Book Review: Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Norms
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00207020231163064 |
| Author | Amelia C. Arsenault |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews
Ingvild Bode and Hendrik Huelss
Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Norms
Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022. 296 pp. $49.96 CAD (paper)
ISBN: 978-0-2280-0809-5
Reviewed by: Amelia C. Arsenault (aa2758@cornell.edu), Department of Government,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
DOI: 10.1177/00207020231163064
Technological advances in machine learning, predictive analytics, and machine vision
have allowed for the development of weapons systems that incorporate artificial intelli-
gence (AI) into the target selection and engagement process. While many states are
readily adopting this technology, the enhanced autonomy associated with Autonomous
Weapons Systems (AWS) threatens to erode existing international norms, including
the norm of meaningful human control over the use of force. In Autonomous Weapons
Systems and International Norms, Ingvild Bode and Hendrik Huelss argue that states’
practices and behaviour, rather than formal legal negotiations, have already played a crit-
ical role in establishing international norms and “standards of appropriateness”for AWS.
Proponents of AWS often cite the presumed military advantages associated with
heightened degrees of weapons autonomy. Indeed, states’interest in deploying these
systems stems in part from their presumed ability to improve battlefield analysis, over-
come enemy countermeasures, and reduce costs.
1
However, AWS also pose consider-
able risks, including the erosion of international norms regarding the role of human
decision-making in warfare. In light of this, scholars and activists have used interna-
tional forums such as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) to
promote norms that would place legal restrictions on military autonomy and the use
of AWS. However, Bode and Huelss point to disagreements between participants
about the legal definition and acceptability of AWS and the intentional efforts on
behalf of some states to promote vague or indeterminate rules to demonstrate that
formal, deliberative negotiations are often unable to formulate clear, comprehensive
1. Ingvild Bode and Hendrik Huelss, Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Norms (Montreal and
Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022): 29.
International Journal
2022, Vol. 77(4) 726–738
© The Author(s) 2023
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