Conceptual and Policy Implications of Increasingly Autonomous Military Technologies for State Responsibility under International Law

Jun 1, 2018 - Dec 31, 2019

Project description

The main objective of this project was to explore the conceptual and policy implications of the increasing autonomy of military technologies for State responsibility under international law. It sought to analyse the implication of current and future technological developments for some of the conceptual foundations of State responsibility in relation to the conduct of armed forces (in particular the notion of State-human agency), and to evaluate how these theoretical considerations translate in terms of policy and regulation on the development and use of autonomous military technologies.

This project engaged in an in-depth analysis of the theoretical underpinnings of responsibility for autonomous military technologies, with the aim of identifying on which grounds States could be held accountable for their use. It combined a strong component of desk research with a number of meetings and consultations with academics, experts, and stakeholders. The output included publications on this topic, and policy recommendations on the way to regulate these new technologies.

This project was carried out by senior researcher Berenice Boutin and funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung.