A Jus Post Bellum Analysis of Lethal Autonomous Weapons: Assessing the Importance of Human Interaction and Moral Repair to Peace

The future development of lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) presents a significant shift in the way that war is conducted. The present debates surrounding the ethicality of implementing LAWs focus on a broad spectrum of concerns, yet currently fails to address the impact these weapons have on securing peace. As such, this paper rests within a jus post bellum framework, seeking to address how the implementation of LAWs affects the procurement of peace. This paper looks at the relational mechanisms of achieving peace, insofar as it is a product of human interaction and relational processes, and settles on two themes; the factors within war related to human action and interaction – collective experience, recognition of humanity, and the exhibition of mercy – and the factors after war related to moral repair –forgiveness, reconciliation, and truth telling. Through historical examples of human interaction, and a normative enquiry into the demands of repair, this paper finds that LAWs have a detrimental effect on the current methods of securing peace insofar as they are incapable of replicating avenues which humans currently participate in. As such, this paper highlights the trade-off between measures to prevent suffering and the necessity of moral repair, and contributes to the literature on jus post bellum more broadly by demonstrating the importance of repair post-conflict which has thus far been omitted.