Chapter 6 Ordering Human–Other Relationships : International Humanitarian Law and Ecologies of Armed Conflicts in the Anthropocene

Abstract

This chapter analyses the international humanitarian legal ordering of human and other relationships during armed conflict and disaster by looking at two examples, namely the ‘natural’ environment and human-scientific constructed AI-powered swarms of drones. Drawing on these examples, as well as post-anthropocentric and posthuman legal scholarship, the authors argue that International Humanitarian Law (IHL) has some potential in developing in a post-anthropocentric direction, specifically in reorienting its focus from armed conflicts to violent outbursts by making use of the Deleuze-Guattarian notion of ‘war-machines’. The authors argue that this will enable IHL to offer a better protection on a less anthropocentric and more inclusive and equal basis in a shared posthuman ecology. The chapter offers an overview of current legal regulations as well as a theoretical and practice-oriented outline for the development of IHL.