About
Christian Enemark is Professor of International Relations in the School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Southampton. His research and teaching interests include global health politics, international security, arms control, and the ethics of war. Christian has published numerous scholarly articles and chapters, and he is the sole author of four books: Disease and Security (2007), Armed Drones and the Ethics of War (2013), Biosecurity Dilemmas (2017), and Moralities of Drone Violence (2023).
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Ethics of war and peace
- Politics of global health
- International security
- Arms control
- Drone violence (DRONETHICS)
Current research
During 2018 - 2023, "Emergent Ethics of Drone Violence: Toward a Comprehensive Governance Framework" (DRONETHICS) was a major project funded by the European Research Council (grant no. 771082) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The DRONETHICS project systematically addressed an urgent need to clarify the morality of ‘drone violence’, defined as violence involving a weapon system that is radically remote from its immediate user. Such remoteness is achieved through extreme physical distancing or the devolution of system functions from humans to AI technologies, so drone violence disrupts traditional expectations about war and a warrior’s exposure to risk. In turn, the disruptively innovative premise of this project is that such violence does not necessarily fall within the remit of the Just War framework according to which war is traditionally judged and governed. Moving beyond Just War thinking, the project opened up an ethical inquiry into drone violence conceptualised as either war, violent law-enforcement (protective or punitive), 'tele-intimate' violence, or devolved (to AI) violence. Through innovative exploration and application of alternative frameworks for governing violence, our interdisciplinary research team produced: the first integrated conceptual framework for explaining ethical concerns arising from current and potential forms of drone violence; recommendations for policy-makers on how to manage this violence ethically; and a new normative vision for shaping the longer-term trajectory of drone violence for the sake of humanity.
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
Teaching
Ethics of War (PAIR2034 and PAIR3042)
Politics of Global Health (PAIR2033 and PAIR3041)
Introduction to International Relations (PAIR1001)
Security Theory (PAIR6046)
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Christian Enemark is Professor of International Relations in the School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Southampton, UK. During 2018 - 2023, he was the Principal Investigator for a major project, on Emergent Ethics of Drone Violence: Toward a Comprehensive Governance Framework (DRONETHICS), funded by the European Research Council (grant no. 771082) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. During 2020 - 2024, he is a Co-Investigator for the Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) Hub, funded by UK Research and Innovation (grant no. EP/V00784X/1). Christian was previously Reader in Global Health and International Politics at Aberystwyth University, and he has held visiting fellowships at the Australian National University’s John Curtin School of Medical Research and Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. His research and teaching interests include global health politics, international security, arms control, and the ethics of war and peace. Christian has published widely, and his latest book is Moralities of Drone Violence (2023), an Open Access publication with Edinburgh University Press.
Prizes
- Most Engaging Lecturer (Faculty of Social Sciences), SUSU Academic Awards 2017 (2017)
- Highly Commended for Pastoral Support (Faculty of Social Sciences), SUSU Academic Awards 2019 (2019)
- New Staff Member of the Year 2014, Aberystwyth University Student Led Teaching Awards (2014)