The Effectiveness of Drone Strikes in Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism Campaigns

View the Executive SummaryThe United States increasingly relies on unmanned aerial vehicles to target insurgent and terrorist groups around the world. This monograph analyzes the available research and evidence that assesses the political and military consequences of drone strikes. It is not clear if drone strikes have degraded their targets, or that they kill enough civilians to create sizable public backlashes against the United States. Drones are a politically and militarily attractive way to counter insurgents and terrorists, but, paradoxically, this may lead to their use in situations where they are less likely to be effective and where they are difficult to predict consequences.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1519/thumbnail.jp

Drones and Support for the Use of Force

Drones and Support for the Use of Force utilizes experimental research to analyze the effects of combat drones on Americans’ support for the use of force. The authors develop expectations drawn from social science theory and then assess these conjectures using a series of survey experiments. Their findings—that drones have had important but nuanced effects on support for the use of force—have implications for democratic control of military action and civil-military relations, and provide insight into how the development and proliferation of current and future military technologies influence the domestic politics of foreign policy

Drones and Support for the Use of Force

Drones and Support for the Use of Force utilizes experimental research to analyze the effects of combat drones on Americans’ support for the use of force. The authors develop expectations drawn from social science theory and then assess these conjectures using a series of survey experiments. Their findings—that drones have had important but nuanced effects on support for the use of force—have implications for democratic control of military action and civil-military relations, and provide insight into how the development and proliferation of current and future military technologies influence the domestic politics of foreign policy

The Ethics of Drone Strikes: Does Reducing the Cost of Conflict Encourage War?

Armed unmanned aerial vehicles—combat drones—have fundamentally altered the ways the United States conducts military operations aimed at countering insurgent and terrorist organizations. Drone technology is on track to become an increasingly important part of the country’s arsenal, as numerous unmanned systems are in development and will likely enter service in the future. Concerned citizens, academics, journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and policymakers have raised questions about the ethical consequences of drones and issued calls for their military use to be strictly regulated. This level of concern is evidence that the future of drone warfare not only hinges on technical innovations, but also on careful analysis of the moral and political dimensions of war. Regardless of whether drones are effective weapons, it would be difficult to sanction their use if they undermine the legitimacy of U.S. military forces or compromise the foundations of democratic government.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1441/thumbnail.jp

Support for political mobilization and protest in Egypt and Morocco: an online experimental study

Why do individuals engage in or support acts of contentious politics? Building from previous work, this article uses a 2 (high/low grievance) × 2 (high/low risk) × 2 (high/low opportunity) online experimental design to examine the impact of these factors on political action with participants from Egypt (n = 517) and Morocco (n = 462). Participants assumed a first-person perspective as a member of a fictional oppressed ethnic minority group in one of eight vignettes. Participants then indicated the extent to which they would engage in various forms of protest and violence, and how justified such actions were. Participants answered several social-personality measures: Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), and Activism and Radicalism Intentions Scale (AIS and RIS). Analyses show that higher SDO and RIS scores largely drive violent engagement and justification for these actions. Higher AIS scores predicted protest engagement and justification, while SDO negatively influenced non-violence. RWA scores decreased engagement in and support for any form of political action. In contrast with previous experimental findings, grievance did not impact decisions about political mobilization

Political Action as a Function of Grievances, Risk, and Social Identity: An Experimental Approach

Why would individuals engage in or support contentious politics? This question is challenging to answer with observational data where causal factors are correlated and difficult to measure. Using a survey-embedded experiment, we focus on three situational factors: grievances, risk, and identity. We also explore how individual differences in sociopolitical orientations—social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)—impact action. Grievances influence engagement in and support for protests. Risk influences engagement in protest, but not support for it. Regardless of condition, SDO and RWA help explain why some people engage in protest while others do not, particularly within the same context

Intergroup images mediate the relationships between government abuse, sociopolitical orientations, and political action

What factors impact how people mobilize against state human rights abuses? Drawing on Image Theory, we examine how perceptions of an out-group, government abuse, and sociopolitical orientations impact political action. Using an online survey-embedded experiment with a sample of 2,932 U.S. adults, we manipulated two factors: (1) the level of government abuse and (2) the risk of punishment for taking action against the state, while also including social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) as covariates. Participants indicated their propensity to engage in and justify both protest and violence. Participants rated the out-group as oppressive and evil. State abuse of human rights was associated with more oppressive and evil out-group images. Oppressive out-group images increased protest engagement and justification, whereas evil out-group images increased violence engagement and justification. Abuse increased all forms of action and justifications for them. Oppressive and evil images mediated many of the relationships between abuse, SDO, and RWA on one hand and political action on the other

Endoscopic capacity in West Africa

Background: Levels of endoscopic demand and capacity in West Africa are unclear.Objectives: This paper aims to: 1. describe the current labor and endoscopic capacity, 2. quantify the impact of a mixed-methods endoscopy course on healthcare professionals in West Africa, and 3. quantify the types of diagnoses encountered.Methods: In a three-day course, healthcare professionals were surveyed on endoscopic resources and capacity and were taught through active observation of live cases, case discussion, simulator experience and didactics. Before and after didactics, multiplechoice exams as well as questionnaires were administered to assess for course efficacy. Also, a case series of 23 patients needing upper GI endoscopy was done.Results: In surveying physicians, less than half had resources to perform an EGD and none could perform an ERCP, while waiting time for emergency endoscopy in urban populations was at least one day. In assessing improvement in medical knowledge among participants after didactics, objective data paired with subjective responses was more useful than either alone. Of 23 patients who received endoscopy, 7 required endoscopic intervention with 6 having gastric or esophageal varices. Currently the endoscopic capacity in West Africa is not sufficient. A formal GI course with simulation and didactics improves gastrointestinal knowledge amongst participants.Keywords: Endoscopic capacity, endoscopic demand, West Africa, training cours

Endoscopic capacity in West Africa.

Background: Levels of endoscopic demand and capacity in West Africa are unclear. Objectives: This paper aims to: 1. describe the current labor and endoscopic capacity, 2. quantify the impact of a mixed-methods endoscopy course on healthcare professionals in West Africa, and 3. quantify the types of diagnoses encountered. Methods: In a three-day course, healthcare professionals were surveyed on endoscopic resources and capacity and were taught through active observation of live cases, case discussion, simulator experience and didactics. Before and after didactics, multiplechoice exams as well as questionnaires were administered to assess for course efficacy. Also, a case series of 23 patients needing upper GI endoscopy was done. Results: In surveying physicians, less than half had resources to perform an EGD and none could perform an ERCP, while waiting time for emergency endoscopy in urban populations was at least one day. In assessing improvement in medical knowledge among participants after didactics, objective data paired with subjective responses was more useful than either alone. Of 23 patients who received endoscopy, 7 required endoscopic intervention with 6 having gastric or esophageal varices. Currently the endoscopic capacity in West Africa is not sufficient. A formal GI course with simulation and didactics improves gastrointestinal knowledge amongst participants