Why did the use of drone strikes increase during the first term of the Obama administration? During his presidential campaign Barrack Obama called for a military withdrawal from Iraq, the end of...Show moreWhy did the use of drone strikes increase during the first term of the Obama administration? During his presidential campaign Barrack Obama called for a military withdrawal from Iraq, the end of torture and indefinite detention of suspected terrorists and the closing of Guantanamo Bay. For these reasons, many believed that Obama intended to end the War on Terror begun by the Bush administration after the attacks on 9/11. Contradicting this expectation, the number of US drone strikes used to counter terrorism increased drastically during Obama's first term as president. This research seeks to identify the causal factors for the proliferation of drone strikes by explaining how it fits into the broader context of the continuation of the War on Terror during Obama’s first term. Firstly, it is argued that Obama was trapped in the War on Terror. Secondly, it is argued that the use of drone strikes increased because the Obama administration sought to reduce public disapproval of War on Terror policies, while continuing war efforts.Show less
This paper aims to analyse how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) popularly known as drones, impact the Westphalian sovereignty of those states in which the strikes are carried out. More broadly, the...Show moreThis paper aims to analyse how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) popularly known as drones, impact the Westphalian sovereignty of those states in which the strikes are carried out. More broadly, the paper will investigate the wider implications drones have for an international system organised and based around the pillars of a Westphalian system of international relations. Territorial integrity and exclusion of external actors from a specific polity coupled with a monopoly of violence inside a certain territory are seen as the sine qua non elements of internal and external sovereignty. Analysing Westphalian sovereignty through the drone lens is important because the drone could act as a fundamental vehicle to analyse the state of affairs of the international system. The analysis conducted points to the drone as being the catalyst at the same time for a weakening and strengthening of the Westphalian state: a weakening for the states in which the strikes are carried out, and a strengthening for those states with UAVs capabilities which have dramatically expanded their reach to protect their citizens and project power in the international realm. A projection of power which reflects or reinforces a view of the international system divided amongst the have and the have-nots, a schism created by the possession of drone capabilities.Show less
In a public Congressional Hearing in 2013, Farea al-Muslimi, a Yemeni activist, testified to the horrors of the drone strikes conducted by the US in Yemen. Yet the story of death and destruction...Show moreIn a public Congressional Hearing in 2013, Farea al-Muslimi, a Yemeni activist, testified to the horrors of the drone strikes conducted by the US in Yemen. Yet the story of death and destruction that he presented was vastly different from the sterilized images created by the Obama administration’s officials. By analysing the rhetoric of drones in political speeches and the reasons for choosing drones as the “weapon of choice”, this thesis identifies how the rhetoric and use of drone warfare has sanitized the “War on Terror” in Yemen and the effects and implications of this.Show less
