In Cultural Politics of Targeted Killing: On Drones, Counter-Insurgency and Violence, Kyle Grayson analyses the cultural conditions that have rendered targeted killing a seemingly appropriate, even common-sense, technology of warfare. While its array of insights could at times benefit from further space than permitted in this concise volume, this is an impressive book that will be of great use to those looking to better understand ..

Vaughan, Tom

LSE Research Online

Book	Review:	Cultural	Politics	of	Targeted	Killing:On	Drones,	Counter-Insurgency	and	Violence	byKyle	GraysonIn	Cultural	Politics	of	Targeted	Killing:	On	Drones,	Counter-Insurgency	and	Violence,	KyleGrayson	analyses	the	cultural	conditions	that	have	rendered	targeted	killing	a	seemingly	appropriate,	evencommon-sense,	technology	of	warfare.	While	its	array	of	insights	could	at	times	benefit	from	further	space	thanpermitted	in	this	concise	volume,	this	is	an	impressive	book	that	will	be	of	great	use	to	those	looking	to	betterunderstand	our	troublingly	militaristic	times,	finds	Tom	Vaughan.	Cultural	Politics	of	Targeted	Killing:	On	Drones,	Counter-Insurgency	and	Violence.	Kyle	Grayson.Routledge.	2016.Find	this	book:	Targeted	killings	–	particularly	the	use	of	remotely	piloted	aircraft	(RPAs)	or	‘drones’,but	also	extraterritorial	raids	of	the	kind	which	killed	Osama	bin	Laden	–	havefeatured	in	Western	political	discourse	and	academia	for	decades.	The	MQ-1‘Predator’	RPA	was	first	deployed	by	the	United	States	in	Bosnia	in	1995,	thenincreasingly	often	during	the	‘War	on	Terror’	in	support	and	standalone	roles	overAfghanistan,	Iraq,	Pakistan,	Yemen	and	Syria,	among	others.	The	RPA	itself	issomething	of	an	icon:	former	President	Barack	Obama	is	noted	(and	lambasted)	forhis	embrace	of	the	technology,	and	despite	an	election	campaign	brimming	with	anti-interventionist	bluster,	the	Trump	administration	has	moved	to	loosen	Obama-erarestrictions	on	RPA	strikes	and	commando	raids.		RPAs	continue	to	compound	thecivilian	death	tolls	caused	by	errant	bombs	and	white	phosphorous	dropped	ondensely	populated	areas.	Several	European	militaries	operate	RPA	technology,	whilethe	infamous	Mossad	assassination	remains	a	reliable	wellspring	of	political	intrigueand	airport	fiction.How	can	the	propensity	of	liberal	regimes	to	engage	in	targeted	killing	be	explained?	Scholars	have	longcontemplated	this	problem,	with	Giorgio	Agamben’s	interrogations	of	sovereign	power	and	legality	reigniting	afascination	with	the	politics	of	‘the	exception’.	Since	the	early	2000s,	this	trend	has	generated	an	extensiveamount	of	critical	insight	into	international	law	and	the	consequences	of	liberalism’s	biopolitical	imperative	tomanage	risk,	contain	threats	and	‘make	life	live’.	Kyle	Grayson,	however,	has	identified	an	important	lacuna	inthis	body	of	work:	analysis	of	the	cultural	conditions	which	make	targeted	killing	appear	an	appropriate	–	andindeed	common-sensical	–	political	technology.	Despite	some	minor	misfires,	Cultural	Politics	of	Targeted	Killingis	broadly	successful	in	an	ambitious	investigation	into	how	targeted	killing	has	become	possible	under	liberalism.Grayson	is	an	accomplished	scholar	of	liberalism,	violence,	biopolitics	and	culture	(with	an	intriguing	focus	onPaddington	Bear),	and	this	monograph	brings	together	a	decade’s	worth	of	work	in	his	field.	His	central	claim	isthus:	prevalent	understandings	of	targeted	killing	as	a	product	of	the	suspension	or	subversion	of	liberal-democratic	law	are	inadequate,	because	the	boundaries	of	the	law	can	be	incrementally	expanded	toaccommodate	it.	A	focus	on	the	legal	field	provides	only	limited	insight	into	the	wider	targeted	killing‘assemblage’,	and	‘misses	key	[cultural]	dynamics	contributing	to	the	variable	processes	that	are	central	to	theassemblage	and	its	future	potentialities’	(65).	This	is	an	important	argument	and	well-articulated.USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog: Book Review: Cultural Politics of Targeted Killing: On Drones, Counter-Insurgency and Violence by KyleGraysonPage 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-11-12Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2017/11/12/book-review-cultural-politics-of-targeted-killing-on-drones-counter-insurgency-and-violence-by-kyle-grayson/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/Image	Credit:	(jjprojects	CC	BY	SA	2.0)For	Grayson,	there	are	six	specific	components	of	liberal	political	culture	which	enable	recourse	to	targetedkilling:	legitimating	narratives	of	violence;	the	interaction	of	technology	and	sensory	regimes;	the	political-economic	values	placed	on	automation,	information,	speed	and	decentralisation;	the	gendering	of	‘assassination’(coded	as	a	perfidious,	dishonourable	and	thus	‘feminine’	act)	versus	the	masculine	and	warlike	‘targeted	killing’;legalistic	understandings	of	targeted	killing;	and	cultural	perceptions	of	what	acts	are	permissible	against	the‘other’.Grayson	does	not	deal	with	each	of	these	components	in	turn,	instead	choosing	to	pursue	each	threadconcurrently	in	chapters	loosely	arranged	around	law,	politics,	economy,	subjectivity	and	the	everyday.	