Reassembling a drone strike: applying actor-network theory in understanding drone deployment in the U.S. War on Terror

Abstract

In the past two decades, the world has witnessed a rapid growth in the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles in conflicts and warfares, notably in the U.S. war on terrorism. However, much of the discourse surrounding drone deployment in conflict focuses only on the human end while neglecting the network composed of both human and nonhuman actors, which enables drone deployment. The existing drone literature often examines the legality and ethics of drone strikes, undergoing a Just War Framework, with little examines the materiality of actors involved in a drone strike and how they came together in delivering a strike. This thesis then turns to this aspect of drone literature in which limited studies has been done. This thesis then revisits the Uruzgan helicopter attack that occurred in 2010, applying the actor-network theory. Through asking how a drone strike materialise through the screen of a drone, this thesis first connects the actors, both human and nonhuman, in a drone strike. Then through the reading of the Uruzgan helicopter attack under an actor-network theory lens, this thesis argues that material objects in drone deployment both transfer and transform the political power and plays an active role in producing targets. This thesis also argues investigation after the occurrence of an accident as an actor enables the opening of the "blackbox", revealing the inside work of a drone strike and allows the drone vision to continue to live among the public discourse; therefore, such investigations need to include narrative outside the military, too.