CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Cséfalvay, Dániel |
|---|---|
| Title | "Pick up a weapon and you're a combatant, it's how that works." Neo-Orientalist Narratives in the US Drone Programme |
| Summary | The promise of the United States’ precision warfare was to reduce casualties and mission costs while increasing efficiency. However, gradually more failed drone strikes, and civilian casualties are reported hinting at a significant issue at the core of precision warfare. Drone warfare is a highly asymmetrical type of warfare in terms of power and agency. The drone operators are given near-hegemonic power in interpreting and constructing reality on the ground. Therefore, this thesis aims to understand the process of knowledge production behind drone warfare that allows for failures and civilian casualties. In particular, this thesis considers the influence of institutional culture, language, and the “native informers” as sources of legitimacy for the US military’s drone warfare. This thesis relies on interpretative discourse analysis to examine the process of knowledge production. To understand the drone strike failures this research looks at conversations of drone operators, post-strike assessments of civilian casualties, reports from non-governmental organisations, as well as investigative reporting on failed drone strikes. In addition, to highlight the process of legitimation this research considers statements, testimonies, articles and commentaries from “native informers.” Considering these, I will argue that the “native informers” contribute to and permit an established institutional culture of the US military that allows for cultural misinterpretations which lead to fatal mistakes. |
| Supervisor | Roe, Paul |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/csefalvay_daniel.pdf |
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