Dangereusement drones: l"Af-Pak' comme architecture d'un regime gouvernemental optique biopolitique

In: Politique et sociétés, Band 32, Heft 3, S. 103-134

Abstract

This article aims to show that the counterterrorist strategy pursued by the Obama administration has amplified and normalized the contested practice of targeted killing adopted by the former administration using armed drones to hunt and kill Al-Qaeda known associates. In evoking the continuum between both administrations, we put forth that the drone war is firmly established as a counterterrorism strategy with Barack Obama as commander-in-chief. We firstly retrace the origins of the use of drones in a military strategy by illustrating how targeted killings are linked to the transformation of the national security governmental regime in the wake of September 11, 2001, and the preemption doctrine. We sustain that the establishment of a regime based on the vision of the drone will allow us to emphasize how, through a vertical domination, an optical regime is able to discipline populations from afar and in conjunction with the new counterinsurgency strategy. Secondly, we explore the implementation of this new secret counterterrorism strategy in the geopolitical borderland known as 'Af-Pak' to fight Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces. Finally, we examine the use of killer drones in Af-Pak to question the necropolitical dimension of this targeted killing strategy that focuses on an optical regime of biopolitical governance. Adapted from the source document.