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Nicholas Collie
PhD,
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Research Summary
Following a career as an Internet consultant, my research concerns the ethical impact of the digital on the changing character of war in the 21st century. Notions of cyberwar have been prevalent in… read more
Current Research
Following a career as an Internet consultant, my research concerns the ethical impact of the digital on the changing character of war in the 21st century. Notions of cyberwar have been prevalent in the media in the past decade. Many of these notions are open to the charge of being sensational or scare-mongering of a digital apocalypse. My approach is to analyse the rights of individuals in the digital age on which ground national duties, responsibilities and norms. Given that the importance of the digital domain in our lives is likely to increase, the foundation of my approach is to both identify areas in which the digital creates harms in the physical world but also to acknowledge that there is a distinct group of uniquely digital harms. Only in consideration of both these aspects is there hope for a comprehensive ethical framework that successfully guides actions.
Specifically, I analyse the manner in which Just War Theory is able to accommodate the changes in conflict which are created in the digital world. These changes question issues of discrimination of combatants, last resort, proportionality and legitimate authority that form the core of Just War Theory.