The Future of Non-lethal Weapons

These essays explore the increase in interest in non-lethal weapons. Such devices have meant that many armed forces and law enforcement agencies are able to act against undesirables without being accused of acting in an inhumane way.
Topics for discussion in this volume include: an overview of the future of non-lethal weapons; emerging non-lethal technologies; military and police operational deployment of non-lethal weapons; a scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of non-lethal weapons; changes in international law needed to take into account non-lethal technologies; developments in genomics leading to new chemical incapacitants; implications for arms control and proliferation; the role of non-lethal weapons in human rights abuses; conceptual, theoretical and analytical perspectives on the nature of non-lethal weapons development.

Nick Lewer

Introduction, Nick Lewer; an overview of the future of non-lethal weapons, John Alexander; non-lethal weapons and international law - three perspectives on the future, David P. Fidler; the revolution in military affairs debate and non-lethal weapons, Gerrard Quille; towards an understanding of non-lethality, Brian Rappert; the role of sub-lethal weapons in human rights abuse, Steve Wright; future police operations and non-lethal weapons, Jorma Jussila; operationalizing non-lethality - a Northern Ireland perspective, Colin Burrows; non-lethal weapons technologies - the case for independent scientific analysis, Jurgen Altmann; perspectives and implications for the proliferation of non-lethal weapons in the context of contemporary conflict, security interests and arms control, Nick Lewer and Tobias Feakin; non-lethal weapons - R2IPE for arms control measures?, Victor Wallace; future incapacitating chemical agents - the impact of genomics, Malcolm Dando.