Thisoccasionally	threatens	a	disjointed	reading	experience,	but	Grayson	is	meticulous	in	signposting	the	reader,stating	and	restating	his	(complex)	arguments.	Cultural	Politics	of	Targeted	Killing	takes	a	broad	view	whichrequires	careful	explications	of	concepts	such	as	assemblages,	biopolitics	and	the	exception	before	the	analysiscan	proceed.	This	is	done	very	well,	albeit	at	some	length.	However,	Grayson	is	somewhat	over-reliant	on	othersecondary	literature	when	performing	his	analysis,	which	gives	a	relatively	short	work	(209	pages)	aclaustrophobic	feel.	Concepts	are	deployed	in	a	scattershot	manner,	and	certain	influences	–	such	as	the	work	ofRichard	Sennett	and	Antoine	Bousquet	–	are	traced	very	closely,	in	a	manner	which	crowds	out	further	analysis.This	is	not	to	imply	that	Grayson	is	emulative	in	his	thinking:	on	the	contrary,	there	is	much	original	content	here,and	this	reviewer	sometimes	wished	the	author	would	strike	out	further	and	devote	more	page	space	to	exploringhis	own	interesting	conclusions.Chapter	Six,	which	examines	‘the	sacred	relationship	between	Islamic	faith	traditions	and	the	home’	(180)	–	andthe	subsequently	amplified	violence	of	RPA	strikes	against	houses	–	also	suffers	from	an	incongruous	piece	ofquantitative	analysis	which	adds	little	insight.	Grayson	gamely	explores	the	extent	to	which	houses	have	beentargeted	by	RPAs:	a	worthy	endeavour,	notwithstanding	that	this	has	already	been	done,	with	the	same	dataset,and	yielded	similar	results,	as	the	author	himself	acknowledges.	The	benefit	of	Grayson	performing	the	analysisagain	–	justified	by	using	a	‘different	timespan’	(186)	–	is	not	obvious.	The	chapter’s	otherwise	importantqualitative	analysis	is	weighed	down	by	a	quantitative	element	which	borders	on	superfluity.USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog: Book Review: Cultural Politics of Targeted Killing: On Drones, Counter-Insurgency and Violence by KyleGraysonPage 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-11-12Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2017/11/12/book-review-cultural-politics-of-targeted-killing-on-drones-counter-insurgency-and-violence-by-kyle-grayson/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/Minor	weaknesses	aside,	Cultural	Politics	is	a	formidable	achievement	and	an	overall	success.	Grayson	hasseized	upon	a	significant	knowledge	gap	and	mined	it	productively.	A	highlight	is	Chapter	Four,	‘Science,Capitalism,	and	the	RPA’,	in	which	Grayson	masterfully	demonstrates	how	the	managerial	hallmarks	of	theneoliberal	economy	–	including	processes	of	deskilling,	decentralisation,	delayering	and	just-in-time	provision	–have	helped	to	constitute	our	understanding	of	targeted	killing:	this	is	what	Donald	Rumsfeld	called	‘anentrepreneurial	approach’	to	modern	war-fighting	(111).	The	source	material	of	his	cultural	analysis	is	alsoimpressively	broad,	ranging	from	a	twist	of	eschatology	courtesy	of	the	biblical	Book	of	Judith	(76-88)	to	accountsof	RPA	pilots	posted	on	Reddit	(152).With	this	work	–	‘an	initial	mapping’,	in	his	own	words	–	Grayson	has	substantially	widened	the	opportunity	forscholarly	analysis	of	the	targeted	killing	assemblage,	and	rightly	foresees	a	more	vibrant	conversation	resultingfrom	his	impressive	book	(208).	It	also	improves	our	understanding	of	militarism	which,	as	Bryan	Mabee	andSrdjan	Vucetic	have	argued,	suffers	from	a	narrow	conceptualisation.	A	compact	volume,	Cultural	Politicssometimes	struggles	to	contain	its	impressive	array	of	insights	and	implications,	but	interested	readers	andresearchers	will	undoubtedly	follow	the	routes	of	inquiry	that	Grayson	illuminates.	This	will	be	of	great	benefit	inour	troublingly	militaristic	times.This	review	originally	appeared	at	the	LSE	Review	of	Books.Please	read	our	comments	policy	before	commenting.Note:	This	article	gives	the	views	of	the	authors,	and	not	the	position	of	USAPP–	American	Politics	and	Policy,nor	of	the	London	School	of	Economics.Shortened	URL	for	this	post:	http://bit.ly/2mbRD90——————————————–About	the	reviewerTom	Vaughan	–	Aberystwyth	UniversityTom	Vaughan	is	working	towards	a	PhD	in	International	Politics	at	Aberystwyth	University,	where	he	co-convenesthe	Global	Politics	and	Development	Research	Group	in	the	Department	of	International	Politics.	He	also	holds	aBSc	in	Politics	from	the	University	of	Bristol.	His	interests	include	critical	approaches	to	nuclear	politics,disarmament,	and	militarism.	Read	more	by	Tom	Vaughan.	USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog: Book Review: Cultural Politics of Targeted Killing: On Drones, Counter-Insurgency and Violence by KyleGraysonPage 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-11-12Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2017/11/12/book-review-cultural-politics-of-targeted-killing-on-drones-counter-insurgency-and-violence-by-kyle-grayson/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/

Book review: cultural politics of targeted killing: on drones, counter-insurgency and violence by Kyle Grayson

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