War And Peace In Outer Space

"Historically, strategic restraint was the dominant approach among nations active in outer space, all of whom understood that continued access to and use of space required holding back on threats or activities which might jeopardize the status quo of peace in space. However, recently there has been a discernible shift in international rhetoric towards a more offensive approach to defense in space. The U.S. move towards establishing a "Space Force" has been echoed by similar announcements in France and Japan. India launched an anti-satellite weapon test and announced proudly that it thereby joined the elite group of China, Russia and the U.S., who have all demonstrated this capability in the past. And as technologies in space advance, along with our terrestrial dependence on space-based systems for our peaceful civilian lives and for support of terrestrial warfare, the political stability of this vulnerable environment comes under threat. These factors, combined with a lack of transparency about actual capabilities and intentions on the part of all major players in space, creates a cyclical escalation which has led some commentators to describe this as a return to a Cold War-type arms race, and to the foreseeability of a space-based conflict. Due to many unique characteristics of the space domain, an armed conflict in space would be catastrophic for all players, including neutral States, commercial actors, and international civil society. Due to the specificity of the space domain, specialized expertise must be provided to decision-makers, and interdisciplinary opinions must be sought from a multitude of stakeholders. To that end, this volume provides a wide spectrum of perspectives from experts who have engaged together at a conference hosted by the Center for Ethics in the Rule of Law to discuss these issues. Ethical, legal and policy solutions are offered here by those with experience in the space sector, including academia, legal practitioners, military lawyers and operators, diplomats and policy advisors"--

This book delves into legal and ethical concerns over the increased weaponization of outer space and the potential for space-based conflict in the very near future. Unique to this collection is the emphasis on questions of ethical conduct and legal standards applicable to military uses of outer space. No other existing publication takes this perspective, nor includes such a range of interdisciplinary expertise. The essays included in this volume explore the moral and legal issues of space security in four sections. Part I provides a general legal framework for the law of war and peace in space. Part II tackles ethical issues. Part III looks at specific threats to space security. Part IV proposes possible legal and diplomatic solutions. With an expert author team from North American and Europe, the volume brings together academics, military lawyers, military space operators, aerospace industry representatives, diplomats, and national security and policy experts. The experience of this team provides a collection unmatched in any academic publication broaching even some of these issues and will be required reading for anyone interested in war and peace in outer space.

"This book tells the story of one of the United Nations' most enduring and least known achievements: the adoption of five multilateral treaties that compose the international law of outer space. It is of interest to scholars in law, history and other fields interested in the Cold War, the Space Race, and outer space law"--

Explains how existing and proposed law seek to tackle challenges posed by new and emerging technologies in war and peace.

There has been quite a bit of scholarship on the history of the space race, but collaboration in space has received little attention and has usually been dismissed as a propaganda side show. This book thus fills a critical gap by showing the importance of collaboration in space as an antidote to Cold War hostilities and as an important yet underappreciated episode in the development of science and technology in the twentieth century.

In this book, Patrick Norris responds to the 50th Anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age – the launch of Sputnik 1 – with a review of the most important historical applications of space science for the benefit of the human race during that half century, focusing on the prevention of nuclear war. In developing this story Norris illuminates a little-known aspect of the Space Age, namely the military dimension.

The year 2007 saw the fiftieth anniversary of the Space Age, which began with the launching of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in October 1957. Space is crucial to the politics of the postmodern world. It has seen competition and cooperation in the past fifty years, and is in danger of becoming a battlefield in the next fifty. The International Politics of Space is the first book to bring these crucial themes together and provide a clear and vital picture of how politically important space has become, and what its exploitation might mean for all our futures. Michael Sheehan analyzes the space programmes of the United States, Russia, China, India and the European Space Agency, and explains how central space has become to issues of war and peace, international law, justice and international development, and cooperation between the worlds leading states. It highlights the significance of China and India’s commitment to space, and explains how the theories and concepts we use to describe and explain space are fundamental to the possibility of avoiding conflict in space in the future.