ASU Insight: Future of War Conference panel - How Should We Adjust the Laws of War to Address the Changing Nature of Conflict

The Future of War Project explores the social, political, economic, and cultural implications of the changing nature of war and conflict. This interdisciplinary partnership links New America, a D.C.-based think tank and civil engagement enterprise, and Arizona State University, one of the nation’s largest and most innovative public research universities. The project is led by Peter Bergen — Vice President, Director of Studies at New America, and a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University — and Daniel Rothenberg — Professor of Practice at Arizona State University and a Fellow at New America — and involves journalists, technologists, historians, social scientists, former military and counterterrorism officials, international law scholars, and experts in defense policy and global politics.

The goals of the project include describing the future of warfare as it evolves over the next decade and beyond, predicting its likely impact on the state and other forms of social organization, and developing new paradigms for understanding and addressing armed conflict and systematic violence. The initiative engages multiple topics, including the evolution of autonomous weapons systems, the emergence of increasingly sophisticated and widespread surveillance technologies, the militarization of cyberspace and outer space, and the democratization of terror and mechanisms of mass destruction. The project also considers ethnic and sectarian tensions, demographic shifts, competition over resources, climate change, and other global changes as key drivers of war and conflict.

Rosa Brooks (moderator) – Professor, Georgetown University Law Center; Senior Fellow, International Security Program; ASU Future of War Fellow, New America

William C. Banks – Distinguished Professor of Law; Director, Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, Syracuse University

Laura A. Dickinson – Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School; ASU Future of War Fellow, New America

Major General Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF (Ret.) – Professor of the Practice of Law; Executive Director, Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security, The Duke University School of Law

Naz K. Modirzadeh – Founding Director, Program on International Law and Armed Conflict,
Harvard Law School