The impact of cyber, machine learning and artificial intelligence on remote warfare will be the focus of a two-day conference at the University’s Canterbury campus on Thursday 28 February and Friday 1 March 2019.
Experts on the increasingly common use of remote warfare by many Western and non-Western states will share research on the individual tools of remote warfare, including drones, Special Forces, private military security contractors, train-and-equip programs and cyber security.
Despite the increasing prevalence of this distinct form of military engagement across Africa, Asia and the Middle East (including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and the Philippines), considerable gaps still exist in the academic understanding of remote warfare.
Western and non-Western states have limited themselves to supporting the frontline fighting of local and regional forces against terrorist groups like Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and Islamic State, through the provision of intelligence, training, equipment and often airpower. This follows the two large-scale military deployments and costly counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The conference, sponsored by the Oxford Research Group, a London-based think tank, and the Foreign Policy Working Group of the British International Studies Association (BISA), will address:
- What is remote warfare? Are there distinct ‘ways’ of remote warfare (e.g. an American, British or French way of remote warfare)? What is the non-Western experience of remote warfare?
- What are the historical roots of remote warfare? Does contemporary remote warfare have a background in the military campaigns fought by the European colonial powers during the age of imperialism?
- What is the future of remote warfare? Should we expect to see a return to large-scale ‘boots on the ground’ military intervention? What implications will the ongoing developments in cyber, machine learning and artificial intelligence have for remote warfare in the future?
The keynote speaker is military historian Professor Sir Hew Strachan, who has written extensively about the history of the First World War. His lecture will focus on historical perspectives of remote warfare. It takes place on 28 February from 18.00-19.00 in Grimond Lecture Theatre 2 and is free and open to all.
Organisor Dr Rubrick Biegon, lecturer in International Relations in the University’s School of Politics and International Relations (POLIR) said: ‘The primary purpose of this conference is to help advance a richer understanding of a different, more comprehensive approach to remote warfare which can be used to better inform policymaking and academic debates.’