Who Bears the Cost?

Who Bears the Cost?

Challenging the Narrative of Cost-Free War.

10th – 11th September 2015

Seminar Room 2,

Arts Faculty Building,

The Scores

University of St Andrews, Scotland

An interdisciplinary workshop between the University of Hull, Remote Control and the University of St Andrews.

Contemporary Western narratives highlight and perpetuate the idea that war has no cost. Drawing on the legacies of the Kosovo war, it has become fashionable to argue that the Western dependence on aerial warfare has few costs for those involved. Indeed this narrative has been cemented in the Western press and government circles through the idea of ‘precision’ strikes, targeted killings of opponents and the all-pervasive myth that Western actions have few consequences on the ground. Using the ideas, narratives and cultures of those on the receiving end of Western strikes this workshop argues that Western narratives ignore the very essence, the substance and the timings of what constitutes opposition to aerial warfare by real people in real places. While it may be comfortable to argue that for example drone strikes have no negative consequences for the West this workshop explores the many ways in which resistance is formed, ferments and fuels counter Western narratives.

Challenging the Narrative of Cost-Free War

Two-day programme

Day One: Thursday 10th
September
Coffee Opener / 1.30pm-2.00pm
Opening Address: Professor Paul Rogers / 2.00pm-2.10pm
Dominant Narratives:
Chair: Professor Nick Rengger
Professor Anthony Lang: Narrating War: The Triumph of Technology vs The Death of Children / 2.10pm – 2.30pm
James Iain Rogers: The Desire for Precision / 2.30pm – 2.50pm
Chris Woods: Risk Displaced: Remote Warfare and the Fiction of Risk-Free Conflict / 2.50pm – 3.10pm
Questions & Discussion / 3.10pm – 3.30pm
Short Recess / 3.30pm – 3.40pm
Session 2: Alternative Narratives
Chair: Professor Caroline Kennedy
Dr Sibylle Scheipers: “The Most Beautiful of Wars”: Carl von Clausewitz’s Perspective on People’s War / 3.40pm – 4. 00pm
Dr Caron Gentry & Hannah Partis- Jennings: Gendering the Libyan Intervention / 4.00pm – 4.20.pm
Dr Sophia Dingli: Obama’s Arabian
debacle? Re-examining US policy in Yemen amidst the growing chaos / 4.20pm – 4.40pm
Questions & Discussion / 4.40pm – 5.00pm
Wine Reception / 5.00pm – 5.30pm
Conference Dinner / 6.30pm –
Day Two: Friday 11th
September
Session 3: On the Ground.
Chair: Dr. Michele Olivier
Patrick Bury: Risk Free War and Force
Protection: Some Initial Thoughts / 10.00am – 10.20am
Dr Tom Waldman: Clausewitz and Cost- Free War / 10.20am – 10.40am
Edward Burke: ‘Rotten Apple' or Institutional Failure? The Case of Staff Sergeant Robert Bales / 10.40am – 11.00am
Questions & Discussion / 11.00am – 11.20am
Coffee and Refreshments / 11.20am - 11-35am
Session 4: Legacies.
Chair: Professor Neil Cooper
Dr. Jeffrey Murer: Not Bug Splat: Anxiety,
Trauma, and the Art Project to Put a Face to the Costs of Drone Warfare / 11.35am – 11.55am
Professor John Williams (Title TBC) / 11.55pm – 12. 15pm
Professor Caroline Kennedy: Embrace me in your Suicide Vest. / 12.15 pm- 12.35pm
Questions & Discussion / 12.35pm – 12.55pm
Concluding Remarks:
Professor Caroline Kennedy & Dr. Michele
Olivier / 12.55pm- 1.15pm
Lunch and Departure / 1.15 pm –

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