Regulating New Weapons Technology

Abstract

When confronted with a new weapons technology, international law scholars, military lawyers, and civil society activists regularly ask two questions: Are new regulations needed? Are they needed now? This chapter reviews the main categories of technology-fostered legal disruption; tackles the question of whether a given technology will require new law; and weighs the respective benefits of precautionary bans, a wait-and-see approach, and proactive regulation.