Externalizing the human cost of war makes wars more frequent and bloodier.

Evidence

Hobson warned that all this went hand in hand with a different kind of political danger: “Though reducing the strain of militarism upon the population at home, it enhances the risks of wars, which become more frequent and more barbarous in proportion as they involve to a less degree the lives of Englishmen.” In short, as Lord Salisbury had declared a few years earlier, India could certainly serve Great Britain “as an English barrack in Oriental seas from which we may draw any number of troops without paying for them. It is bad for England because it is always bad for us not to have that check upon the temptation to engage in little wars which can only be controlled by the necessity of paying for them.” — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 583

Categorization

• XREF: The Salisbury quote parallels modern arguments that drone strikes are frequent because they’re cheap. — connects to: Externalizing war risks makes violence the default policy option; Externalizing war costs converts democratic pacifism into democratic militarism. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 584; Overseas bases ease the waging of foreign wars and make war likelier (+3 more)

Related

• Externalizing war risks makes violence the default policy option (similarity 0.88)
• Low-cost warfare makes states more likely to bomb casually. (similarity 0.88)
• Externalizing war costs converts democratic pacifism into democratic militarism. (similarity 0.83)
• Overseas bases make war more likely by lowering its cost (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Low-cost warfare makes states more likely to bomb casually. #corroborates (0.80) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 594
• Overseas bases ease the waging of foreign wars and make war likelier #corroborates (0.75)
• Secrecy in warfare enables atrocities on various scales. #corroborates (0.70) — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 233