Drones lower political, economic, and ethical costs of war

Evidence

The main effect is to introduce a massive bias into his decision. Any agent who can take action with fewer risks to himself or his camp is likely to adopt a riskier pattern of behavior—that is to say, riskier for others. Similarly, the drone is a classic “moral hazard”—a situation in which being able to act without bearing the costs of the consequences relieves agents of responsibility for their decisions. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 588 (#expands, via linked claim)

This citizenship of exposable lives has constituted an important—albeit not the sole—basis for a democratic critique of the power to wage war, not only in the institutional manner forecast by Kant, namely suffrage, but also as a vector of extraparliamentary mobilization in the antiwar movements of the twentieth century, However, the dronization of the armed forces, inasmuch as it reduces the military exposure of national lives to zero, tends to somewhat deactivate that critical attitude. It would nevertheless be a mistake to believe that an “aversion to losses” is the only possible motive and the cost/benefit calculation the only relevant rationality for the development of a critical voice in the face of state violence. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 575 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Drone warfare creates a new ethical-political norm neither war nor peace; The discourse of ethical drones strategically lowers the cost of using them. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 590; Low cost of drone warfare removes congressional restraint on military action (+18 more)

Related

• Low cost of drone warfare removes congressional restraint on military action (similarity 0.92)
• The drone exemplifies the moral hazard of acting without bearing costs (similarity 0.92)
• Drones create a moral hazard that shifts risk onto others. (similarity 0.91)
• Drones deactivate democratic war critique by removing citizens’ exposure to death. (similarity 0.91)
• The discourse of ethical drones strategically lowers the cost of using them. (similarity 0.90)
• Drone warfare deactivates the democratic critique rooted in exposable lives (similarity 0.89)
• Drone use lowers the threshold so violence becomes the default foreign policy option. (similarity 0.89)
• The drone state aims to replace mobilized citizen bodies with mechanical agents. (similarity 0.88)
• Eliminating reciprocal exposure to violence makes drones look like cowardly weapons. (similarity 0.88)
• Drone warfare creates a new ethical-political norm neither war nor peace (similarity 0.88)
• Drones fuse killing and caring into an integrated humilitarian power (similarity 0.87)
• Drone design produces a strong moral buffering effect on operators (similarity 0.87)
• Drone war turns strategic evaluation into disconnected body counts. (similarity 0.87)
• The drone is a classic moral hazard example (similarity 0.86)
• Drones are morally justified by preventing one’s own casualties (similarity 0.86)

Broader Connections

• Low cost of drone warfare removes congressional restraint on military action #expands (0.85)
• Drones create a moral hazard that shifts risk onto others. #expands (0.85) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 588
• Drones deactivate democratic war critique by removing citizens’ exposure to death. #expands (0.80) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 575
• Faceless blurry drone imagery reduces moral resistance to killing #expands (0.80) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 404
• The drone exemplifies the moral hazard of acting without bearing costs #corroborates (0.80)
• The discourse of ethical drones strategically lowers the cost of using them. #corroborates (0.75) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 590
• Drone design produces a strong moral buffering effect on operators #expands (0.70) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 407
• Drone morality inverts ethics to make unendangered killing good #expands (0.70) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 453
• Drone technology produces a combined morale-buffering effect on operators #expands (0.70)
• Drone war turns strategic evaluation into disconnected body counts. #expands (0.65) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 282
• Drones fuse killing and caring into an integrated humilitarian power #expands (0.65)
• Drone warfare is a war without losses and without victory #qualifies (0.50)