The A Word: An Accomodationist Strategy for US-China Relations

Many predictions have been made that the United States and China will find themselves in competition or even direct conflict. Yet this is not pre-ordained and both sides need to be careful not to talk themselves into a hostile relationship. This bold new paper from Council of Foreign Relations scholar Micah Zenko argues that by identifying clear ideas about acceptable conduct in the key domains (Maritime, Space and Cyber) the US and China can avoid conflict without presuming away differences of interest or opinion

Drones y el orden legal internacional. Tecnología, estrategia y largas cadenas de acción

The main thesis of this article is that the increasing recourse to the use of unmanned aerial systems in asymmetric warfare and the beginning routinization of U.S. drone operations represent part of an evolutionary change in the spatial ordering of global politics -- Using a heuristic framework based on actor-network theory, it is argued that practices of panoptic observation and selective airstrikes, being in need of legal justification, contribute to a reterritorialization of asymmetric conflicts -- Under a new normative spatial regime, a legal condition of state immaturity is constructed, which establishes a zone of conditional sovereignty subject to transnational aerial policing -- At the same time, this process is neither a deterministic result of the new technology nor a deliberate effect of policies to which drones are merely neutral instruments -- Rather, military technology and political decisions both form part of a long chain of action which has evolved under the specific circumstances of recent military interventionsEste artículo propone que la creciente utilización de sistemas aéreos no tripulados y la rutinización de sus operaciones en guerras asimétricas representan parte de un cambio evolutivo en el ordenamiento espacial de la política global -- Utilizando un marco heurístico basado en la teoría del actor-red, se argumenta que las prácticas de observación panóptica y ataques aéreos selectivos, carentes aún de justificación legal, contribuyen a una reterritorialización de los conflictos asimétricos -- En virtud de un nuevo régimen normativo espacial, se construye una condición legal de inmadurez estatal que facilita el establecimiento de una zona de soberanía condicionada, sometida a la vigilancia aérea transnacional -- Al mismo tiempo, esté proceso no es resultado predeterminado de la nueva tecnología, ni efecto deliberado de decisiones políticas para las que los drones son solo instrumentos neutros -- Antes que ello, la tecnología militar y las decisiones políticas forman parte importante de una larga cadena de acción que se ha desarrollado en las circunstancias específicas de intervenciones militares más reciente

The A word: an accomodationist strategy for US-China relations

This paper argues that by identifying clear ideas about acceptable conduct in the key domains (Maritime, Space and Cyber) the US and China can avoid conflict without presuming away differences of interest or opinion.  Executive summary To avoid talking itself into a conflict with China, the United States should pursue a more accommodating approach. Too often worst-case fears are allowed to replace clear headed analysis of China’s capabilities and strategies. Establishing clear ideas about acceptable conduct in maritime, space and cyber domains should be the first priority to manage the relationship. Policy recommendations Maritime: To prevent or mitigate a military confrontation at sea, the United States should be explicit about what it wants to know about China’s maritime behavior, and present a clear and unambiguous understanding of expected actions in Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Space: The United States should work with Chinese military leaders to establish rules of the road for space and a bilateral communications channel between Joint Space Operations Command and its equivalent Chinese space agency. The US should also ask allied countries with stronger diplomatic ties to China to raise concerns about the country’s potentially destabilising behaviors. Cyber: Countries should engage in multilateral discussions that build upon the UN Disarmament and International Security Committee report; Crisis communication mechanisms and official points of contact should be developed among the region’s cyber incidence response agencies and relevant cyber officials