l/legal War : Expanding the Frame of Meaningful Human Control from Military Operations to Democratic Governance

Suchman, Lucy (2025) l/legal War : Expanding the Frame of Meaningful Human Control from Military Operations to Democratic Governance. In: The Realities of Autonomous Weapons :. Bristol University Press, Bristol, pp. 151-168. ISBN 9781529251098

Abstract

This chapter moves outside the boundaries of debates regarding the legality of autonomous weapon systems (AWS), to consider the frames of war that sustain militarism and how they might be challenged not only from within but also beyond the project of arms control. I draw from my own 2016 testimony at the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), where I argued against the capacity of AWS to adhere to international humanitarian law. I follow key participants in the debate who introduce the concept of ‘meaningful human control’ as a requirement for the legality of weapon systems and the basis for the prohibition of AWS. With that context in mind, I shift the focus from arms control to the question of how we might expand the frame of meaningful human control to encompass democratic governance not only over the use of particular weapons systems, but also over the initiation of wars conducted in our names.