Drones, Hobbes, and Liberal Enchantment
This article reconceptualizes military drones by drawing on early-modern debates about the sanctity of political power. Ian Shaw has claimed that the proliferation and automation of drones threatens to subject humanity to a robotic regime of control, which he describes as the ultimate instantiation...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[2018]
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| In: |
Political theology
Year: 2018, Volume: 19, Issue: 7, Pages: 553-571 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Clarke, Samuel 1675-1729
/ Hobbes, Thomas 1588-1679
/ Political theology
/ USA
/ Guided missiles
/ Execution
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| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBQ North America NCD Political ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
Samuel Clarke
B physico-theology B Thomas Hobbes B Political Theology B Drones |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article reconceptualizes military drones by drawing on early-modern debates about the sanctity of political power. Ian Shaw has claimed that the proliferation and automation of drones threatens to subject humanity to a robotic regime of control, which he describes as the ultimate instantiation of Thomas Hobbes's artificial sovereignty. I argue instead that the United States' drone strategy is closely informed by a liberal political theology that can be traced back to Hobbes's seventeenth- and eighteenth-century opponents, Samuel Clarke and Nehemiah Grew. These physico-theologians held that constitutionally balanced polities such as Britain were important vessels for divine providence. Today, a parallel faith that the United States represents humanity's best hope is used to justify the extralegal and secretive bombing of territories that are deemed to be profane in comparison with America. Hobbes's demystification of politics in Leviathan provides the platform for a critique of this modern form of liberal enchantment. |
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| Item Description: | Das gedruckte Heft ist als Doppelheft erschienen: "Volume 19 Numbers 7-8 November-December 2018" |
| ISSN: | 1743-1719 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Political theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2018.1440158 |