Deterring Russian cyber warfare: the practical, legal and ethical constraints faced by the United Kingdom

Rod Thornton and Marina Miron Contrary to its normal positioning in terms of defence policy, the United Kingdom has come across as notably aggressive when it comes to advertising its offensive cyber warfare capabilities. Indeed, ‘Britain’ as one Russian source accusingly – and accurately – puts it, was ‘the first country in the world to… Read More Deterring Russian cyber warfare: the practical, legal and ethical constraints faced by the United Kingdom

March 25, 2020March 24, 2020 defenceresearch2 Comments

AI: In Defence of Uncertainty

David Whetham, Kennneth Payne While much public discussion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is focused on Terminator-like killing machines, the official UK position is that there will always be a person in (or at least on – monitoring and able to intervene) the loop making any life-or-death decisions. Unfortunately, this rather ignores defensive uses of AI… Read More AI: In Defence of Uncertainty

December 9, 2019December 7, 2019 defenceresearch1 Comment

Dark Traits and Military Ethics

David Whetham Some people argue that war is such a terrible thing, atrocities and war crimes are simply an inevitable consequence. While those people might be right on the tragedy that is war, thankfully, the assumption that atrocities committed by our own forces simply have to be accepted is not shared by either Western society… Read More Dark Traits and Military Ethics

November 15, 2019 defenceresearchLeave a comment

Trust Me, I’m a Military Professional

Review of Redefining the Modern Military: The Intersection of Profession and Ethics, Nathan K. Finney and Tyrell O. Mayfield (eds.) Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2018. DR DEANE-PETER BAKER Deane Baker is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra, and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Centre… Read More Trust Me, I’m a Military Professional

October 11, 2018October 10, 2018 defenceresearchLeave a comment

Autonomous Weapons and the Epistemology of Targeting

DR DEANE-PETER BAKER Deane Baker is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra, and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Military Ethics at Kings College London. He is a panelist on the International Panel on the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (IPRAW), however his comments here… Read More Autonomous Weapons and the Epistemology of Targeting

September 10, 2018September 17, 2018 benkienzle1 Comment

The ethical legitimacy of military outsourcing

ROBERT PARR is currently a PhD Student with the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London. Increased levels of uptake from the commercial security sector by national governments in the post-9/11 era have spawned a large body of academic research, the majority of which is centred around the connected questions of why this phenomenon has… Read More The ethical legitimacy of military outsourcing

February 7, 2018February 5, 2018 benkienzleLeave a comment

Coalitions and Ethical Relativism: Challenges for Those on the Ground

DR DAVID WHETHAM is Reader in Military Ethics and Director of the King’s Centre for Military Ethics. Editorial note: This article contains content some readers may find upsetting. In the latest volume to come out in the book series from the European Chapter of the International Society for Military Ethics, I write about the… Read More Coalitions and Ethical Relativism: Challenges for Those on the Ground

September 20, 2017September 21, 2017 benkienzleLeave a comment

King’s Centre for Military Ethics

By Dr David Whetham I have written here before about why the subject of ethics is so important for professional militaries. Globally, there is a growing acknowledgment that military ethics and a genuine, deep appreciation of human rights issues is a crucial component of the education of every service member, wherever they may serve. There… Read More King’s Centre for Military Ethics

January 2, 2017December 26, 2016 defenceresearchLeave a comment

Defence-In-Depth

Research from the Defence Studies Department, King's College London

Tag: Military Ethics