Remote Revolution: Drones and Modern Statecraft

Emerging technologies like drones are often believed to increase the likelihood of crises and war. By lowering the potential risks and human costs of military operations, they encourage decision-makers to deploy military force. Yet, operations involving drones are in fact less likely to evolve into broader, more intense conflicts than similar operations involving traditionally crewed assets. Instead, they provide policymakers with a tool to advance their agendas with limited escalation risk. Leveraging diverse evidence from original wargames, survey experiments, and case studies of US and Israeli drone operations, the book explores how drones help create new rungs on the proverbial escalation ladder. In doing so, the book shows how drones have brought about a fundamental change―a revolution―in the character of statecraft.