Book Review: Israel’s Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945-1949
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00207020231163066 |
| Author | Jack Cunningham |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Second, readers may question whether norms that have emerged from states’prac-
tices with air defencesystems necessarily will apply to AI weaponswith offensive capa-
bilities. The normative and ethical implications of autonomous air defence systems,
designed to identify overhead threats and strike in response, may differ from those
related to AI-powered systems that can identify and engage their targets with limited
human involvement. While the air defence systems examined in this book have resulted
in human casualties and certainly doinform perceptions of meaningful human control in
an era of enhanced weapons autonomy, states and their citizens may feel differently
about systems that were deliberately designed for offensive purposes. Thus, it remains
unclear whethernorms derived from practices with automated defence systemswill nec-
essarily apply to the AI-powered weapons systems of the future.
Finally, the authors’claim that international norms regarding the use of AI-powered
weapons have already emerged before the full extent of AWS has even been realized
may strike some readers as fatalistic. If legalistic, formal norms are fundamentally
insufficient and procedural norms have already begun emerging in ways that erode
meaningful human control, what can be done to set restrictions on the development
and proliferation of these weapons?
Ultimately, Bode and Huelss’Autonomous Weapons Systems and International
Norms makes a timely and important contribution to the fields of International
Relations and International Security Studies at a time when global interest in AI and
its military applications is growing. This book provides a comprehensive overview
of the literature on international norms and employs rich, detailed case studies to
analyze the evolution of norms surrounding AI-powered weapons, making it important
reading for those interested in international norms and emerging technologies.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Jeffrey Herf
Israel’s Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State , 1945-1949
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. 500 pp. $39.99 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-1-31651-796-3
Reviewed by: Jack Cunningham (stewartjohncunningham@hotmail.com), University of
Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
DOI: 10.1177/00207020231163066
728 International Journal 77(4)
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