The moral component of cross-domain conflict [book]

Lucia Retter, Alexandra Hall, James Black, Nathan Ryan
2016
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more » ... ted. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org www.rand.org/randeurope For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RR1505 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif., and Cambridge, UK © Copyright 2016 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. iii Preface This is the final report of a study commissioned by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) through the Defence Human Capability Science and Technology Centre (DHCSTC) framework. The study was conducted over a period of six weeks and examines the academic debate pertaining to the moral landscape of conflict that spans different military domains (air, maritime, land, space, cyber). The investigation which is the subject of this report was commissioned by the Programme and Delivery Directorate of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). RAND Europe is an independent, not-for-profit policy research organisation that aims to improve policy and decision-making in the public interest through research and analysis. RAND Europe's clients include European governments, institutions, NGOs and other organisations with a need for rigorous, independent, interdisciplinary analysis. Abstract This study was commissioned to examine the academic debate pertaining to the moral landscape of crossdomain conflict (i.e. a conflict that spans two or more military domains (land, maritime, air, cyber, space)). The study: considers the body of work on morality and armed conflict in the future operating environment; provides insights on the ways in which new ways of fighting may challenge traditional moral principles; and identifies areas that may be underexplored in the body of work on morality or may merit further analysis. The study considered two emerging technologies (cyber and autonomous systems) to derive practical insights on the ways in which new technologies could challenge traditional thinking about morality. The work involved a systematic review of relevant literature, a programme of interviews and a one-day workshop with academic experts.
doi:10.7249/rr1505 fatcat:tg2osk6pm5fiflb7fizqcqojha