Professor Elke Schwarz, BBA (Belmont University, USA), MA (King’s College London), PhD (LSE)

Profile

Prior to joining QMUL as Lecturer in Political Theory, I was Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Leicester. After completing her PhD in at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), she also held positions as Teaching Fellow at University College London (UCL) and as Lecturer in International Relations at Anglia Ruskin University. I am the author of ‘Death Machines: The Ethics of Violent Technologies’ (Manchester University Press), am an RSA Fellow, a member of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) and 2022/23 CAPAS Fellow at the University of Heidelberg. My work has been published in a range of philosophical and security focused journals, including Philosophy Today, Security Dialogue, Critical Studies on Terrorism and the Journal of International Political Theory among others. I am is co-series editor for the Springer Verlag series: Frontiers in International Relations and Associate Editor for the Journal New Perspective.

Teaching

On leave 2022 / 23

Research

Research Interests:

Ethics, digital technology, Artificial Intelligence, political theory, philosophy of technology, critical security studies, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic studies.

Examples of research funding:

• Fellowship at the University of Heidelberg Center for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS), Project: ‘Whose Robo-Apocalypse is it Anyways: Power, Politics and Posthumanism’. October 2022 – April 2023
• British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant Award: ‘Moral agency and meaningful human control: Exploring military ethical values for alignment in the use of autonomous weapons systems – Project duration October 2017 – September 2019.

Publications

Monographs 

2018/19 - Death Machines: The Ethics of Violent Technologies. Research monograph (Manchester University Press, 2018)

Journal articles and book chapters

2022: ‘The Hacker Way: Moral Decision Logics with Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems’, in Glaser, H. and Wong, P. (eds.) Governing the Future: Digitalization, Artificial Design, Dataism (Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC) (forthcoming Spring 2022).

2021: ‘Autonomous Weapon Systems, Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Meaningful Human Control’, Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence, V(1). 2021

2021: ‘Silicon Valley Goes to War: Artificial Intelligence, Weapons Systems and the De-Skilled Moral Agent’, Philosophy Today, Online First May 25^th, 2021

2021: ‘Ethics and cyber-systems: Artificial intelligent weapons systems and moral slippage’, in Skerker, M. and Whetham, D. (eds) Cyber Warfare Ethics: A Handbook for Military Professionals (Hampshire: Howgate Publishing Ltd)

2021: ‘Delegating moral responsibility in war: Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems and Meaningful Human Control’, in Hanssen-Magnusen, H. and Vetterlein, A. (eds) The Routledge Handbook on Responsibility in International Relations (London: Routledge)

2019: ‘Günther Anders in Silicon Valley: Artificial Intelligence and Moral Atrophy’, Thesis Eleven, 153(1): 94-112. 2019

2018: ‘Flesh and Steel: antithetical materialities in the war on terror’. Critical Studies on Terrorism 11(2): 394-413. 2018

2018: ‘Technology and moral vacuums in just war theorising', Journal of International Political Theory, 14(3). 2018

2016: ‘Prescription drones: On the techno-biopolitical regime of contemporary ethical killing. Security Dialogue, 47(1): 59-75. 2016

2014: ‘@hannah_arendt: An Arendtian critique of online social networks. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 43(1): 165-86. 2014

2015 - ‘Hybridity and humility: What of the human in (post)humanity?’ in Eroukhmanoff and Harkers (eds) Reflections on the Posthuman in International Relations: The Anthropocene, Security and Ecology, E-IR Edited Collections

Books

2018. Death Machines: The Ethics of Violent Technologies. Research monograph (Manchester University Press)

Peer Reviewed

2020. ‘Delegating moral responsibility in war: Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems and Meaningful Human Control’, in Hanssen-Magnusen, H. and Vetterlein, A. (eds) IResponsibility in World Politics, a Handbook (London: Routledge) (forthcoming 2020/21) ·

2020. ‘Silicon Valley Goes to War: Artificial Intelligence, Weapon Systems and Moral Agency’. Philosophy Today (forthcoming)

2019. ‘Günther Anders in Silicon Valley: Artificial Intelligence and moral atrophy’, Thesis Eleven 153(1): 94-112.

2018. ‘Flesh and Steel: antithetical materialities in the war on terror’. Critical Studies on Terrorism. Vol. 11, No. 2: 394-413.

2018. 'Technology and moral vacuums in just war theorising', Journal of International Political Theory, online first 6 January 2018.

2016. Prescription drones: On the techno-biopolitical regime of contemporary ethical killing. Security Dialogue, 47(1): 59-75.

2014. @hannah_arendt: An Arendtian critique of online social networks. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 43(1): 165-86.

Other Recent Publications 

2022: ‘Human Augmentation and Nuclear Risk: What is the value of a few seconds?’, Arms Control Today (Volume 53, 2022 – co-authored with Dr Marina Favaro)

2021: ‘Menschenzentrierte KI in der Kriegsführung: Ein Wiederspruch?’, in Wissenschaft und Frieden, 4/2021 (forthcoming).

2020. ‘Humanity-centric AI for Armed Conflict: A Contradiction in Terms?’ AI and Machine Learning Symposium, OpinioJuris 30 April 2020.

2020. Book Review: Attachments to War: Biomedical Logics and Violence in 21st Century America, by Jennifer Terry. The Journal of Military History 84(2).

2020. ‘Silicon Valley zieht in den Krieg: Künstliche Intelligenz und Moralische Verkümmerung’. FifFkon Kommunikation 37(1): 48-51.

2020. ‘Death Machines: Artificial Intelligence and the Ethics of Autonomous Weapons The Ethical Record Quarterly 125(2): 9-11

2019. ‘Sie Kommen. Autonome Waffen und algorithmische Kriegsführung sind auf dem Vormarsch.’ Süddeutsche Zeitung. Feuilleton. Essays on Artificial Intelligence, 14 October, 2019.

2019. ‘No matter how big, data is dumb’. A Special Forum: Big Data and the rise of the digital in international governance. In Essays and Provocations, Big Data & Society Blog, 26 January 2019.

2018. ‘The (im)possibility of meaningful human control for autonomous weapons systems’, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Humanitarian Law & Policy Blog, August 29, 2018.

2018. ‘If AI is the answer, what is the question?’ contribution to LSE Ideas Forum ‘Crisis of Global Politics: Perspectives from Continental Philosophy’. Report

2017. ‘Hybridity and humility: What of the human in (post)humanity?’ in Eroukhmanoff and Harkers (eds) Reflections on the Posthuman in International Relations: The Anthropocene, Security and Ecology, E-IR Edited Collections.

2017 'Pursuing Peace: The strategic limits of drone warfare'. An INS special forum: Intelligence and drones. Intelligence and National Security 32(4): 422-425.

2016. All means, no end? Economies of life management. Forum on Patricia Owen’s book Economies of Force. The Disorder of Things, 7 January 2016.

Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD project on:

• Digital / algorithmic technologies, including Artificial Intelligence
• Drones and autonomous weapons systems
• Posthumanism / transhumanism
• Modern political thought / continental political philosophy
• Art and politics

Public Engagement

Stimson Center / Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Forum für Informatiker für Frieden

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Drone Wars UK

The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS)

International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC)

PAX International

All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Drones

International Committee of the Red Cross