operations.
He has published widely on international security, security technologies
and peacebuilding in journals such as Journal of Conflict and Security
Law, Stability: International Journal of Security and Development, African
Security, and Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. He holds a PhD
from the Roskilde University (2011).
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Notes on contributors ix
Lorna Scott is a freelance researcher. She has a BSc in Zoology from
Liverpool John Moores University. Her area of interest is the conservation
of great apes and their habitats, with a particular focus on the use of GIS
technology.
Serge Wich is a Professor in primate biology at Liverpool John Moores
University (Liverpool, UK) and in 2014 he joined the UvA as hon-
orary professor for the conservation of the great apes. His research
focuses on primate behavioral ecology, tropical rain forest ecology and
conservation of primates and their habitats with a special focus on the
Sumatran orangutan. He is involved in research at various fieldsites of
wild and reintroduced orangutans, as well as in island- wide surveys and
analyses of orangutan distribution and density and the impact of land use
changes on their populations. Together with Dr. Lian Pin Koh he founded
ConservationDrones.org and uses drones for conservation applications.